A Short History of the United States Part 3

d. The "Lost Colony," Higginson's _Explorers_.

e. The England of Elizabeth (a study of any small history of England will suffice for this topic).

SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHER

The teacher is recommended to study sources in preparing her work, making selections where possible, for the pupil's use. Some knowledge of European history (English especially) is essential for understanding our early history, and definite work of this nature on the teacher's part, at least, is earnestly advised.

Encourage outside reading by a.s.signing subjects for individual preparation, the results to be given to the cla.s.s. Let the children keep note books for entering the important points thus given.

Map study and map drawing should be constant, but demand correct relations rather than finished drawings. Geographical environment should be emphasized as well as the influence of natural resources and productions in developing the country and in determining its history.

In laying out the work on this period the teacher should remember that this part is in the nature of an introduction.

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

[Sidenote: Settlement of Acadia, 1604.]

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: Champlain at Plymouth.]

[Sidenote: Quebec founded, 1608.]

[Sidenote: Champlain on Lake Champlain, 1609.]

[Sidenote: 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 pa.s.sed 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.

[Sidenote: French missionaries and traders.]

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: The Jesuits and their work.]

29. The French Missionaries.--The most active of the French missionaries were the Jesuits. built stations on the sh.o.r.es 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHAMPLAIN'S ATTACK ON AN IROQUOIS FORT.]

[Sidenote: The League of the Iroquois.]

[Sidenote: Their hatred of the French. Its importance.]

[Sidenote: 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

[Sidenote: New conditions of living in England.]

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: The Virginia colonists at Jamestown, 1607. _Higginson_, 52, 110-117; _Eggleston_, 19-28; _Explorers_ 231-269.]

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: Sir Thomas Dale.]

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: Tobacco.]