II
COLONIZATION, 1600-1660
Books for Study and Reading
References.--Fiske's United States for Schools,
59-133; Eggleston's United States and its People, 91-113
(for colonial life); Parkman's Pioneers (for French
colonies); Bradford's Plymouth Plantation (extracts in
"American History Leaflets," No. 29).
Home Readings.--Drake's Making of New England;
Drake's Making of Virginia and the Middle States;
Eggleston's Pocahontas and Powhatan; Dix's Soldier
Rigdale (Pilgrim children); Irving's Knickerbocker
History; Webster's Plymouth Oration; Longfellow's
Myles Standish; Moore's Pilgrims and Puritans.
CHAPTER 4
FRENCH COLONISTS, MISSIONARIES, AND EXPLORERS
Settlement of Acadia, 1604.
Port Royal.
26. The French in Acadia.--For nearly forty years after
the destruction of the colony on the River of May, Frenchmen were
too busy fighting one another at home to send any more colonists to
America. At length, in 1604, a few Frenchmen settled on an island
in the St. Croix River. But the place was so cold and windy that
after a few months they crossed the Bay of Fundy and founded the
town of Port Royal. The country they called Acadia.
Champlain at Plymouth.
Quebec founded, 1608.
Champlain on Lake Champlain, 1609.
He attacks the Iroquois. Explorers, 269-278.
27. Champlain and his Work.--The most famous of these
colonists was Champlain. He sailed along the coast southward and
westward as far as Plymouth. As he passed by the mouth of Boston
harbor, a mist hung low over the water, and he did not see the
entrance. Had it been clear he would have discovered Boston harbor
and Charles River, and French colonists might have settled there.
In 1608 Champlain built a trading-post at Quebec and lived there
for many years as governor or chief trader. He soon joined the St.
Lawrence Indians in their war parties and explored large portions
of the interior. In 1609 he went with the Indians to a beautiful
lake. Far away to the east were mountains covered with snow. To the
south were other mountains, but with no snow on their tops. To the
lake the explorer gave his own name, and we still call it in his
honor, Lake Champlain. While there, he drove away with his firearms
a body of Iroquois Indians. A few years later he went with another
war party to western New York and again attacked the Iroquois.
French missionaries and traders.
They visit Lake Superior and Lake Michigan.
28. The French on the Great Lakes.--Champlain was the
first of many French discoverers. Some of these were missionaries
who left home and friends to bring the blessings of Christianity to
the Red Men of the western world. Others were fur-traders, while
still others were men who came to the wilderness in search of
excitement. These French discoverers found Lake Superior and Lake
Michigan; they even reached the headwaters of the Wisconsin
River--a branch of the Mississippi.
The Jesuits and their work.
29. The French Missionaries.--The most active of the
French missionaries were the Jesuits. built stations on the shores
of the Great Lakes. They made long expeditions to unknown regions.
Some of them were killed by those whom they tried to convert to
Christianity. Others were robbed and left to starve. Others still
were tortured and cruelly abused. But the prospect of starvation,
torture, and death only made them more eager to carry on their
great work.
[Illustration: CHAMPLAIN'S ATTACK ON AN IROQUOIS FORT.]
The League of the Iroquois.
Their hatred of the French. Its importance.
The missionaries and the Iroquois.
30. The Iroquois.--The strongest of all the Indian tribes
were the nations who formed the League of the Iroquois. Ever since
Champlain fired upon them they hated the sight of a Frenchman. On
the other hand, they looked upon the Dutch and the English as their
friends. French missionaries tried to convert them to Christianity
as they had converted the St. Lawrence Indians. But the Iroquois
saw in this only another attempt at French conquest. So they hung
red-hot stones about the missionaries' necks, or they burned them
to death, or they cut them to pieces while yet living. For a
century and a half the Iroquois stood between the Dutch and English
settlers and their common enemies in Canada. Few events, in
American history, therefore, have had such great consequences as
Champlain's unprovoked attacks upon the Iroquois.
CHAPTER 5
VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND
New conditions of living in England.
The Virginia Company.
31. The Virginia Company, 1606.--English people were now
beginning to think in earnest of founding colonies. It was getting
harder and harder to earn one's living in England, and it was very
difficult to invest one's money in any useful way. It followed,
from this, that there were many men who were glad to become
colonists, and many persons who were glad to provide money to pay
for founding colonies. In 1606 the Virginia Company was formed and
colonization began on a large scale.
The Virginia colonists at Jamestown, 1607.
Higginson, 52, 110-117; Eggleston, 19-28;
Explorers 231-269.
Sickness and death.
32. Founding of Jamestown, 1607. The first colonists
sailed for Virginia in December, 1606. They were months on the way
and suffered terrible hardships. At last they reached Chesapeake
Bay and James River and settled on a peninsula on the James, about
thirty miles from its mouth. Across the little isthmus which
connected this peninsula with the mainland they built a strong
fence, or stockade, to keep the Indians away from their huts. Their
settlement they named Jamestown. The early colonists of Virginia
were not very well fitted for such a work. Some of them were
gentlemen who had never labored with their hands; others were poor,
idle fellows whose only wish was to do nothing whatever. There were
a few energetic men among them as Ratcliffe, Archer, and Smith. But
these spent most of their time in exploring the bay and the rivers,
in hunting for gold, and in quarreling with one another. With the
summer came fevers, and soon fifty of the one hundred and five
original colonists were dead. Then followed a cold, hard winter,
and many of those who had not died of fever in the summer, now died
of cold. The colonists brought little food with them, they were too
lazy to plant much corn, and they were able to get only small
supplies from the Indians. Indeed, the early history of Virginia is
given mainly to accounts of "starving times." Of the first thousand
colonists not one hundred lived to tell the tale of those early
days.
Sir Thomas Dale.
His wise action.
33. Sir Thomas Dale and Good Order.--In 1611 Sir Thomas
Dale came out as ruler, and he ruled with an iron hand. If a man
refused to work, Dale made a slave of him for three years; if he
did not work hard enough, Dale had him soundly whipped. But Sir
Thomas Dale was not only a severe man; he was also a wise man.
Hitherto everything had been in common. Dale now tried the
experiment of giving three acres of land to every one of the old
planters, and he also allowed them time to work on their own
land.
Tobacco.
Prosperity.
34. Tobacco-growing and Prosperity.--European people were
now beginning to use tobacco. Most of it came from the Spanish
colonies. Tobacco grew wild in Virginia. But the colonists at first
did not know how to dry it and make it fit for smoking. After a few
years they found out how to prepare it. They now worked with great
eagerness and planted tobacco on every spot of cleared land. Men
with money came over from England. They brought many workingmen
with them and planted large pieces of ground. Soon tobacco became
the money of the colony, and the whole life of Virginia turned on
its cultivation. But it was difficult to find enough laborers to do
the necessary work.
White servants.
Criminals.
Negro slaves, 1619.
35. Servants and Slaves.--Most of the laborers were white
men and women who were bound to service for terms of years. These
were called servants. Some of them were poor persons who sold their
labor to pay for their passage to Virginia. Others were unfortunate
men and women and even children who were stolen from their families
and sold to the colonists. Still others were criminals whom King
James sent over to the colony because that was the cheapest thing
to do with them. In 1619 the first negro slaves were brought to
Virginia by a Dutch vessel. The Virginians bought them all--only
twenty in number. But the planters preferred white laborers. It was
not until more that twenty-five years had passed away that the
slaves really became numerous enough to make much difference in the
life of the colony.
Sir Edwin Sandys.
The first American legislature, 1619.
36. The first American Legislature, 1619.--The men who
first formed the Virginia Company had long since lost interest in
it. Other men had taken their places. These latter were mostly
Puritans (p. 29) or were the friends and workers with the Puritans.
The best known of them was Sir Edwin Sandys, the playmate of
William Brewster--one of the Pilgrim Fathers (p. 29). Sandys and
his friends sent Sir George Yeardley to Virginia as governor. They
ordered him to summon an assembly to be made up of representatives
chosen by the freemen of the colony. These representatives soon did
away with Dale's ferocious regulations, and made other and much
milder laws.
End of the Virginia Company, 1624.
Virginia a royal province.
37. Virginia becomes a Royal Province, 1624.--The
Virginians thought this was a very good way to be governed. But
King James thought that the new rulers of the Virginia Company were
much too liberal, and he determined to destroy the company. The
judges in those days dared not displease the king for he could turn
them out of office at any time. So when he told them to destroy the
Virginia charter they took the very first opportunity to declare it
to be of no force. In this way the Virginia Company came to an end,
and Virginia became a royal province with a governor appointed by
the king.
Intolerance in Virginia.
Persecution of the Puritans.
38. Religious Intolerance.--In 1625 King James died, and
his son Charles became king. He left the Virginians to themselves
for the most part. They liked this. But they did not like his
giving the northern part of Virginia to a Roman Catholic favorite,
Lord Baltimore, with the name of Maryland. Many Roman Catholics
soon settled in Lord Baltimore's colony. The Virginians feared lest
they might come to Virginia and made severe laws against them.
Puritan missionaries also came from New England and began to
convert the Virginians to Puritanism. Governor Berkeley and the
leading Virginians were Episcopalians. They did not like the
Puritans any better than they liked the Roman Catholics. They made
harsh laws against them and drove them out of Virginia into
Maryland.
Maryland given to Baltimore, 1632.
Settlement of Maryland. Higginson, 121-123;
Eggleston, 50-53; Source-book, 48-51.
39. Settlement of Maryland.--Maryland included the most
valuable portion of Virginia north of the Potomac. Beside being the
owner of all this land, Lord Baltimore was also the ruler of the
colony. He invited people to go over and settle in Maryland and
offered to give them large tracts of land on the payment of a small
sum every year forever. Each man's payment was small. But all the
payments taken together, made quite a large amount which went on
growing larger and larger as Maryland was settled. The Baltimores
were broad-minded men. They gave their colonists a large share in
the government of the colony and did what they could to bring about
religious toleration in Maryland.
Roman Catholics in England.
Roman Catholics and Puritans in Maryland.
The Toleration Act, 1649.
40. The Maryland Toleration Act, 1649.--The English Roman
Catholics were cruelly oppressed. No priest of that faith was
allowed to live in England. And Roman Catholics who were not
priests had to pay heavy fines simply because they were Roman
Catholics. Lord Baltimore hoped that his fellow Catholics might
find a place of shelter in Maryland, and many of the leading
colonists were Roman Catholics. But most of the laborers were
Protestants. Soon came the Puritans from Virginia. They were kindly
received and given land. But it was evident that it would be
difficult for Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, and Puritans to live
together without some kind of law to go by. So a law was made that
any Christian might worship as he saw fit. This was the first
toleration act in the history of America. It was the first
toleration act in the history of modern times. But the Puritan,
Roger Williams, had already established religious freedom in Rhode
Island (p. 33).
Tobacco and grain.
Commerce.
Servants and slaves.
41. Maryland Industries.--Tobacco was the most important
crop in early Maryland. But grain was raised in many parts of the
colony. In time also there grew up a large trading town. This was
Baltimore. Its shipowners and merchants became rich and numerous,
while there were almost no shipowners or merchants in Virginia.
There were also fewer slaves in Maryland than in Virginia. Nearly
all the hard labor in the former colony was done by white servants.
In most other ways, however, Virginia and Maryland were nearly
alike.
CHAPTER 6
NEW ENGLAND
The English Puritans.
Non-Conformists.
Separatists.
42. The Puritans.--The New England colonies were founded
by English Puritans who left England because they could not do as
they wished in the home land. All Puritans were agreed in wishing
for a freer government than they had in England under the Stuart
kings and in state matters were really the Liberals of their time.
In religious matters, however, they were not all of one mind. Some
of them wished to make only a few changes in the Church. These were
called Non-Conformists. Others wished to make so many changes in
religion that they could not stay in the English State Church.
These were called Separatists. The settlers of Plymouth were
Separatists; the settlers of Boston and neighboring towns were
Non-Conformists.
The Scrooby Puritans. Higginson, 55-56;
Eggleston, 34.
They flee to Holland.
They decide to emigrate to America.
43. The Pilgrims.--Of all the groups of Separatists
scattered over England none became so famous as those who met at
Elder Brewster's house at Scrooby. King James decided to make all
Puritans conform to the State Church or to hunt them out of the
land. The Scrooby people soon felt the weight of persecution. After
suffering great hardships and cruel treatment they fled away to
Holland. But there they found it very difficult to make a living.
They suffered so terribly that many of their English friends
preferred to go to prison in England rather than lead such a life
of slavery in Holland. So the Pilgrims determined to found a colony
in America. They reasoned that they could not be worse off in
America, because that would be impossible. At all events, their
children would not grow up as Dutchmen, but would still be
Englishmen. They had entire religious freedom in Holland; but they
thought they would have the same in America.
BREWSTER'S HOUSE AT SCROOBY.
The Pilgrims held their services in the building on the left,
now used as a cow-house.
The voyage of the Mayflower, 1620.
The Mayflower at Cape Cod.
44. The Voyage across the Atlantic.--Brewster's old
friend, Sir Edwin Sandys, was now at the head of the Virginia
Company. He easily procured land for the Pilgrims in northern
Virginia, near the Dutch settlements (p. 41). Some London merchants
lent them money. But they lent it on such harsh conditions that the
Pilgrims' early life in America was nearly as hard as their life
had been in Holland. They had a dreadful voyage across the Atlantic
in the Mayflower. At one time it seemed as if the ship would
surely go down. But the Pilgrims helped the sailors to place a
heavy piece of wood under one of the deck beams and saved the
vessel from going to pieces. On November 19, 1620, they sighted
land off the coast of Cape Cod. They tried to sail around the cape
to the southward, but storms drove them back, and they anchored in
Provincetown harbor.
The Pilgrims Compact, 1620.
45. The Mayflower Compact, 1620.--All the passengers on
the Mayflower were not Pilgrims. Some of them were servants
sent out by the London merchants to work for them. These men said
that as they were outside of Virginia, the leaders of the
expedition would have no power over them as soon as they got on
land. This was true enough, so the Pilgrims drew up and signed a
compact which obliged the signers to obey whatever was decided to
be for the public good. It gave the chosen leaders power to make
the unruly obey their commands.
The Pilgrims explore the coast. Explorers,
319-328.
Plymouth settled. Higginson,58-60; Eggleston, 35-38;
Source-Book, 39-41.
Sickness and death.
46. The First Winter at Plymouth.--For nearly a month the
Pilgrims explored the shores of Cape Cod Bay. Finally, on December
21, 1620, a boat party landed on the mainland inside of Plymouth
harbor. They decided to found their colony on the shore at that
place. About a week later the Mayflower anchored in Plymouth
harbor. For months the Pilgrims lived on the ship while working
parties built the necessary huts on shore. It was in the midst of a
cold New England winter. The work was hard and food and clothing
were not well suited to the worker's needs. Before the
Mayflower sailed away in the spring one-half of the little
band was dead.
The Pilgrims and the Indians. Explorers,
333-337.
Success of the colony.
New Plymouth colony.
47. New Plymouth Colony.--Of all the Indians who once had
lived near Plymouth only one remained. His name was Squanto. He
came to the Pilgrims in the spring. He taught them to grow corn and
to dig clams, and thus saved them from starvation. The Pilgrims
cared for him most kindly as long as he lived. Another and more
important Indian also came to Plymouth. He was Massasoit, chief of
the strongest Indian tribe near Plymouth. With him the Pilgrims
made a treaty which both parties obeyed for more than fifty years.
Before long the Pilgrims' life became somewhat easier. They worked
hard to raise food for themselves, they fished off the coasts, and
bought furs from the Indians. In these ways they got together
enough money to pay back the London merchants. Many of their
friends joined them. Other towns were settled near by, and Plymouth
became the capital of the colony of New Plymouth. But the colony
was never very prosperous, and in the end was added to
Massachusetts.
Founders of Massachusetts.
Explorers 341-361; Source-book 45-48, 74-76.
Settlement of Massachusetts, 1630. Higginson, 60-64;
Eggleston, 39-41.
48. The Founding of Massachusetts, 1629-30.--Unlike the
poor and humble Pilgrims were the founders of Massachusetts. They
were men of wealth and social position, as for instance, John
Winthrop and Sir Richard Saltonstall. They left comfortable homes
in England to found a Puritan state in America. They got a great
tract of land extending from the Merrimac to the Charles, and
westward across the continent. Hundreds of colonists came over in
the years 1629-30. They settled Boston, Salem, and neighboring
towns. In the next ten years thousands more joined them. From the
beginning Massachusetts was strong and prosperous. Among so many
people there were some who did not get on happily with the rulers
of the colony.
Roger Williams expelled from Massachusetts.
Higginson, 68-70.
He founds Providence, 1636. Source-book, 52-54.
49. Roger Williams and Religious Liberty.--Among the
newcomers was Roger Williams, a Puritan minister. He disagreed with
the Massachusetts leaders on several points. For instance, he
thought that the Massachusetts people had no right to their lands,
and he insisted that the rulers had no power in religious
matters--as enforcing the laws as to Sunday. He insisted on these
points so strongly that the Massachusetts government expelled him
from the colony. In the spring of 1636; with four companions he
founded the town of Providence. There he decided that every one
should be free to worship God as he or she saw fit.
Mrs. Hutchinson and her friends.
They settle Rhode Island, 1637.
50. The Rhode Island Towns.--Soon another band of exiles
came from Massachusetts. These were Mrs. Hutchinson and her
followers. Mrs. Hutchinson was a brilliant Puritan woman who had
come to Boston from England to enjoy the ministry of John Cotton,
one of the Boston ministers. She soon began to find fault with the
other ministers of the colony. Naturally, they did not like this.
Their friends were more numerous than were Mrs. Hutchinson's
friends, and the latter had to leave Massachusetts. They settled on
the island of Rhode Island (1637).
The Connecticut colonists.
Founding of Connecticut, 1635-36. Higginson, 71-72.
51. The Connecticut Colony.--Besides those Puritans whom
the Massachusetts people drove from their colony there were other
settlers who left Massachusetts of their own free will. Among these
were the founders of Connecticut. The Massachusetts people would
gladly have had them remain, but they were discontented and
insisted on going away. They settled the towns of Hartford,
Windsor, and Weathersfield, on the Connecticut River. At about the
same time John Winthrop, Jr., led a colony to Saybrook, at the
mouth of the Connecticut. Up to this time the Dutch had seemed to
have the best chance to settle the Connecticut Valley. But the
control of that region was now definitely in the hands of the
English.
Destruction of the Pequods, 1637.
52. The Pequod War, 1637.--The Pequod Indians were not so
ready as the Dutch to admit that resistance was hopeless. They
attacked Wethersfield. They killed several colonists, and carried
others away into captivity. Captain John Mason of Connecticut and
Captain John Underhill of Massachusetts went against them with
about one hundred men. They surprised the Indians in their fort.
They set fire to the fort, and shot down the Indians as they strove
to escape from their burning wigwams. In a short time the Pequod
tribe was destroyed.
[Illustration: JOHN WINTHROP, JR.]
The Connecticut Orders of 1638-39.
53. The First American Constitution, 1638-39.--The
Connecticut colonists had leisure now to settle the form of their
government. Massachusetts had such a liberal charter that nothing
more seemed to be necessary in that colony. The Mayflower Compact
did well enough for the Pilgrims. The Connecticut people had no
charter, and they wanted something more definite than a vague
compact. So in the winter of 1638-39 they met at Hartford and set
down on paper a complete set of rules for their guidance. This was
the first time in the history of the English race that any people
had tried to do this. The Connecticut constitution of 1638-39 is
therefore looked upon as "the first truly political written
constitution in history." The government thus established was very
much the same as that of Massachusetts with the exception that in
Connecticut there was no religious condition for the right to vote
as there was in Massachusetts.
The New Haven settlers.
New Haven founded, 1638. Higginson, 72-73.
54. New Haven, 1638.--The settlers of New Haven went even
farther than the Massachusetts rulers and held that the State
should really be a part of the Church. Massachusetts was not
entirely to their tastes. They passed only one winter there and
then moved away and settled New Haven. But this colony was not well
situated for commerce, and was too near the Dutch settlements (p.
41). It was never as prosperous as Connecticut and was finally
joined to that colony.
Reasons for union.
Articles of Confederation, 1643.
New England towns. Higginson, 47-79.
55. The New England Confederation, 1643.--Besides the
settlements that have already been described there were colonists
living in New Hampshire and in Maine. Massachusetts included the
New Hampshire towns within her government, for some of those towns
were within her limits. In 1640 the Long Parliament met in England,
and in 1645 Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans destroyed the royal
army in the battle of Naseby. In these troubled times England could
do little to protect the New England colonists, and could do
nothing to punish them for acting independently. The New England
colonists were surrounded by foreigners. There were the French on
the north and the east, and the Dutch on the west. The Indians,
too, were living in their midst and might at any time turn on the
whites and kill them. Thinking all these things over, the four
leading colonies decided to join together for protection. They
formed the New England Confederation, and drew up a constitution.
The colonists living in Rhode Island and in Maine did not belong to
the Confederation, but they enjoyed many of the benefits flowing
from it; for it was quite certain that the Indians and the French
and the Dutch would think twice before attacking any of the New
England settlements.
[Illustration: A CHILD'S HIGH CHAIR, ABOUT 1650.]
Education.
56. Social Conditions.--The New England colonies were all
settled on the town system, for there were no industries which
demanded large plantations--as tobacco-planting. The New Englanders
were small farmers, mechanics, ship-builders, and fishermen. There
were few servants in New England and almost no negro slaves. Most
of the laborers were free men and worked for wages as laborers now
do. Above all, the New Englanders were very zealous in the matter
of education. Harvard College was founded in 1636. A few years
later a law was passed compelling every town to provide schools for
all the children in the town.
CHAPTER 7
NEW NETHERLAND AND NEW SWEDEN
The Dutch East India Company.
57. The Dutch.--At this time the Dutch were the greatest
traders and shipowners in the world. They were especially
interested in the commerce of the East Indies. Indeed, the Dutch
India Company was the most successful trading company in existence.
The way to the East Indies lay through seas carefully guarded by
the Portuguese, so the Dutch India Company hired Henry Hudson, an
English sailor, to search for a new route to India.
Henry Hudson.
He discovers Hudson's River, 1609. Higginson, 88-90;
Explorers, 281-296.
His death. Explorers 296-302.
58. Hudson's Voyage, 1609.--He set forth in 1609 in the
Half-Moon, a stanch little ship. At first he sailed
northward, but ice soon blocked his way. He then sailed
southwestward to find a strait, which was said to lead through
America, north of Chesapeake Bay. On August 3, 1609, he reached the
entrance of what is now New York harbor. Soon the Half-Moon
entered the mouth of the river that still bears her captain's name.
Up, up the river she sailed, until finally she came to anchor near
the present site of Albany. The ship's boats sailed even farther
north. Everywhere the country was delightful. The Iroquois came off
to the ship in their canoes. Hudson received them most
kindly--quite unlike the way Champlain treated other Iroquois
Indians at about the same time, on the shore of Lake Champlain (p.
20). Then Hudson sailed down the river again and back to Europe. He
made one later voyage to America, this time under the English flag.
He was turned adrift by his men in Hudson's Bay, and perished in
the cold and ice.
The Dutch fur-traders.
Settle on Manhattan Island.
New Netherland.
59. The Dutch Fur-Traders.--Hudson's failure to find a
new way to India made the Dutch India Company lose interest in
American exploration. But many Dutch merchants were greatly
interested in Hudson's account of the "Great River of the
Mountain." They thought that they could make money from trading for
furs with the Indians. They sent many expeditions to Hudson's
River, and made a great deal of money. Some of their captains
explored the coast northward and southward as far as Boston harbor
and Delaware Bay. Their principal trading-posts were on Manhattan
Island, and near the site of Albany. In 1614 some of the leading
traders obtained from the Dutch government the sole right to trade
between New France and Virginia. They called this region New
Netherland.
The Dutch West India Company, 1621.
Higginson, 90-96; Explorers, 303-307;
Source-book, 42-44.
The patroons, 1628.
60. The Founding of New Netherland.--In 1621 the Dutch
West India Company was founded. Its first object was trade, but it
also was directed "to advance the peopling" of the American lands
claimed by the Dutch. Colonists now came over; they settled at New
Amsterdam, on the southern end of Manhattan Island, and also on the
western end of Long Island. By 1628 there were four hundred
colonists in New Netherland. But the colony did not grow rapidly,
so the Company tried to interest rich men in the scheme of
colonization, by giving them large tracts of land and large powers
of government. These great land owners were called patroons. Most
of them were not very successful. Indeed, the whole plan was given
up before long, and land was given to any one who would come out
and settle.
Governor Kieft.
Kieft orders the Indians to be killed.
Results of the massacre.
61. Kieft and the Indians, 1643-44.--The worst of the
early Dutch governors was William Kieft (Keeft). He was a bankrupt
and a thief, who was sent to New Netherland in the hope that he
would reform. At first he did well and put a stop to the smuggling
and cheating which were common in the colony. Emigrants came over
in large numbers, and everything seemed to be going on well when
Kieft's brutality brought on an Indian war that nearly destroyed
the colony. The Indians living near New Amsterdam sought shelter
from the Iroquois on the mainland opposite Manhattan Island. Kieft
thought it would be a grand thing to kill all these Indian
neighbors while they were collected together. He sent a party of
soldiers across the river and killed many of them. The result was a
fierce war with all the neighboring tribes. The Dutch colonists
were driven from their farms. Even New Amsterdam with its stockade
was not safe. For the Indians sometimes came within the stockade
and killed the people in the town. When there were less than two
hundred people left in New Amsterdam, Kieft was recalled, and Peter
Stuyvesant was sent as governor in his stead.
Peter Stuyvesant. Higginson, 97.
62. Stuyvesant's Rule.--Stuyvesant was a hot-tempered,
energetic soldier who had lost a leg in the Company's service. He
ruled New Netherland for a long time, from 1647 to 1664. And he
ruled so sternly that the colonists were glad when the English came
and conquered them. This unpopularity was not entirely Stuyvesant's
fault. The Dutch West India Company was a failure. It had no money
to spend for the defence of the colonists, and Stuyvesant was
obliged to lay heavy taxes on the people.
The Swedes on the Delaware. Higginson,
106-108.
Stuyvesant conquers them.
63. New Sweden.--When the French, the English, and the
Dutch were founding colonies in America, the Swedes also thought
that they might as well have a colony there too. They had no claim
to any land in America. But Swedish armies were fighting the
Dutchmen's battles in Europe. So the Swedes sent out a colony to
settle on lands claimed by the Dutch. As long as the European war
went on, the Swedes were not interfered with. But when the European
war came to an end, Stuyvesant was told to conquer them. This he
did without much trouble, as he had about as many soldiers as there
were Swedish colonists. In this way New Sweden became a part of New
Netherland.
Summary.
The Chesapeake Colonies.
The New England Colonies.
64. Summary.--We have seen how the French, the Dutch, the
Swedish, and the English colonies were established on the Atlantic
seashore and in the St. Lawrence valley. South of these settlements
there was the earlier Spanish colony at St. Augustine. The Spanish
colonists were very few in number, but they gave Spain a claim to
Florida. The Swedish colony had been absorbed by the stronger Dutch
colony. We have also seen how very unlike were the two English
groups of colonies. They were both settled by Englishmen, but there
the likeness stops. For Virginia and Maryland were slave colonies.
They produced large crops of tobacco. The New England colonists on
the other hand were practically all free. They lived in towns and
engaged in all kinds of industries. In the next hundred years we
shall see how the English conquered first the Dutch and then the
French; how they planted colonies far to the south of Virginia and
in these ways occupied the whole coast north of Florida.
QUESTIONS AND TOPICS
CHAPTER 4
§§ 26, 27.--a. Mark on a map all the places
mentioned in these sections.
b. Describe Champlain's attacks on the Iroquois.
§§ 28-30.--a. Compare the reasons for the
coming of the French and the Spaniards.
b. What work did the Jesuits do for the Indians?
c. Explain carefully why the hostility of the Iroquois to
the French was so important.
CHAPTER 5
§§ 31, 32.--a. Give two reasons for the revival
of English colonial enterprises.
b. Describe the voyage and early experiences of the
Virginia colonists.
c. Give three reasons for the sufferings of the Virginia
colonists.
§§ 33-35.--a. What do you think of Sir Thomas
Dale?
b. To what was the prosperity of Virginia due? Why?
c. What classes of people were there in Virginia?
§§ 36-38.--a. What is the meaning of the word
"Puritan" (see § 43)? Why is Sir Edwin Sandys regarded as the
founder of free government in the English colonies?
b. Describe the laws of Virginia as to Roman Catholics
and Puritans.
§§ 39-41.--a. Describe Lord Baltimore's
treatment of his settlers. What do you think of the wisdom of his
actions?
b. How were Roman Catholics treated in England?
c. What is meant by toleration? Who would be excluded by
the Maryland Toleration Act?
d. Describe the likenesses and the differences between
Virginia and Maryland.
CHAPTER 6
§§ 42-47.--a. Describe the voyage of the
Mayflower.
b. What was the object of the Mayflower Compact?
c. Describe the Pilgrims' search for a place of
settlement.
d. Read Bradford's account of the first winter at
Plymouth.
e. What did Squanto do for the Pilgrims?
§§ 48-50.--a. What advantages did the founders
of Massachusetts have over those of New Plymouth?
b. Look up the history of England, 1630-40, and say why
so many colonists came to New England in those years.
c. On what matters did Roger Williams disagree with the
rulers of Massachusetts?
d. How are Williams's ideas as to religious freedom
regarded now?
e. Why was Mrs. Hutchinson expelled from
Massachusetts?
§§ 51-54.--a. How did the Pequod War affect the
colonists on the Connecticut?
b. What is a constitution? Why did the Connecticut people
feel the need of one? Why is the Connecticut constitution
famous?
c. Why did the New Haven settlers found a separate
colony?
§§ 55, 56.--a. What two parties were fighting
in England?
b. Give all the reasons for the formation of the New
England Confederation. What were the effects of this union?
c. Compare the industries of New England with those of
Virginia.
CHAPTER 7
§§ 57-59.--a. Why did the Dutch East India
Company wish a northern route to India?
b. Describe Hudson's and Champlain's expeditions, and
compare their treatment of the Iroquois.
c. What attracted the Dutch to the region discovered by
Hudson?
§§ 60-62.--a. What was the object of the Dutch
West India Company? What privileges did the patroons have?
b. Describe the career of Kieft. What were the results of
his treatment of the Indians?
c. What kind of a governor was Stuyvesant? Why was he
unpopular?
§ 63.--a. In what European war were the Swedes and
the Dutch engaged?
b. On what land did the Swedes settle?
c. Describe how New Sweden was joined to New
Netherland.
GENERAL QUESTIONS
a. Mark on a map in colors the lands settled by the
different European nations.
b. Note the position of the Dutch with reference to the
English, and explain the importance of such position.
c. Give one fact about each of the colonies, and state
why you think it important.
d. Give one fact which especially interests you in
connection with each colony, and explain your interest.
e. In which colony would you have liked to live, and
why?
TOPICS FOR SPECIAL WORK
a. Champlain's place in American history (Parkman's
Pioneers).
b. The First American Legislature and its work (Hart's
Contemporaries, I., No. 65).
c. Why did the Pilgrims come to America? (Bradford's
Plymouth).
d. Arrange a table of the several settlements similar to
that described on page 18.
e. Write a composition on life in early colonial days
(Eggleston's United States, 91-113).
SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHER
In treating this chapter aim to make clear the reasons for and
conditions of the settlement of each colony. Vividness can best be
obtained by a study of the writings of the time, especially of
Bradford's History of Plymouth. Use pictures in every
possible way and molding board as well.
Emphasize the lack of true liberty of thought, and lead the
children to understand that persecution was a characteristic of the
time and not a failing of any particular colony or set of
colonists.
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