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23 chapters
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
This volume is the introductory part of a course in American history embodying the plan of study recommended by the Committee of Eight of the American Historical Association. [1] The plan calls for a continuous course running through grades six, seven, and eight. The events which have taken place within the limits of what is now the United States must necessarily furnish the most of the content of the lessons. But the Committee urge that enough other matter, of an introductory character, be incl
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CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
THE SCATTERED CHILDREN OF EUROPE The Emigrant and what he brings to America . The emigrant who lands at New York, Boston, Philadelphia, or any other seaport, brings with him something which we do not see. He may have in his hands only a small bundle of clothing and enough money to pay his railroad fare to his new home, but he is carrying another kind of baggage more valuable than bundles or boxes or a pocket full of silver or gold. This other baggage is the knowledge, the customs, and the memori
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CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
OUR EARLIEST TEACHERS Ancient Cities that still exist . In Ancient Times the most important peoples lived on the shores of the Mediterranean. The northern shore turns and twists around four peninsulas. The first is Spain, which separates the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean; the second, shaped like a boot, is Italy; and the third, the end of which looks like a mulberry leaf, is Greece. Beyond Greece is Asia Minor, the part of Asia which lies between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black S
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CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
HOW THE GREEKS LIVED The Greek Cities. The Greeks lived in cities so much of the time that we do not often think of them as ever living in the country. The reason for this was that their government and everything else important was carried on in the city. The cities were usually surrounded by high, thick stone walls, which made them safe from sudden attack. Within or beside the city there was often a lofty hill, which we should call a fort or citadel, but which they called the upper city or acro
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CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
GREEK EMIGRANTS OR COLONISTS When the Atlantic was unknown . One of the most important things done by the men of Ancient Times was to explore the coasts and lands of Europe and to make settlements wherever they went. At first they knew little of the western and northern parts of Europe. Herodotus, a Greek whom we call the "Father of History," and who was a great traveler, said, "Though I have taken vast pains, I have never been able to get an assurance from any eye-witness that there is any sea
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CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
NEW RIVALS OF THE GREEKS The Greek Colonies and the Carthaginians . The Greek colonies were sometimes in danger of being attacked by the native tribes whose lands they had seized or by the wilder tribes that dwelt further from the coast. In Sicily their most dangerous neighbors were the Carthaginians at the western end of the island. The chief town of these people was Carthage, situated opposite Sicily in northern Africa in what is now Tunis. The Carthaginians were emigrants from Tyre and other
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CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI
THE MEDITERRANEAN A ROMAN LAKE Rome in Peril . The conquest of Italy by the Romans took about two hundred and fifty years. The conquest of the peoples living in the other lands on the shores of the Mediterranean took nearly as long again. Only twice in these four or five hundred years was Rome in serious danger of destruction. Once it was by the Gauls, as we have read, who captured all the city except the citadel. The second time it was by the Carthaginians, who lived on the northern coast of Af
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CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII
THE ANCIENT WORLD EXTENDED TO THE SHORES OF THE ATLANTIC New Conquests of the Romans. The Romans had as yet conquered only civilized peoples like themselves, with the exception of the tribes in Spain and southern Gaul. Now the Roman armies were to push northward over the plains and through the forests of Gaul, across the Rhine into unknown Germany, and over the Channel into Britain, equally unknown. They were to be explorers as well as conquerors. In this way they were to carry their civilizatio
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CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER VIII
THE CIVILIZATION OF THE ROMAN WORLD Strife at Rome. While the Romans were conquering the ancient world they had begun to quarrel among themselves. Certain men resolved that Rome should not be managed any longer by the noble senators for their own benefit or for the benefit of rich contractors and merchants. They wished to have the idle crowds of men who packed the shows and circuses settled as free farmers on the unused lands of Italy. Among these new leaders were two brothers, Tiberius and Caiu
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CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER IX
CHRISTIANITY AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE The Religion of the Jews. Among the cities captured by the Romans was Jerusalem, about which cluster so many stories from the Old Testament. There, hundreds of years before, lived David, the shepherd boy who, after wonderful adventures, became king of his people. There his son Solomon built a temple of dazzling splendor. Among this people had arisen great preachers,--Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah,--who declared that religion did not consist in the sacrifice of bulls a
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CHAPTER X
CHAPTER X
EMIGRANTS A THOUSAND YEARS AGO The Middle Ages. It was more than a thousand years from the time of Constantine to the time of Columbus. This period is called "Mediaeval," or the "Middle Ages." During these long centuries the ancient civilized world of the Roman Empire was much changed. The Roman or Greek cities on the southern shores of the Mediterranean were captured by Arabs or Moors. The Moors conquered the larger part of Spain. The eastern lands of Palestine and Asia Minor fell into the hand
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CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XI
HOW ENGLISHMEN LEARNED TO GOVERN THEMSELVES Heroes of the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages, like Ancient Times, are recalled by many interesting tales. Some of them, such as the stories of King Arthur and his Knights, the story of Roland, and the Song of the Niebelungs, are only tales and not history. Others tell us about great kings, Charlemagne and St. Louis of France, Frederick the Redbeard of Germany, or St. Stephen of Hungary. The hero-king for England was Alfred, who fought bravely against the
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CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XII
THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES What the English owed to their European Neighbors . If the English succeeded better than other Europeans in learning how to govern themselves, one reason was that the Channel protected them from attack, and they could quarrel with their king without running much risk that their enemies in other countries would take advantage of the quarrel to seize their lands or attempt to conquer them. The French were not so well placed. France also was not united like Engla
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CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIII
TRADERS, TRAVELERS, AND EXPLORERS IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES The Perils of Traders. There was a time in the Middle Ages when merchants scarcely dared to travel from one town to another for fear of being plundered by some robber lord or common thief. If they traveled by sea they might also be attacked by robbers. Some of these robbers, like the Northmen, came from afar, but others were ordinary sailors who put out from near-by ports when there seemed nothing better to do. This state of things gradu
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CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XIV
THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW WORLD Christopher Columbus . Six years before Vasco da Gama made his famous voyage to India around Africa and opened a new trade route for the Portuguese merchants, another seaman had formed and carried out a much bolder plan. This was Christopher Columbus, and his plan was to sail directly west from Europe into the unknown ocean in search of new islands and the coast of Asia. Columbus, who was a native of Genoa in Italy, had followed his younger brother to Portugal. Both
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CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XV
OTHERS HELP IN THE DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD The Race to the Indies. The discovery of all the lands which make what we call the New World came very slowly. It was the work of many different explorers. Most of the expeditions sent out to the new islands went in search of a passage to India. It was a fine race. Each nation was eager to see its ships the first to reach India by the westward route. All were disappointed at finding so much land between Europe and Asia. It seemed to them to be of lit
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CHAPTER XVI
CHAPTER XVI
EARLY SPANISH EXPLORERS AND CONQUERORS ON THE MAINLAND The Civilization of the Mexican Indians. Early Spanish explorers on the coast of Mexico found the Indians of the mainland more highly civilized than the natives of the West Indies. Some of these, especially the Aztecs, lived in large villages or cities and were ruled by powerful chiefs or kings. They built to their gods huge stone temples with towers several stories in height. Their houses, quite unlike those of the other Indians the Spanish
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CHAPTER XVII
CHAPTER XVII
THE SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA Ponce de Leon. While men like Cortés were exploring and conquering the countries on the west shore of the Gulf of Mexico, others began to search the vast regions to the north. One of these explorers was Ponce de Leon, who had come to Española with Columbus in 1493. He afterwards spent many years in the West Indies capturing Indians, and understood from something they said that a magic fountain could be found beyond the Bahamas which would restore an old man
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CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XVIII
RIVALRY AND STRIFE IN EUROPE The Rivals of Spain . When the early voyages to America and Asia were ended, the French, the English, and the other northern peoples of Europe seemed to be beaten in the race for new lands and for new routes to old lands. The French had sent a few fishermen to the Banks of Newfoundland, and that was all. The English had made one or two voyages and appeared to be no longer interested. (See 166.gif, Cabot) The Dutch seemed to be only sturdy fishermen, thrifty farmers,
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CHAPTER XIX
CHAPTER XIX
FIRST FRENCH ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE AMERICA Cartier . During the reign of Francis I, the French made the first serious attempts to find a westward route to the Far East and to settle the new lands that seemed to lie directly across the pathway. In 1534 Jacques Cartier was sent with two ships in search of a strait beyond the regions controlled by Spain or Portugal which would lead into the Pacific Ocean. Cartier passed around the northern side of Newfoundland and into the broad expanse of water west
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CHAPTER XX
CHAPTER XX
THE ENGLISH AND THE DUTCH TRIUMPH OVER SPAIN Cruel Treatment of the Netherlanders. Two years after the cruel massacre of the Huguenot colony in Florida, Philip II, the King of Spain, decided to put an end to the obstinacy of the Netherlanders, and sent an army from Spain commanded by the Duke of Alva, who was as pitiless as Menendez. Alva began by seizing prominent nobles, and he would have arrested the Prince of Orange, but he escaped into Germany. A court was set up which condemned many person
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CHAPTER XXI
CHAPTER XXI
THE ENGLISH PEOPLE ATTEMPT TO SETTLE AMERICA English Interest in America Awakened . Voyages like those made by Sir Francis Drake awakened a desire throughout England to learn more about the New World. Until this time even the great discoveries of Columbus and the Cabots had failed to stir the English people to take part in the exploration and settlement of the Americas. The principal reason was because their attention was occupied by the struggle between their monarchs and the popes to decide wh
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REFERENCES FOR TEACHERS
REFERENCES FOR TEACHERS
The following references are given in the hope that they will be helpful to the teacher. The list is by no means exhaustive, but enough are given so that one or more books for each subject should be found in any fairly equipped school or public library. Some of these books may be assigned to the brighter or more ambitious members of the class for home readings. Extracts from others may be read to the class directly. Still others will furnish the teacher a variety of stories or fuller statements
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