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explore
the great river of the west, of which be bad beard from the
Indians; and in 1673 be and Louis Joliet, a trader of
Quebec, with five of their countrymen, entered the
Mississippi from the Wisconsin, and, in two birch-bark
canoes, floated down its current below the mouth of the 
Arkansas,
the first European explorers of that river since De
Soto.1
Nine years afterwards La Salle explored
the river to its mouth, and naming the vast region drained by it
and its branches Louisiana,2 claimed it for
France. See p. 80.
CHAPTER XIII.
CONDITION, AT THE CLOSE OF THIS PERIOD,
OF WHAT IS NOW THE UNITED STATES.
1.
AT the close of this Period the
territory of the present United States was still claimed by
England, France, and Spain.3
East of the Mississippi, the
English, having crowded the French out of
Carolina,4 and the Dutch out of New
Netherland,5 as the Dutch had previously crowded the
Swedes out of New Sweden,6 occupied the Atlantic coast
from Maine to South Carolina. France included among her
American possessions part of the present States of Maine, Vermont,
and New York,7 and all that immense region between the
Mississippi, the Great Lakes, and the Alleghenies, thus limiting
on the west grants made by England.8 The Spanish
claim included, in addition to the present Florida, an
indefinite region having for its southern boundary the whole
northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico.
2. West of the Mississippi, claims
and possessions, except the claim that the re-discovery of that
river gave to France, remained as at the close of the first
Period.3 Scattered missions and trading-posts had been
established by Spain in Texas, and as far north as the present New
Mexico and California, while farther north extended her indefinite
New Mexico, and on the Pacific lay England's almost forgotten New
Albion.9
3. The population of the English
colonies at the close of this Period is estimated at about two
hundred thousand.10
1 See p. 13, ¶ 3. 2 In honor of Louis XIV., king of France. 3 See p. 20, § II.
4 See p. 15, § 11. 5 See p. 54, ¶ 8. 6 See p. 59, Chap. VIII., ¶ 2.
7 See p. 67, Chap. XII., and note 5. 8 See p. 46, Chap. IV, ¶ 1. 9 See p. 16, ¶ 2.
10 Bancroft gives the following approximate distribution of this number: Massachusetts, with Plymouth and Maine, 44,000; New Hampshire, 6,000; Rhode Island, 6,000; Connecticut, 19,000; New York, 20,000; New Jersey, 10,000; Pennsylvania, with Delaware, 12,000; Maryland, 25,000; Virginia, 50,000; the two Carolinas, 8,000.
QUESTIONS. -- Give an account of La Salle's exploration of the Mississippi. 1. At the close of this period what nations claimed the territory of the present United States? What is said of the English east of the Mississippi? Of France? Of the Spanish claim? 2. What is said of claims and possessions west of the Mississippi? 3. What was the estimated population of the English colonies at the close of this Period?
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4. The
manners of the colonists in Virginia were those of
the less rigid English. There was found in the colony a good deal
of that frankness, hospitality, taste, and refinement which
distinguish the better classes of the southern people at this day.
In New England the people were more strict in their
notions, and consequently more rigid in their manners. If they had
no greater faith in the Scriptures than the people of Virginia,
they moulded their government and shaped private character and
morals upon a more severe and literal construction of
them.1 They studied simplicity of manners, taste, and
living. They were patriotic, industrious, and public-spirited. In
New York, the manners of the colonists were strictly Dutch,
-- with no other modifications than those which the privations of
a new country, and the few English among them. necessarily
effected. The same steadfast pursuit of wealth, the same plodding
industry, the same dress, air, and physiognomy, which are given as
characteristic of Holland, were exhibited in New Netherland.
5. Slavery at an
early period found its way into all the colonies, -- first
silently permitted, then regulated. by law.
This odious institution was introduced
into the country not less by the cupidity of the north, which
found its profits in the slave trade, than by the cupidity of the
south, which found its profits in slave labor. The commercial
policy of England, too, tended to fasten it upon the colonies. In
New England slavery was not generally profitable, and
slaves were chiefly employed as house servants. In the middle
and southern colonies they were employed in the field, and
indeed in every department of manual labor. South Carolina alone,
of the original thirteen states, was, from its infancy, a slave
colony. The year after Old Charleston was settled, negro slaves
were imported from Barbadoes.2
1 The laws of the colonies throw great light on the views and manners of the people of that age. Take, for example, several laws of the Massachusetts colony: one, in 1639, prohibiting the drinking of healths; another, in 1651, prohibiting "persons whose estate did not exceed two hundred pounds wearing gold or silver lace, or any bone lace above two shillings per yard," and requiring the selectmen to take notice of the "apparel" of the people. especially their "ribbands and great boots." "Only a small number of persons of the best condition had the designation Mr. or Mrs. prefixed to their names; this respect was always shown to ministers and their wives. Goodman and Goodwife were the appropriate addresses of persons above the condition of servitude and below that of gentility." Mr. Josias Plaistowe, for stealing corn from the Indians, was to be called only Josias Plaistowe, and not Mr., as formerly. Robert Shorthose, for swearing in a certain manner, was sentenced to have his tongue put into a cleft stick, and to stand so for the space of half an hour. The colony of Connecticut ordered that no person under twenty years of age should use any tobacco, without a certificate from a physician; and no others, although addicted to its use, unless they, were ten miles from any house, and then not more than once a day. And this regulation was made while the Virginians were raising all the tobacco they were able, deriving a revenue from it for the support of government, paying their ministers with it, and using it as a currency. In Hartford every freeman who neglected to attend town-meeting was fined sixpence, unless he had a good excuse. And in 1643 it was ordered that the watch should ring a bell every morning, before daybreak, and that at least one person should be up within one quarter of an hour after, in every house.
2 Negro slavery did not originate in America. The first European immigrants to the New World brought with them negro slaves. They also enslaved the natives. But the condition of slavery under which the negro throve, was destructive to the Indian: and to prevent the utter extinction of the red man, Bartolome de his Casas, about a century before the introduction of negro slaves Into Virginia, with a sincere but mistaken benevolence, advocated and effected the general substitution of negro for Indian slavery in the Spanish colonies. From this time the slave trade was a source of great gain, and the profits of slavery blinded men to its iniquity.
QUESTIONS. -- 4. What can you tell of the manners of the colonists in Virginia? In New England? In New York? 5. What of slavery in the colonies? -- How introduced? What of slavery in New England? In the middle and southern colonies? What is said of South Carolina in connection with slavery?
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6.
Religion. -- The French and Spanish
settlements and missions within the present limits of the
United States were exclusively Roman Catholic. Of the English
colonies whose history has already been given, Maryland was
Protestant by a great majority, and the rest almost
unanimously.
7. The Church of England
was established in Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas. In New
England the colonists were Calvinists in doctrine and
Congregational in discipline. The Dutch Reformed
Church was the prevailing religion in New York. The first
settlers in Maryland were chiefly Roman Catholics; and this
church has ever exercised great influence in that colony. The
first Baptist church in America was formed at Providence,
under Roger Williams. The Quakers made their appearance in
Massachusetts in 1656; and at the close of this Period,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Jersey, Rhode Island, and in some
measure North Carolina, were Quaker colonies.
8. The different sects in America
were often at war with each other. Catholics were at some time the
victims of oppression in all the colonies. Massachusetts in the
north, however, and Virginia in the south, -- the former Puritan,
the latter of the English Church, -- always foremost in their
respective sections, were the foremost in the work of
persecution. Massachusetts persecuted Baptists with fines
and imprisonments, and inflicted on Quakers still severer
penalties.1 The other New England colonies, except
Rhode Island, followed her lead. Virginia fined and imprisoned
Quakers and Baptists, and banished New England
Puritans.
9. Indian Missions. -- The Spanish and
French immigrants to America made strenuous efforts for the
conversion of the Indians to Christianity. This is particularly
true of the French. It was their untiring zeal for the spread of
the gospel that led their priests to penetrate those vast regions
of western wilderness, till then untrodden by the foot of
civilized man. The history of Christianity presents no names more
illustrious for unselfish devotion than Anthony Daniels, Claude
Allouez, and James Marquette,2 Jesuit missionaries to
the American Indians. Nor were the English neglectful of the
spiritual welfare of the Indian. Conspicuous among their
missionaries to the natives stand John Eliot, "the
1 Believing the principles of the Quakers subversive of good order and good government, -- and, indeed, the extravagant conduct of some of the sect gave occasion for this belief, -- the rulers of Massachusetts enacted a law banishing them from the colony on pain of death; seeking "not the death, but the absence, of the Quakers." Under this law two Quakers were hanged on Boston Common in 1659; and later, two others were executed, one of them a woman.
2 See p. 67, ¶ 3.
QUESTIONS. -- 6. What was the religion of the French and Spanish settlements? The religion of the English colonies? 7. In what colonies was the church of England established? What were the New England colonies in doctrine and discipline? What was the prevailing religion in New York? What of Roman Catholics in Maryland? Of the first Baptist church in America? What of the Quakers? 8. What is said of the different sects in America? Of Catholics? What colonists were foremost in the work of persecution? what more is said of Massachusetts? What of the other Now England colonies? What more is said of Virginia? 9. For what purpose did the Spanish and French immigrants make strenuous efforts? What more is said of the French? What devoted missionaries are mentioned? of what were the English not neglectful? Who were conspicuous among their missionaries?
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apostle to the Indians," and the Mayhews, father and son. So
cheering was their success, that in 1660 there were ten towns of
converted Indians in Massachusetts.
10. Education. --
Schools, supported in part by endowments and in part by fees for
tuition, were early established in most of the colonies. But the
common school was almost from the first the peculiar glory of New
England.1
In Massachusetts measures were early
taken to establish a college, which in 1638 was located in a part
of 
Newtown,
afterwards called Cambridge. The institution was named Harvard
College, in honor of the Rev. John Harvard, who bequeathed to
it his library, and half of his estate, amounting to several
hundred pounds. The first printing press in America was
established in Cambridge in 1639. There were no newspapers
in America during this Period.
11. At first the colonies had but
little trade and commerce, except with England, and that
was very limited. They imported all their merchandise, and made
such returns as they were able in tobacco, peltry procured from
the Indians, lumber, beef, pork, grain, and fish. Arts and
manufactures were of slow growth. Thread and yarn were spun
and knit by the women at their homes. The weaving of woollen and
cotton fabrics was introduced by some Yorkshire clothiers, who
began the settlement of Rowley, Massachusetts, in 1638. After a
little time the manufacture of linen, woollen, and cotton cloth in
this province became very remunerative.
12. The first business of the
settlers was to clear the forests, and supply themselves with food
from the soil. But the fertility of the earth soon taught them to
look to agriculture as a source of wealth, as well as of
subsistence. It therefore became the leading object of
industry. Indian corn and different kinds
of European grain, as well as most of the garden fruits and
vegetables common in the mother country, were cultivated in all
the colonies. Besides these, beef and pork were the principal
products of the northern and middle colonies, and tobacco of the
southern. The cultivation of tobacco was introduced into Virginia
almost from the First. Cotton, that since, as an American product,
has played so important part in the commerce of the world, was
first cultivated in Virginia in 1621.
1 To certain official inquiries respecting education In the colonies, the governor of Connecticut replied, "One fourth of the annual revenue is laid out in maintaining free schools." To the same questions Governor Berkeley, of Virginia, replied, "I thank God there are no free schools, nor printing, and I hope we shall not have them these hundred years."
QUESTIONS. -- Success of the English missionaries? 10. What is said of schools in the colonies? Of the common school? What can you tell of Harvard College? Of the first printing press in America? Of newspapers? 11. What of the trade and commerce of the colonies? Of arts and manufactures? When, where, and by whom was the manufacture of cotton and woollen fabrics introduced? 12. What of agriculture? What were cultivated in all the colonies? What other principal products of the northern and middle colonies? Of the southern? What of tobacco? Of Cotton?
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CHRONOLOGICAL REVIEW.
[The figures at the end of the paragraphs in the Chronological Review refer to The pages upon which the events are mentioned.]
1607. Jamestown was founded in Virginia, the
first permanent English settlement in America, 29.
1609. Hudson discovered the Hudson River,
52.
Champlain
discovered Lake Champlain, 67.
1610. The starving time prevailed in Virginia,
31.
1614. Captain Smith explored the coast of New
England, 36.
1619. A legislative assembly, the first in
America, was convened in Virginia, 32.
1620. Negro slavery was introduced into
Virginia, 32.
Plymouth was settled by the Puritans, the first
permanent English settlement in New England, 36.
1622. Opechancanough's war broke out in
Virginia, 33.
1623. Dover and Portsmouth, in New Hampshire,
were settled, 45.
The permanent
colonization of New York was begun by the Dutch, 53.
1630. Boston was founded by Governor Winthrop,
40.
1634. The colonization of Maryland was begun at
St. Mary's, 60.
1634-6. Wethersfield, Windsor, and Hartford, in
Connecticut, were settled by emigrants from Massachusetts, 47.
1636. Roger Williams founded Providence, 50.
1638. Delaware was settled by the Swedes and
Finns, 58.
New Haven was
founded by Eaton and Davenport, 48.
Harvard College
was established in Cambridge, 71.
1639. A separate government was organized for
Connecticut, 48.
1643. The confederacy styled the United Colonies
of New England was formed, 41.
1644. The Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations were united, forming Rhode Island, 51.
1663. The Albemarle colony (North Carolina) was
organized, 64.
1664. New Netherland was taken by the English,
and named New York, 54.
Elizabethtown, in
New Jersey, was settled, 57.
1665. Connecticut and New Haven were united,
under the name of Connecticut, 49.
1673. Marquette explored the Mississippi,
67.
1675. King Philip's war began, 42.
1676. Bacon's rebellion broke out in Virginia,
34.
1680. Charleston, South Carolina, was founded,
65.
1682. La Salle explored the Mississippi to its
mouth, 68.
1683. Philadelphia was founded by William Penn,
63.
1686. Sir Edmund Andros was appointed governor
of New England, 44.
1689. Andros was seized and sent to England,
44.
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CONTEMPORARY CHRONOLOGY.
1609. The Independence
of the Dutch Republic acknowledged.
1610. Henry IV. of France assassinated by
Ravaillac.
1618. The beginning of the " Thirty Years'
War."
1624. Richelieu, chief minister of Louis XIII.
of France. He was for eighteen years the leading statesman of
Europe.
1632. Victory and death of Gustavus Adolphus,
king of Sweden, at the battle of Lützen.
1640. Portugal revolted from Spain, and regained
her independence under John IV., Duke of Braganza.
Frederic William,
the Great Elector of Brandenburg. He laid the foundation of the
kingdom of Prussia.
1642. Beginning of the civil war in England
between Charles I. and Parliament.
1645. The battle of Naseby, in England, ruined
Charles I.
1647. A revolution in China placed the present
ruling dynasty on the throne.
1648. The Peace of Westphalia put an end to the
"Thirty Years' War." Origin of the system of the "balance of
power."
1649. Charles I. of England beheaded.
1653. Cromwell proclaimed Lord Protector.
1660. The Restoration. Charles II. restored to
the English throne.
1661. Colbert minister of France, which becomes
the most formidable power in Europe. With his administration
commenced the era called the "Age of Louis XIV."
1665. Great Plague in London --100,000
deaths.
1679. Habeas Corpus Act passed by the English
Parliament.
1683. The last siege of Vienna by the Turks,
raised by John Sobieski king of Poland.
1685. The Edict of Nantes revoked by Louis
XIV.
1688. League of Augsburg. The principal
continental states, afterwards joined by England, united to resist
France.
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