THOMAS MAITLAND MARSHALL, Ph.D.
PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1920
PREFACE
This book represents an attempt to bring into one account the story of European expansion in North America down to 1783. Text-books written in this country as a rule treat the colonization of the New World as the history, almost solely, of the thirteen English colonies which formed the nucleus of the United States. The authors have essayed to write a book from a different point of view. It has been prepared in response to a clear demand for a text written from the standpoint of North America as a whole, and giving a more adequate treatment of the colonies of nations other than England and of the English colonies other than the thirteen which revolted. This demand is the inevitable result of the growing importance of our American neighbors and of our rapidly growing interest in the affairs of the whole continent, past as well as present.
The book is divided into three main parts: I. The Founding of the Colonies; II. Expansion and International Conflict; III. The Revolt of the English Colonies. The keynote is expansion. The spread of civilization in America has been presented against a broad European background. Not only colonial beginnings but colonial growth has been traced. This method accounts for the development of all geographical sections, and shows the relation of each section to the history of the continent as a whole. When thus presented the early history of Massachusetts, of Georgia, of Arkansas, of Illinois, or of California is no longer merely local history, but is an integral part of the general story. The colonies of the different nations are treated, in so far as practicable, in the chronological order of their development, the desire being to give a correct view of the time sequence in the development of the different regions.
A principal aim of the authors has been to make the book comprehensive. The activities of the Dutch and Swedes on the Atlantic mainland are given a large setting in both Europe and the New World. The account of French expansion in North America has been extended beyond the conventional presentation to embrace the West Indies, the founding of Louisiana, and the advance of the French pioneers across the Mississippi and up its tributaries, and up the Saskatchewan to the Rocky Mountains. The story of English expansion embraces not only the thirteen colonies which revolted, but also the Bermudas, the West Indies, Hudson Bay, Canada, and the Floridas. The treatment of the new British possessions between 1763 and 1783 aims to present in one view the story of the expansion of the whole English frontier, from Florida to Hudson Bay.
The Spanish colonies of North America, in particular, have been accorded a more adequate treatment than is usual in textbooks. To writers of United States history the Spaniards have appeared to be mere explorers. Students of American history in a larger sense, however, know that Spain transplanted Spanish civilization and founded vast and populous colonies, represented to-day by some twenty republics and many millions of people. The notion, so widely current in this country, that Spain "failed" as a colonizer, arises from a faulty method. In treating Spain's part in the New World it has been customary, after recounting the discovery of America, to proceed at once to territory now within the United States—Florida, New Mexico, Texas—forgetting that these regions were to Spain only northern outposts, and omitting the wonderful story of Spanish achievement farther south. This book being a history of the colonization of North America, Spain's great colonies in South America, now powerful nations, fall beyond our geographical limits.
When approached from a new viewpoint many familiar things appear in a new light. Hitherto, for example, the inter-colonial wars in North America have been regarded mainly as a struggle between France and England, and as confined chiefly to the Canadian border. By following the larger story of European expansion, however, it becomes plain that there was an Anglo-Spanish and a Franco-Spanish, as well as a Franco-English struggle for the continent, not to mention the ambitions and efforts of Dutch, Swedes, Russians, and Danes. In nearly all the general inter-colonial wars the Caribbean area and the Carolina-Florida frontier were scenes of frequent conflicts quite as important as those waged on the Canadian border. Between France and Spain a border contest endured for more than a century and extended all the way from the Lesser Antilles to the Platte River. The Anglo-French contest ended in 1763; but the Anglo-Spanish conflict, which began in the sixteenth century, endured to the end of the eighteenth and, in the hands of the American offspring of Spain and England, to the middle of the nineteenth century.
Some teachers may for special reasons wish to treat the development of the colonies of a single nation as a continuous movement, or in longer periods, less frequently broken by happenings in the colonies of other nations. This can be done conveniently by grouping the chapters in the desired order. A continuous account of Spanish expansion is given in Chapters II, III, XIII, XVI, and XXI. A connected story of French America is told in Chapters IV, XIV, XV, XX. By omitting these and Chapter IX a continuous narrative of English expansion is obtained.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE FOUNDING OF THE COLONIES
[I.] THE BACKGROUND AND THE DISCOVERY
[Growth of Geographical Knowledge]
[Portuguese Discoveries]
[Columbus and the Discovery of America]
[II.] THE FOUNDING OF NEW SPAIN (1492-1543)
[Spain during the Conquest]
[The Occupation of the West Indies]
[Beginnings of Colonial Administration and Policy]
[Exploration of the Mainland Coasts and the Search for a Strait]
[The Mayas and the Nahuas]
[The Conquest of Central America]
[The Conquest of the Valley of Mexico]
[The Spread of the Conquest]
[Explorations in the Northern Interior and on the Pacific]
[The Establishment of the Viceroyalty of New Spain]
[III.] THE EXPANSION OF NEW SPAIN (1543-1609)
[Old and New Spain under Philip II]
[The Mines of Northern Mexico]
[The Settlement of the Atlantic Seaboard]
[Foreign Intrusions in the Atlantic]
[The Philippines and California]
[The Founding of New Mexico]
[Spanish Achievements in the 16th Century]
[IV.] THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FRENCH COLONIES (1500-1700)
[The French Background]
[Early Explorations and Colonizing Efforts]
[Acadia]
[The St. Lawrence Valley]
[Reorganization and the Iroquois Wars]
[The West Indies]
[Opening the Upper Lake Region and the Mississippi Valley]
[V.] THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLISH EXPANSION (1485-1603)
[The Tudor Period]
[Commercial Expansion]
[The Elizabethan Sea-dogs]
[The Search for a Northwest Passage]
[Attempts at Colonization]
[VI.] THE CHESAPEAKE BAY AND INSULAR COLONIES (1603-1640)
[England under the Early Stuarts, 1603-1640]
[The Colonial Administrative System of the Early Stuarts]
[The Founding of Virginia]
[The Founding of Maryland]
[The Bermudas]
[Guiana]
[The Lesser Antilles]
[The Providence Island Company]
[VII.] THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND (1606-1640)
[The Puritan Movement in England]
[The Plymouth Colony]
[Colonizing Activities on the New England Coast]
[The Massachusetts Bay Colony]
[Expansion of the Massachusetts Bay Colony]
Rhode Island
[Settlements in the Connecticut Valley]
[VIII.] THE ENGLISH COLONIES DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD (1640-1660)
[Politics, Administration, and Expansion]
[New England Development]
[Virginia and Maryland]
[IX.] THE DUTCH AND SWEDISH COLONIES (1609-1664)
[Dutch Expansion]
[New Netherlands]
[The Dutch and the Swedes on the Delaware]
[Absorption of New Netherlands by the English]
[X.] THE OLD ENGLISH COLONIES UNDER THE LATER STUARTS (1660-1689)
[Colonial Policy and Administration]
[Machinery of Government]
[Misrule and Rebellion in Virginia]
[Discontent in Maryland]
[Royal Interference in New England]
[XI.] EXPANSION UNDER THE LATER STUARTS (1660-1689)
[New York]
[The Jerseys]
[Pennsylvania]
[The Insular Colonies]
[The Carolinas]
[Western Trade and Exploration]
[Hudson's Bay Company]
[XII.] THE ENGLISH MAINLAND COLONIES AT THE CLOSE OF THE SEVENTEENTH
CENTURY
[New England]
[New York and East New Jersey]
[Colonies along Delaware River and Bay]
[The Chesapeake Bay Region]
[South Carolina]
EXPANSION AND INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT
[XIII.] THE SPANISH ADVANCE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
[Spain and the Colonies in the Seventeenth Century]
[Frontier Administration]
[The Missions]
[The Jesuits in Sinaloa and Sonora]
[Efforts to Occupy Lower California]
[The Settlement of Chihuahua]
[New Mexico in the Seventeenth Century]
[Coahuila Occupied]
[First Attempts in Eastern Texas]
[The Struggle with Rivals in the West Indies]
[The Struggle with the English on the Carolina Border]
[XIV.] THE WARS OF THE ENGLISH AND SPANISH SUCCESSIONS (1684-1713)
[The Preliminary Struggle for the Northern Fur Country]
[The War of the English Succession]
[The War of the Spanish Succession]
[The Peace of Utrecht]
[XV.] THE FRENCH IN LOUISIANA AND THE FAR NORTHWEST (1699-1762)
[The Founding of Louisiana]
[Louisiana under the Company of the Indies]
[Louisiana under the Royal Governors]
[The Trans-Mississippi West]
[The Advance Toward New Mexico]
[The Far Northwest]
[XVI.] TEXAS, PIMERÍA ALTA, AND THE FRANCO-SPANISH BORDER CONFLICT
(1687-1763)
[Northeastward Advance of the Spanish Frontier]
[The Founding of Texas]
[War with France]
[The Expansion of Texas]
[The Franco-Spanish Border]
[Pimería Alta]
[The Jesuits in Lower California]
[XVII.] THE ENGLISH ADVANCE INTO THE PIEDMONT (1715-1750)
[The Westward Movement]
[Defence of the Northern Frontier]
[Reorganization of the Carolinas]
[The Founding of Georgia]
[The German and Swiss Migration]
[The Scotch-Irish]
[Significance of the Settlement of the Piedmont]
[XVIII.] ENGLISH COLONIAL SOCIETY IN THE MIDDLE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
[General Features]
[New England Industry]
[The Middle Colonies]
[The Southern Colonies]
[Labor Systems]
[Features of Society]
[Barbados, the Leeward Isles, and Jamaica]
[XIX.] THE ENGLISH COLONIAL SYSTEM (1689-1763)
[The First Reorganization of William III]
[William's Second Reorganizatio]n
[The Colonial System During the Reign of Anne]
[The Colonial System Under the Whigs]
[XX.] A QUARTER-CENTURY OF CONFLICT: THE EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH
(1715-1763)
[Spain and the Powers, 1715-1739]
[The War of Jenkins' Ear]
[The War of the Austrian Succession]
[The Approach of Another Conflict]
[The French and Indian War]
[XXI.] THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE: THE OCCUPATION OF ALTA CALIFORNIA AND
LOUISIANA BY SPAIN (1763-1783)
[Readjustment in Spanish North America]
[The Russian Menace]
[The Founding of Alta California]
[Northern Explorations]
[Louisiana under Spain, 1762-1783]
[XXII.] THE NEW BRITISH POSSESSIONS (1763-1783)
[Provisions for Defence, Government, and the Fur Trade]
[The Occupation of the Floridas]
[Military Occupation of the Illinois Country]
[Land Speculation and Plans for Western Colonies]
[Trans-Alleghany Settlement]
[The Province of Quebec]
[The Northern Fur Traders]
THE REVOLT OF THE ENGLISH COLONIES
[XXIII.] THE CONTROVERSY OF THE ENGLISH COLONIES WITH THE HOME
GOVERNMENT (1763-1775)
[The Background of the Contest]
[Reforms of the Grenville Ministry]
[Repeal of the Stamp Act]
[The Townshend Acts]
[Beginning of Organized Resistance]
[The Tea Controversy]
[Lord North's Coercive Policy]
[The First Continental Congress]
[XXIV.] FROM LEXINGTON TO INDEPENDENCE (1775-1776)
[The Opening of Hostilities]
[The Second Continental Congress]
[Progress of the War]
[The Loyalists]
[The Declaration of Independence]
[XXV.] THE STRUGGLE FOR THE MIDDLE STATES (1776-1777)
[The Contest for New York]
[The New Jersey Campaign]
[The Struggle with Burgoyne]
[The Contest for Philadelphia]
[XXVI.] THE WAR AS AN INTERNATIONAL CONTEST (1778-1781)
[The French Alliance]
[The War in the West]
[Spain in the War]
[The War on the Sea and the Dutch Alliance]
[XXVII.] THE CLOSING YEARS OF THE REVOLUTION (1778-1783)
[The War in the South]
[The Yorktown Campaign]
[The Treaty of Peace]
[XXVIII.] GOVERNMENTAL DEVELOPMENT DURING THE REVOLUTION
[The Second Continental Congress]
[Financial Affairs]
[State Governments during the Revolution]
[The Articles of Confederation]
[Governmental Reorganization]
LIST OF MAPS
[Portuguese Expansion and Magellan's Voyage]
[The Four Voyages of Columbus]
[The Unification of Spain]
[The Development of the West Indies, 1492-1519]
[The Development of Central America, 1500-1543]
[The Development of Southern Mexico, 1519-1543]
[Explorations in the Northern Interior, 1513-1543]
[The Advance into Northern Mexico, 1543-1590]
[Spanish Florida]
[Explorations on the California Coast, 1542-1603]
[New Mexico in Oñate's Time]
[Cartier's Explorations, 1534-1542]
[The French in Canada in the Seventeenth Century]
[The Caribbean Area in the Seventeenth Century]
[La Salle's Colony on the Texas Coast, 1684-1689]
[Settlements in Virginia, 1634]
[Settlements in Maryland, 1634]
[The Bermudas]
[Principal Settlements in Massachusetts, 1630]
[Settled Areas in New England, about 1660]
[Settled Areas in Virginia and Maryland, about 1660]
[Van Der Donck's Map of New Netherland, 1656]
[New Sweden]
[The Delaware River Region, 1665-1774]
[The Southern Colonies, 1607-1735]
[Hudson's Bay Company Posts]
[Settled Areas in New England and on Long Island, about 1700]
[Settled Areas in the Middle Colonies, about 1700]
[Settled Areas in the Southern Colonies, about 1700]
[Sinaloa and Sonora in the Seventeenth Century]
[A Dutch Map Illustrating the Insular Theory of California's Geography (1624-1625)]
[New Mexico in the Seventeenth Century]
[The Beginnings of Coahuila and Texas]
[The Intercolonial Wars]
[The French in Louisiana and the Far Northwest]
[Texas in the 18th Century]
[Father Kino's Map of Pimería Alta]
[Mainland Regions occupied by the English, 1700-1760]
[Principal Areas of German Settlement before 1763]
[The Areas Largely Populated by Scotch-Irish before 1763]
[The Western English Frontier, 1763]
[Alta California Settlements]
[The Spanish Frontier in the Later Eighteenth Century]
[The New British Possessions, 1763-1783]
[Boston with Environs During the Revolution]
[Northern New Jersey, New York and Its Environs during the Revolution]
[The Region of Burgoyne's Invasion (1777)]
[Morristown, New Jersey, to Head of Elk, Maryland (1777)]
[The War in the South (1778-1781)]