Brief History of the United States

Bach McMaster John

Description

It is not too much to assert that most of our countrymen acquire at school all the knowledge they possess of the past history of their country. In view of this fact it is most desirable that a history of the United States for elementary schools should present not only the essential features of our country's progress which all should learn, but also many things of secondary consequence which it is well for every young American to know.

Sujets

• États-Unis
• History of the Americas
• USA
• Histoire

Informations

• Publié par: Pub One Info
• Date de parution: 23 octobre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9782819909026
• Langue: English

Extrait

PREFACE
It is not too much to assert that most of ourcountrymen acquire at school all the knowledge they possess of thepast history of their country. In view of this fact it is mostdesirable that a history of the United States for elementaryschools should present not only the essential features of ourcountry's progress which all should learn, but also many things ofsecondary consequence which it is well for every young American toknow.
In this book the text proper consists of theessentials, and these are told in as few words as truth andfairness will permit. The notes, which form a large part of thebook, include the matters of less fundamental importance: they maybe included in the required lessons, or may be omitted, as theteacher thinks proper; however, they should at least be read. Someof the notes are outline biographies of men whose acts requiremention in the text and who ought not to be mere names, nor appearsuddenly without any statement of their earlier careers. Others areintended to be fuller statements of important events brieflydescribed or narrated in the text, or relate to interesting eventsthat are of only secondary importance. Still others call attentionto the treatment of historical personages or events by our poetsand novelists, or suggest passages in standard histories that maybe read with profit. Such suggested readings have been chosenmostly from books that are likely to be found in all schoollibraries.
Much of the machinery sometimes used in historyteaching – bibliographies, extensive collateral readings, judgmentquestions, and the like – have been omitted as out of place in abrief school history. Better results may be obtained by having thepupils write simple narratives in their own words, coveringimportant periods and topics in our history: as, the discovery ofAmerica; the exploration of our coast and continent; thesettlements that failed; the planting of the English colonies; thelife of the colonists; the struggles for possession of the country;the causes of the Revolution; the material development of ourcountry between certain dates; and other subjects that the teachermay suggest. The student who can take such broad views of ourhistory, and put his knowledge in his own words, will acquireinformation that is not likely to be forgotten.
No trouble has been spared in the selection ofinteresting and authentic illustrations that will truly illustratethe text. Acknowledgment is due for permission to photograph manyarticles in museums and in the possession of various historicalsocieties. The reproduction of part of Lincoln's proclamation onpage 365 is inserted by courtesy of David McKay, publisher ofLossing's Civil War in America .
JOHN BACH McMASTER. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA [Illustration: U. S. BATTLESHIP.]
CHAPTER I
THE NEW WORLD FOUND
The New World, of which our country is the mostimportant part, was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492.When that great man set sail from Spain on his voyage of discovery,he was seeking not only unknown lands, but a new way to easternAsia. Such a new way was badly needed.
THE ROUTES OF TRADE. – Long before Columbus wasborn, the people of Europe had been trading with the far East.Spices, drugs, and precious stones, silks, and other articles ofluxury were brought, partly by vessels and partly by camels, fromIndia, the Spice Islands, and Cathay (China) by various routes toConstantinople and the cities in Egypt and along the eastern shoreof the Mediterranean. There they were traded for the copper, tin,and lead, coral, and woolens of Europe, and then carried to Veniceand Genoa, whence merchants spread them over all Europe. ( In theMiddle Ages, when food was coarse and cookery poor, cinnamon) Themerchants of Genoa traded chiefly with Constantinople, and those ofVenice with Egypt.
THE TURKS SEIZE THE ROUTES OF TRADE. – While thistrade was at its height, Asia Minor (from the Black Sea to theMediterranean) was conquered by the Turks, the caravan routesacross that country were seized, and when Constantinople wascaptured (in 1453), the trade of Genoa was ruined. Should theTurkish conquests be extended southward to Egypt (as later theywere), the prosperity of Venice would likewise be destroyed, andall existing trade routes to the Orient would be in Turkish hands. [Illustration: THE KNOWN WORLD IN 1490; ROUTES TOINDIA.]
THE PORTUGUESE SEEK A NEW ROUTE. – Clearly an oceanroute to the East was needed, and on the discovery of such a routethe Portuguese had long been hard at work. Fired by a desire toexpand Portugal and add to the geographical knowledge of his day,Prince Henry "the Navigator" sent out explorer after explorer, who,pushing down the coast of Africa, had almost reached the equatorbefore Prince Henry died. ( Prince Henry was the fourth son of JohnI, king of Portugal. In 1419) His successors continued the goodwork, the equator was crossed, and in 1487 Dias passed the Cape ofGood Hope and sailed eastward till his sailors mutinied. Ten yearslater Vasco da Gama sailed around the end of Africa, up the eastcoast, and on to India, and brought home a cargo of easternproducts. A way to India by water was at last made known to Europe.( These voyages were possible because of the great progress whichhad) [Illustration: A CARAVEL, A SHIP OF THE FIFTEENTHCENTURY.]
COLUMBUS PLANS A ROUTE. – Meanwhile ChristopherColumbus ( Christopher Columbus was a native of Genoa, Italy, wherehe was born) planned what he thought would be a shorter ocean routeto the East. He had studied all that was known of geography in histime. He had carefully noted the results of recent voyages ofexploration. He had read the travels of Marco Polo ( In 1271 MarcoPolo, then a lad of seventeen, was taken by his father) and hadlearned that off the coast of China was a rich and wonderful islandwhich Polo called Cipango. He believed that the earth is a sphere,and that China and Cipango could be reached by sailing about 2500miles due westward across the Atlantic.
COLUMBUS SEEKS AID. – To make others think so was ahard task, for nearly everybody believed the earth to be flat, andseveral sovereigns were appealed to before one was found boldenough to help him. He first applied to the king of Portugal, andwhen that failed, to the king and queen of Spain. ( Thesesovereigns were just then engaged in the final struggle for the)When they seemed deaf to his appeal, he sent his brother toEngland, and at last, wearied with waiting, set off for France.Then Queen Isabella of Spain was persuaded to act. Columbus wasrecalled, ( On the way to France Columbus stopped, by good luck, atthe monastery) ships were provided with which to make the voyage,and on Friday, the 3d of August, 1492, the Santa Maria (sahn'tah mah-ree'ah), the Pinta (peen'tah), and the Niña (neen'yah) set sail from Palos (pah'los), on one of thegreatest voyages ever made by men. ( The vessels were no largerthan modern yachts. The Santa Maria ) [Illustration:THE COUNCIL OF SALAMANCA.]
THE VOYAGE WESTWARD. – The little fleet went firstto the Canary Islands and thence due west across the Sea ofDarkness, as the Atlantic was called. The voyage was delightful,but every sight and sound was a source of new terror to thesailors. An eruption of a volcano at the Canaries was watched withdread as an omen of evil. They crossed the line of no magneticvariation, and when the needle of the compass began to change itsusual direction, they were sure it was bewitched. They entered thegreat Sargasso Sea and were frightened out of their wits by thestrange expanse of floating vegetation. They entered the zone ofthe trade winds, and as the breeze, day after day, steadily waftedthem westward, the boldest feared it would be impossible to return.When a mirage and flights of strange birds raised hopes that werenot promptly realized, the sailors were sure they had entered anenchanted realm. ( The ideas of geography held by the unlearned ofthose days are very) [Illustration: SEA MONSTERS DRAWN ONOLD MAPS.]
LAND DISCOVERED. – Columbus, who was above suchfear, explained the unusual sights, calmed the fears of thesailors, hid from them the true distance sailed, ( The object ofColumbus was not to let the sailors know how far they) and steadilypursued his way till unmistakable signs of land were seen. A staffcarved by hand and a branch with berries on it floated by.Excitement now rose high, and a reward was promised to the man whofirst saw land. At last, on the night of October 11, Columbusbeheld a light moving as if carried by hand along a shore. A fewhours later a sailor on the Pinta saw land distinctly, andsoon all beheld, a few miles away, a long, low beach. ( Columbuswas not the first European to reach the New World. About six) [Illustration: ANCIENT VIKING SHIP FOUND BURIED INNORWAY.]
THE VOYAGE AMONG THE ISLANDS. – Columbus thought hehad found one of the islands of the Indies, as the southern andeastern parts of Asia were called. Dressed in scarlet and gold andfollowed by a band of his men bearing banners, he landed, fell onhis knees, and having given thanks to God, took possession forSpain and called the island San Salvador (sahn sahl-va-dor'), whichmeans Holy Savior. The day was October 12, 1492, and the island wasone of the Bahamas. ( Nobody knows just which of the BahamasColumbus discovered. Three of)
After giving red caps, beads, and trinkets to thenatives who crowded about him, Columbus set sail to explore thegroup and presently came in sight of the coast of Cuba, which he atfirst thought was Cipango. Sailing eastward, landing now and thento seek for gold, he reached the eastern end of Cuba, and soonbeheld the island of Haiti; this so reminded him of Spain that hecalled it Hispaniola, or Little Spain.
THE FIRST SPANISH COLONY IN THE NEW WORLD. – Whenoff the Cuban shore, the Pinta deserted Columbus. On thecoast of Haiti the Santa Maria was wrecked. To carry all hismen back to Spain in the little Nina was impossible. Such,therefore, as were wi