History of the United States, Volume 1

American society rose out of mere untitled humanity; monarchy, guilds, priests, and all aristocracy of a feudal nature having been left behind in Europe. The year 1700 found in...

The home life of colonial New England was unique. Its like has appeared nowhere else in human history. Mostwise it was beautiful as well. In it religion was central and supreme....

There is no end to the accounts of alleged discoveries of America before Columbus. Most of these are fables. It is, indeed, nearly certain that hardy Basque, Breton, and Norman...

As we have seen, Spain by no means deserves the entire credit of bringing the western continent to men's knowledge. Columbus himself was an Italian. So was Marco Polo, his inspi...

Struggle Inevitable. George Washington. Fights at Great Meadows. War Begun. English Plans of Campaign. Braddock's March. Defeat and Death. Prophecy Regarding Washington. The "Ev...

The Commonwealth in England went to pieces at the death of Oliver Cromwell, its founder. The Stuart dynasty came back, but, alas! unimproved. Charles II. was a much meaner man t...

Simultaneously with the Stuart Restoration another cloud darkened the New England sky. Since the Pequot War, Indians and whites had in the main been friendly. This by itself is...

Working upward from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the source of this and of the Mississippi, and then down the latter river, Franciscans and Jesuits their pioneers, braving d...

Troubles between the Indians and the whites arose so early as 1636. John Oldham was murdered on Block Island by a party of Pequot Indians. Vane of Massachusetts sent Endicott to...

The Pilgrims who settled New England were Independents, peculiar in their ecclesiastical tenet that the single congregation of godly persons, however few or humble, regularly or...

The establishment of Charles II. as king fully restored Lord Baltimore as proprietary in Maryland, and for a long time the colony enjoyed much peace and prosperity. In 1660 it b...

How the French fought for foothold in Florida and were routed by the Spaniards has just been related. So early as 1504, and possibly much earlier, before Cabot or Columbus, Fren...

The very year that witnessed the landing of the Pilgrims records the beginning of another attempt to colonize the New World. While Secretary of State, having been appointed in 1...

We have now arrived at the seventeenth century. In 1606 King James I. issued the first English colonial charter. It created a first and a second Virginia Company, the one having...

The English conquest of New Netherland from the Dutch speedily followed the Stuarts' return to the throne. Cromwell had mooted an attack on Dutch America, and, as noticed in Cha...

While the French explorer, Champlain, was sailing along the shores of the lake which bears his name, another equally adventurous spirit, Henry Hudson, was on his way to the west...

Washington was the only mounted officer in this action who was not killed or fatally wounded, a fact at the time regarded specially providential. On his return, aged twenty-thre...

The political life, habits, and forms familiar to our fathers were such as their peculiar surroundings and experience had developed out of English originals. This process and it...

The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle had been made only because the contestants were tired of fighting. In America, at least, each at once began taking breath and preparing to renew the...

Notwithstanding the number of United States histories already in existence, and the excellence of many of them, I venture to think that no apology is needed for bringing forward...

The French in the Heart of the Continent. Groseilliers, Radisson, La Salle. Joliet and Marquette Reach the Mississippi. Baudin and Du Lhut. La Salle Descends to the Gulf. "Chica...

Sir George Calvert Plants at Newfoundland. Is Ennobled. Sails for Virginia. Grant of Maryland. Lord Baltimore Dies. Succeeded by Cecil. Government of Maryland. Conflict with Vir...

Portugal and Spain Divide the Newly Discovered World. Spain gets most of America. Voyage of de Solis. Balboa Discovers the Pacific. Ponce de Leon on the Florida Coast. Explorati...

Charles II. and Massachusetts. Massachusetts about 1660. Its View of its Political Rights. The King's View. And Commands. Commission of 1664. Why Vengeance was Delayed. Boldness...

Henry Hudson and his Explorations. Enters Hudson River. His Subsequent Career. And his Fate. Dutch Trade on the Hudson. "New Netherland." Dutch West India Company. Albany Begun....

Beginning of Indian Hostility. Of Pequot War. Mason's Strategy. And Tactics. Capture of Pequot Fort. Back to Saybrook. Extermination of Pequot Tribe. Peace. Miantonomoh and Unca...

The Old Virginia Charter. Jamestown Settled. Company and Colony. Character of Early Virginia Population. Progress. Products. Slavery. Agriculture the Dominant Industry. No Town...

Maryland after the Stuart Restoration. Navigation Act. Boundary Disputes. Liberality of Religion. Agitation to Establish Anglicanism. Maryland under William and Mary. English Ch...

Population of the Colonies at Different Dates. Differences according to Sections. Intellectual Ability. Free Thought. Political Bent. English Church in the Colonies. Its Clergy....

Whites' Treatment of Red Men. Indian Hatred. Causes. Alexander's Death. Philip King. Scope of his Conspiracy. Murders Sausaman. War Begun. Nipmucks take Part. War in Connecticut...

Bretons and Normans in the New World. The Northmen Question. Marco Polo's Travels. His Pictures of Eastern Asia. Influence on Columbus. Early Life of Columbus. His Cruises and S...

Verrazano. "New France." Cartier Discovers St. Lawrence Gulf and River. Second Voyage.-Montreal.-Third.-De Monts. Champlain. Founds Quebec. Westward Explorations. John Cabot, Di...

New England Home Life. Religion its Centre. The Farmhouse. Morning Devotions. Farm Work. Tools. Diet. Neighborliness. New England Superstitions. Not Peculiar to New England. Sun...

English Conquest of New Netherland. Duke of York's Government. Andros. Revolution of 1688. Leisler. Problems which Teased Royal Governors. New Jersey. Its Political Vicissitudes...

The first "Independents." John Smyth's Church at Gainsborough. The Scrooby Church. Plymouth Colony. Settles Plymouth. Hardships. Growth. Cape Ann Settlement. Massachusetts Bay....