The Colonization Of North America Part 8

OPENING THE UPPER LAKE REGION AND THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY

Two Lines of Approach.--The French had now established themselves firmly in the lower St. Lawrence basin and in the Caribbean area. From these two bases they now proceeded to the Mississippi Valley and the northern Gulf littoral. From the St. Lawrence they made their way over the portages to the tributaries of the Father of Waters. From the West Indies the Gulf of Mexico served as a highway.

Occupation of the upper lakes.--After the failure of the Huron missions, the Jesuits extended their field of operations to the sh.o.r.es of Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. The mission at Sault Ste. Marie was revived; in 1665 La Pointe mission near the western end of Lake Superior was established by Father Allouez, who was succeeded by Marquette four years later. Between 1670 and 1672 St. Ignace, at Michillimackinac, and St.

Xavier on Green Bay (at De Pere) were established. In 1670 Talon despatched Saint Lusson to take possession of the Northwest; at a meeting of the tribes at Sault Ste. Marie the following year the sovereignty of the king over that region was proclaimed. Albanel was also sent to open communication between the St. Lawrence and Hudson Bay.

Marquette and Joliet.--In 1672 Count Frontenac became governor and lieutenant-general of New France. Shortly after his arrival at Quebec, at the suggestion of Talon, he sent the fur trader Joliet to find the Mississippi. At Michillimackinac he met the missionary Marquette, who decided to accompany him. On May 17, 1673, they started westward; after reaching Green Bay, they followed the Fox and Wisconsin rivers to the Mississippi, which they descended to the mouth of the Arkansas, just at the time when Father Larios was founding Spanish missions near the Rio Grande. Being convinced that the Mississippi emptied into the Gulf of Mexico, and fearing that they might fall into the hands of the Spaniards, they determined to turn back. The return was by the Mississippi, the Illinois, and Chicago rivers and the western sh.o.r.es of Lake Michigan. Father Marquette returned to work among the Illinois, but was soon forced by illness to abandon the field. On his way north he died at the site of Ludington. His work among the Illinois was taken up by others, among them being Fathers Allouez and Hennepin.

Fort Frontenac.--While Joliet and Marquette were exploring the Mississippi, the governor was engaged in founding Fort Frontenac, on the northern sh.o.r.e of the outlet of Lake Ontario, near modern Kingston, his purpose being to overawe the Iroquois, and to divert their trade and allegiance from the English. With the governor was La Salle, who later became commandant of the new fort.

Frontenac's quarrels.--Shortly after Frontenac became governor the king again changed the form of government. The council was increased to seven members who held office directly from the king. Its chief function was judicial. A minor court called the _prevote_, having original jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases, was reestablished, appeals being taken from the _prevote_ to the council. Frontenac, who was of an imperious nature and exceedingly jealous of his authority, quarreled with the officials and clergy of Montreal, with Laval who had recently been made Bishop of Quebec, with the new intendant d.u.c.h.esneau, and with the council. Regulation of the fur trade and questions of authority were the fruitful sources of disagreement. Under such conditions the colony did not advance rapidly. As Le Sueur says in his life of Frontenac, "The great trouble in Canada was that it was an overgoverned country.... What these people needed in the first place was freedom to seek their living in their own way, and secondly, an extremely simple form of government."

The constant bickering finally exhausted the patience of the home government, and in 1682 both Frontenac and d.u.c.h.esneau were recalled.

La Salle's fur trade monopoly.--During Frontenac's administration La Salle was engaged in the exploration of the Illinois country and the Mississippi. Having secured a royal patent to build forts and engage in the fur trade in the interior, La Salle, with a party which included Tonty, an Italian soldier of fortune, and the Recollet Hennepin, erected a fort at Niagara Falls and built a vessel called the _Griffon_, on which in 1679 they sailed up the lakes to Green Bay. The boat was sent back with a cargo of furs, but never reached its destination. The sh.o.r.es of Lake Michigan and the Illinois country were explored and Fort Crevecur was erected near the site of Peoria. From there Accau and Hennepin were sent to explore the upper Mississippi. La Salle then returned to Fort Frontenac, crossing lower Michigan and following Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

Exploration of the Mississippi.--While La Salle was gone, Tonty occupied Starved Rock, later known as Fort St. Louis, but a mutiny and an Iroquois invasion forced the French to return to Green Bay, so that when La Salle returned he found the country abandoned. After a fruitless search, he heard from the Indians of Tonty's whereabouts and hastened north to meet him. Together they returned to Fort Frontenac. Nothing daunted, they again sought the Mississippi. On December 21, 1681, they were again at Fort Miami, at the mouth of the St. Joseph River. On February 6, 1682, they reached the Mississippi, and arrived at its mouth in April, when they took formal possession of the great valley, naming it Louisiana in honor of the king. By the end of September they were back at Fort Miami, and in 1683 the leader returned to Quebec.

La Salle's Colony on the Gulf.--La Salle now planned a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River, as a means of developing the fur trade, controlling the Mississippi Valley, providing a base for commanding the Gulf, and, in case of war, for attack on the coveted mines of New Spain.

France and Spain were on the verge of war, and in 1683 French buccaneers three times sacked the Spanish settlement of Apalache. La Salle's proposals were favored, therefore, by Louis XIV. In the summer of 1684 La Salle left France with a colony of some four hundred people. In the autumn he reached the West Indies, the ketch _St. Francois_ having been captured by the Spaniards on the way. Continuing the voyage in November, La Salle missed the mouth of the Mississippi and landed on the Texas coast at Matagorda Bay. Tonty descended the Mississippi to cooperate (1686), but did not find his chief. On the way he built a small post on the Arkansas.

[Ill.u.s.tration: La Salle's Colony on the Texas Coast, 1684-1689.]

Failure.--The expedition rapidly went to pieces. One vessel was wrecked in landing, and Beaujeu, the naval commander, returned to France with a second, and part of the men and supplies. La Salle moved his colony inland to the Garcitas River, near the head of the Lavaca Bay, where he founded Fort St. Louis, and then began a series of expeditions northeastward in the hope of finding the Mississippi River. While engaged in exploring, the last of his vessels was wrecked. Through desertion and sickness the colony rapidly dwindled. On his third expedition northeastward, in 1687, La Salle reached the Hasinai (Cenis) Indians, east of the Trinity River. On his fourth expedition he was murdered by his companions near the Brazos River. The remainder of his party, led by Joutel, made their way to the Arkansas post and to Canada.

In the fall of 1689 Tonty, in an effort to rescue La Salle's colonists, descended the Mississippi River, and made his way to the Cadodacho and Hasinai villages. Meanwhile the colony on the Gulf had been completely wiped out by an Indian ma.s.sacre which occurred early in 1689. La Salle's occupation of Matagorda Bay later became a basis of the claim of the United States to Texas.

Explorers in the Southwest.--The failure of La Salle's colony did not put an end to exploration in the Southwest. Interest in a pa.s.sage to the South Sea was perennial, and no tale of Spanish treasure was too guttering to find credence on the French frontier. Mathieu Sagean told of a golden country of the Accanibas, and Baron La Hontan of a Long River. The _coureurs de bois_ were ever led west and southwest in their fur trading operations. The result was that in this western country traders from Canada roamed far and wide at an early date. A Canadian is known to have reached the Rio Grande overland before 1688 and by 1694 Canadian traders were among the Missouri and Osage tribes.

The upper Mississippi--Duluth.--While La Salle was operating in the Illinois country, others were at work in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. In 1678 Duluth, a cousin of Tonty, left Montreal for the west. For several years he traded among the tribes west of Lake Superior. Hearing in 1680 that Frenchmen were near, he went in search of them, and found Accau and Hennepin, who had explored the upper Mississippi. Duluth went to France, where he secured a license to trade with the Sioux. In 1683 he returned to Wisconsin with thirty men, proceeded to the north sh.o.r.e of Lake Superior, and built forts near Lake Nipigon and Pigeon River. The highway from Brule River to the St. Croix became known as Duluth's Portage. In 1686 he erected a temporary fort near Detroit to bar the English traders.

Le Sueur.--Between 1683 and 1700 Le Sueur, a prominent fur trader, operated in Minnesota and Wisconsin. In 1683 he was at St. Anthony's Falls. The Fox Indians of Wisconsin opposed the pa.s.sage of the French to the Sioux and practically cut off their trade route. For this reason Le Sueur protected the Brule-St. Croix highway. To effect this, in 1693 he built a fort at Chequamegon Bay, on the south sh.o.r.e of Lake Superior, and another on the Mississippi near the mouth of the St. Croix. This post became a center of commerce for the western posts. In 1697 Le Sueur was in France, where he secured permission to work copper mines near Lake Superior. In 1699 he went from France to Louisiana with Iberville.

Thence, with twenty-nine men, he ascended the Mississippi to Blue River, Minnesota, and built Fort L'Huiller (1700) at Mankato, where he traded with the Sioux.

Perrot.--In 1685 Nicholas Perrot, who had been in Wisconsin as early as 1665, and had acquired great influence over the western tribes, was made "commander of the west" and sent among the Sioux. In 1686 he built Fort St. Antoine on the Mississippi near Trempealeau, Wisconsin. Other posts established by him were Fort Perrot on the west side of Lake Pepin, Fort Nicholas at Prairie du Chien, and one farther down the Mississippi near the Galena lead mines, which he discovered and worked.

The Illinois and Detroit.--In the Illinois country the French Jesuits labored from the time of Marquette, among his successors being Fathers Allouez and Hennepin. In 1699 a Sulpician mission was established at Cahokia and in 1700 the Jesuits moved down the Illinois River to Kaskaskia. A year later Detroit was founded to protect the route from Lake Erie to Lake Huron, cut off English trade with the Indians, and afford a base for the Illinois trade. Missionaries entered the region of the lower Mississippi and the lower Ohio, where Tonty and other Frenchmen maintained a considerable trade.

Traders on the Tennessee.--Because of Iroquois control of the country south of the Great Lakes and as far as the Tennessee River, the French in La Salle's time had little knowledge of the Ohio and its tributaries.

At that period the Shawnee of the Tennessee and c.u.mberland Rivers were declining under Iroquois attacks. On the upper Tennessee lived the Cherokees. In spite of the Iroquois, however, by the end of the century several _coureurs de bois_ of Canada had ascended the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers, crossed the divide, and descended the Savannah River into South Carolina, in defiance of the government, which tried to maintain a trade monopoly. Their activities brought them into rivalry with the English on the Carolina frontier.

Couture and Bellefeuille.--Among these pathfinders was Jean Couture, who had been left by Tonty at the Arkansas post. As early as 1693 he deserted the French colony and made his way overland to the English. In 1699 he was on the Savannah, where he proposed to lead the English to certain mines in the west. Returning, he led a party of English traders, sent by Governor Blake of South Carolina, up the Savannah, and down the Tennessee and Ohio, in an attempt to divert the western trade from Canada to the English. In February, 1700, they reached the Arkansas River, where they were met by Le Sueur on his way up the river to Minnesota. At the request of Iberville, the new governor of Louisiana, the government now permitted Illinois traders to sell their peltry in Louisiana, to prevent them from earning it over the mountains to the English. In 1701 a party of Frenchmen under Bellefeuille and Soton crossed the mountains to South Carolina, and attempted to open up trade.

Returning they descended the Mississippi and visited Biloxi. It was now proposed, in order to stop the road to Carolina, that posts be established on the Miami and the lower Ohio. For this purpose Juchereau de St. Denis established a post at Cairo in 1702. Through the establishment of Louisiana and the opening of trade with Canada, this danger was largely averted.

READINGS

EARLY EXPLORATIONS AND COLONIZING EFFORTS

Baird, C.W., _Huguenot Emigration_; Brevoort, J.C., _Verrazano the Navigator_; Channing, Edward, _History of the United States_, I, 90-112; De Costa, B.F., _Verrazano the Explorer_; French, B.F., _Historical Collections of Louisiana and Florida_, 117-362; Hamilton, P.J., _The Colonization of the South_, 27-41; Hart. A.B., _Contemporaries_, I, 102-112; Leac.o.c.k, Stephen, _The Mariner of St. Malo_; Lescarbot, Marc, _History of New France_; Munro, W.B., _Crusaders of New France_, 11-32; Murphy, H.C., _Voyage of Verrazano_; Parkman, Francis, _The Pioneers of France in the New World_, 1-228; Shea, J.G., in Winsor, _Narrative and Critical History_, II, 260-283; Tracy, F.B., _Tercentenary History of Canada_, I, 20-37; Winsor, Justin, _Cartier to Frontenac_, 1-47; Biggar, H.P., _The Precursors of Jacques Cartier_.

ACADIA AND THE ST. LAWRENCE VALLEY

Biggar, H.P., _Early Trading Companies of New France_; Bourne, E.G., _Voyages and Explorations of Champlain (Trail Makers' Series)_; Champlain, Samuel, _uvres_ (Laverdiere, ed.); Colby, C.W., _The Founder of New France_; Dionne, N.E., _Champlain_; Grant, W.L., _Voyages of Champlain (Original Narratives Series)_; Kingsford, William, _The History of Canada_, I, 147-294; Le Sueur, W.D., _Frontenac_, 1-60; Marquis, T.G., _The Jesuit Missions_; Parkman, Francis, _Old Regime in Canada_, 3-168; _Pioneers of New France_, 324-454; _The Jesuits in North America_; Thwaites, R.G., _France in America_, 10-48; Tracy, F.B., _Tercentenary History of Canada_, I, 41-279; Winsor, Justin, _From Cartier to Frontenac_, 77-183; Munro, W.B., _Crusaders of New France_.

REORGANIZATION AND THE WEST INDIES

Chapais, Thomas, _The Great Intendant_; Haring, C.H., _The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century_; Mims, S.L., _Colbert's West India Policy_; Munro, W.B., _The Seigneurs of Old Canada_; Parkman, Francis, _The Old Regime_, 169-330.

THE UPPER LAKES AND THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY

Bolton, H.E., "The Location of La Salle's Colony on the Gulf of Mexico,"

in _Mississippi Valley Historical Review_, II, 165-182; Charlevoix, P.F.X., _Histoire Generale de la Nouvelle France_ (J.G. Shea, trans.): c.o.x, I.J., _Journeys of La Salle (Trail Makers' Series)_; Folwell, W.W., _Minnesota_, 59-65; Hamilton, P.J., _The Colonization of the South_, 187-196; Kellogg, L.P., ed., _Early Narratives of the Northwest (Original Narratives Series)_: Le Sueur, W.D., _Frontenac_, 61-169; Ogg, F.A., _The Opening of the Mississippi_, 59-163; Parish, J.C., _The Man with the Iron Hand_; Parkman, Francis, _La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West_; Phelps, Albert, _Louisiana_, 6-20; Shea, J.G., _Exploration of the Mississippi Valley_; Thwaites, R.G., _France in America_, 48-71; _Wisconsin_, 40-71; Winsor, Justin, _Cartier to Frontenac_, 183-295.

CHAPTER V

THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLISH EXPANSION (1485-1603)

THE TUDOR PERIOD

Periods of English activities.--While the French were colonizing Canada and the West Indies, and the Spaniards were opening mines and ranches in northern Mexico, the English were founding still more vigorous settlements on the Atlantic seaboard, in the islands, and in the region of Hudson Bay.

The history of English activities in America before 1783 may be divided into four periods: (1) The Tudor epoch (1485-1603), which was a period of commercial expansion, exploration, and attempted colonization; (2) the Stuart and Cromwellian era (1603-1689), the period of colony planting; (3) the international struggle for territory (1689-1763); and (4) the struggle of a part of the English colonists for independence (1763-1783).

Henry VII.--When Henry Tudor ascended the throne of England a new era was ushered in. The continental possessions except Calais had been swept away in the Hundred Years' War. The Wars of the Roses had broken the power of the feudal barony, and the middle cla.s.s Englishman had become the most important political element in the nation. The general form of the const.i.tution had become fixed, the functions of the three branches of the government, the king and his council, parliament, and the courts, having become fairly well defined. The work of Henry Tudor was to restore the finances, to build up commerce and industry, to keep England at peace, and at the same time, by a series of marriage alliances and by adroit diplomacy to raise England to her former position as a great European power. He also built up the kingship at the expense of a subservient parliament.

The English Reformation.--During the three succeeding reigns, England played little part in exploration. While Spain was founding her vast colonial empire, the attention of Englishmen was centered on the European situation created by Charles V and on the great religious controversy, which resulted in the break with Rome and the establishment of the Anglican church.

Queen Elizabeth.--With the accession of Queen Elizabeth a new situation arose. To the Catholic powers, Elizabeth had no right to the throne of England. Philip II of Spain hoped to restore the country to the Catholic fold; his first wife was Queen Mary of England, and under his influence a short-lived Catholic reaction had been produced; if Elizabeth could now be induced to turn Catholic and marry Philip, England might be won back to the Roman church. Elizabeth, however, followed an independent course, dangling before the eyes of the Spanish amba.s.sador the possibility of a marriage with Philip, while perfecting the organization of the Anglican church, increasing her hold upon the affections of her subjects, strengthening her treasury, army, navy, and defences, and stimulating industry and commerce. Her path was beset with additional difficulties, for the powerful Catholic party in France was intriguing to place Mary Stuart, the queen of Scotland, on the English throne. To weaken her foes, Elizabeth aided the Huguenots, a.s.sisted the Dutch in their war against Spain, and connived with English mariners to raid the Spanish Main. In 1588 the patience of Philip was exhausted, and he sought to humble the haughty queen by sending the Invincible Armada against England. A running fight occurred in the Channel and several of the galleons were sunk or driven on sh.o.r.e. The Armada entered the roads of Calais but a great storm shattered the fleet. Of the original one hundred and thirty vessels only one-third returned to Spain. The defeat of the Armada marks a turning point in Spanish and English history. From that time Spain was thrown on the defensive and her power on the continent gradually declined, though her colonies continued to expand.

England followed up her success by taking the offensive; an era of greater commercial activity followed, and she soon entered upon her role of a colonizing nation.

COMMERCIAL EXPANSION

John Cabot.--The discovery of new lands in the west soon became known in England, and when the Venetian citizen, John Cabot, applied for letters patent to go on a western voyage, Henry VII readily complied. In May, 1497, his single ship with eighteen men set sail from Bristol and crossed the north Atlantic. It is impossible to state with certainty what part of the coast was visited, but it appears to have been in the neighborhood of Cape Breton Island. The idea that Sebastian Cabot accompanied his father is generally rejected by the best authorities.

The importance of the voyage lies in the fact that it was used at a later date to strengthen the English claim to a large part of North America. The following year John Cabot sailed for the new found land but never returned.

The Newfoundland fisheries.--Cabot's voyage had another important result. He had discovered a convenient trade route to the fisheries of Newfoundland, and English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese fishing vessels soon swarmed the region. English ships are thought to have traded there regularly after 1502. Expeditions are known to have been made thither in 1527 and 1536, and before 1550 fishing fleets went from southern England to Newfoundland every spring and autumn.

The Muscovy Company.--The latter half of the Tudor period witnessed the formation of great companies which reached out for foreign trade. In 1553 a group of London merchants decided to make an attempt to reach China and the East Indies by a northern route. Under the command of Willoughby and Chancellor, three ships sailed along the Norway coast and rounded the North Cape. Willoughby and the crews of two of the ships perished on the coast of Lapland, but Chancellor entered the White Sea and penetrated to Moscow, where he was promised trading privileges by Ivan the Terrible. In 1555 the merchants who were interested in the expedition were granted a royal charter, the company being familiarly known as the Muscovy Company. Annual fleets were despatched to the White and Baltic seas; warehouses were established at various points in Russia, and the agents of the company extended their activities to the Caspian Sea, to Bokhara, and to Persia. In 1580 the Turks cut them off from the region outside of European Russia. Occasional unsuccessful attempts were also made by the company to reach China by the northern route. In 1579 the Eastland Company, a rival organization, was chartered to trade in the Baltic, and developed an extensive trade in Poland.

The Levant Company.--English merchants also turned their attention to the Mediterranean to renew a trade which had formerly been of some importance. In 1581 a charter was issued to the Levant Company, which engaged in trading with the Turkish ports along the southern and eastern sh.o.r.es of the Mediterranean. The same year a charter was granted to the Venetian Company and in 1592 the two were combined as the Levant Company. Among those interested in the Mediterranean commerce were Sir Thomas Smythe and Sir Walter Raleigh, both of whom were important figures in the colonization of Virginia. Other groups of merchants opened trade with Morocco, and the Senegambia and Guinea coasts. In all of these enterprises Englishmen were reaching out for the trade with the East Indies, which had long been monopolized by the Portuguese. In 1581, the year in which the Levant Company was chartered, Portugal was incorporated with Spain, and hostility to that power added another incentive to reach the East.

THE ELIZABETHAN SEA-DOGS

John Hawkins.--Among those interested in the African trade was William Hawkins, who filled the important positions of mayor of Plymouth and member of parliament. He made three voyages to Guiana and Brazil. His son, John Hawkins, became one of the most famous mariners of his time.