1. OUTLINE OF
U.S. HISTORY

2. OUTLINE OF
OUTLINE OF
U.S. HISTORY
C O N T E N T S
CHAPTER 1 Early America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
CHAPTER 2 The Colonial Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
CHAPTER 3 The Road to Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
CHAPTER 4 The Formation of a National Government . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
CHAPTER 5 Westward Expansion and Regional Differences . . . . . . . 110
CHAPTER 6 Sectional Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
CHAPTER 7 The Civil War and Reconstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
CHAPTER 8 Growth and Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
CHAPTER 9 Discontent and Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
CHAPTER 10 War, Prosperity, and Depression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
CHAPTER 11 The New Deal and World War I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
CHAPTER 12 Postwar America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
CHAPTER 13 Decades of Change: 1960-1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
CHAPTER 14 The New Conservatism and a New World Order . . . . . . 304
CHAPTER 15 Bridge to the 21st Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
PICTURE PROFILES
Becoming a Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Transforming a Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Monuments and Memorials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Turmoil and Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
21st Century Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

3. 1
CHAPTER
EARLY
AMERICA
Mesa Verde settlement in
Colorado, 13th century.
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4. CHAPTER 1: EARLY AMERICA OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
“Heaven and Earth never much of the Western Hemisphere by ing earthen burial sites and for-
agreed better to frame a place
some time prior to 10,000 B.C. tifications around 600 B.C. Some
Around that time the mammoth mounds from that era are in the
began to die out and the bison took shape of birds or serpents; they
for man’s habitation.” its place as a principal source of probably served religious purposes
food and hides for these early North not yet fully understood.
Americans. Over time, as more and The Adenans appear to have
Jamestown founder John Smith, 1607 more species of large game vanished been absorbed or displaced by vari-
— whether from overhunting or ous groups collectively known as
natural causes — plants, berries, Hopewellians. One of the most im-
and seeds became an increasingly portant centers of their culture was
important part of the early Ameri- found in southern Ohio, where the
can diet. Gradually, foraging and remains of several thousand of these
the first attempts at primitive agri- mounds still can be seen. Believed
culture appeared. Native Americans to be great traders, the Hopewel-
in what is now central Mexico led lians used and exchanged tools and
the way, cultivating corn, squash, materials across a wide region of
and beans, perhaps as early as 8,000 hundreds of kilometers.
B.C. Slowly, this knowledge spread By around 500 A.D., the
THE FIRST AMERICANS ancestors had for thousands of northward. Hopewellians disappeared, too,
At the height of30,000Ice Age, be-
years, along the Siberian coast and By 3,000 B.C., a primitive type of gradually giving way to a broad
the then across the land bridge. corn was being grown in the river group of tribes generally known
tween 34,000 and B.C., much Once in Alaska, it would take valleys of New Mexico and Arizona. as the Mississippians or Temple
of the world’s water was locked up these first North Americans thou- Then the first signs of irrigation Mound culture. One city, Cahokia,
in vast continental ice sheets. As a sands of years more to work their began to appear, and, by 300 B.C., near Collinsville, Illinois, is thought
result, the Bering Sea was hundreds way through the openings in great signs of early village life. to have had a population of about
of meters below its current level, and glaciers south to what is now the By the first centuries A.D., the 20,000 at its peak in the early 12th
a land bridge, known as Beringia, United States. Evidence of early life Hohokam were living in settlements century. At the center of the city
emerged between Asia and North in North America continues to be near what is now Phoenix, Arizona, stood a huge earthen mound, flat-
America. At its peak, Beringia is found. Little of it, however, can be where they built ball courts and tened at the top, that was 30 meters
thought to have been some 1,500 ki- reliably dated before 12,000 B.C.; a pyramid-like mounds reminiscent high and 37 hectares at the base.
lometers wide. A moist and treeless recent discovery of a hunting look- of those found in Mexico, as well as Eighty other mounds have been
tundra, it was covered with grasses out in northern Alaska, for example, a canal and irrigation system. found nearby.
and plant life, attracting the large may date from almost that time. Cities such as Cahokia depended
animals that early humans hunted So too may the finely crafted spear MOUND BUILDERS AND on a combination of hunting, for-
for their survival. points and items found near Clovis, PUEBLOS aging, trading, and agriculture for
T
The first people to reach North New Mexico. their food and supplies. Influenced
America almost certainly did so Similar artifacts have been found he first Native-American group by the thriving societies to the
without knowing they had crossed at sites throughout North and South to build mounds in what is now the south, they evolved into complex hi-
into a new continent. They would America, indicating that life was United States often are called the erarchical societies that took slaves
have been following game, as their probably already well established in Adenans. They began construct- and practiced human sacrifice.
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5. CHAPTER 1: EARLY AMERICA OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
In what is now the southwest had on the indigenous population and strong evidence exists that Columbus never saw the main-
United States, the Anasazi, ancestors practically from the time of initial neighboring tribes maintained ex- land of the future United States,
of the modern Hopi Indians, began contact. Smallpox, in particular, tensive and formal relations — both but the first explorations of it were
building stone and adobe pueblos ravaged whole communities and is friendly and hostile. launched from the Spanish posses-
around the year 900. These unique thought to have been a much more sions that he helped establish. The
and amazing apartment-like struc- direct cause of the precipitous de- THE FIRST EUROPEANS first of these took place in 1513
T
tures were often built along cliff cline in the Indian population in the when a group of men under Juan
faces; the most famous, the “cliff 1600s than the numerous wars and he first Europeans to arrive in Ponce de León landed on the Florida
palace” of Mesa Verde, Colorado, skirmishes with European settlers. North America — at least the first coast near the present city of St. Au-
had more than 200 rooms. Another Indian customs and culture at the for whom there is solid evidence gustine.
site, the Pueblo Bonito ruins along time were extraordinarily diverse, as — were Norse, traveling west from With the conquest of Mexico in
New Mexico’s Chaco River, once could be expected, given the ex- Greenland, where Erik the Red had 1522, the Spanish further solidi-
contained more than 800 rooms. panse of the land and the many dif- founded a settlement around the fied their position in the Western
Perhaps the most affluent of the ferent environments to which they year 985. In 1001 his son Leif is Hemisphere. The ensuing discover-
pre-Columbian Native Americans had dapted. Some generalizations, thought to have explored the north- ies added to Europe’s knowledge of
lived in the Pacific Northwest, where however, are possible. Most tribes, east coast of what is now Canada and what was now named America —
the natural abundance of fish and particularly in the wooded eastern spent at least one winter there. after the Italian Amerigo Vespucci,
raw materials made food supplies region and the Midwest, combined While Norse sagas suggest that who wrote a widely popular account
plentiful and permanent villages pos- aspects of hunting, gathering, and Viking sailors explored the Atlan- of his voyages to a “New World.” By
sible as early as 1,000 B.C. The opu- the cultivation of maize and other tic coast of North America down 1529 reliable maps of the Atlantic
lence of their “potlatch” gatherings products for their food supplies. as far as the Bahamas, such claims coastline from Labrador to Tierra
remains a standard for extravagance In many cases, the women were remain unproven. In 1963, however, del Fuego had been drawn up, al-
and festivity probably unmatched in responsible for farming and the the ruins of some Norse houses dat- though it would take more than an-
early American history. distribution of food, while the men ing from that era were discovered at other century before hope of discov-
hunted and participated in war. L’Anse-aux-Meadows in northern ering a “Northwest Passage” to Asia
NATIVE-AMERICAN By all accounts, Native-American Newfoundland, thus supporting at would be completely abandoned.
CULTURES society in North America was closely least some of the saga claims. Among the most significant early
T
tied to the land. Identification with In 1497, just five years after Spanish explorations was that of
he America that greeted the first nature and the elements was integral Christopher Columbus landed in Hernando De Soto, a veteran con-
Europeans was, thus, far from an to religious beliefs. Their life was the Caribbean looking for a west- quistador who had accompanied
empty wilderness. It is now thought essentially clan-oriented and com- ern route to Asia, a Venetian sailor Francisco Pizarro in the conquest
that as many people lived in the munal, with children allowed more named John Cabot arrived in of Peru. Leaving Havana in 1539, De
Western Hemisphere as in Western freedom and tolerance than was the Newfoundland on a mission for Soto’s expedition landed in Florida
Europe at that time — about 40 European custom of the day. the British king. Although quickly and ranged through the southeast-
million. Estimates of the number Although some North American forgotten, Cabot’s journey was later ern United States as far as the Mis-
of Native Americans living in what tribes developed a type of hiero- to provide the basis for British claims sissippi River in search of riches.
is now the United States at the on- glyphics to preserve certain texts, to North America. It also opened Another Spaniard, Francisco
set of European colonization range Native-American culture was pri- the way to the rich fishing grounds Vázquez de Coronado, set out from
from two to 18 million, with most marily oral, with a high value placed off George’s Banks, to which Eu- Mexico in 1540 in search of the
historians tending toward the lower on the recounting of tales and ropean fishermen, particularly the mythical Seven Cities of Cibola.
figure. What is certain is the devas- dreams. Clearly, there was a good Portuguese, were soon making Coronado’s travels took him to the
tating effect that European disease deal of trade among various groups regular visits. Grand Canyon and Kansas, but
8 9

6. CHAPTER 1: EARLY AMERICA OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
failed to reveal the gold or treasure European settlement in what would trickle of a few hundred English woods. The settlers might not have
his men sought. However, his party become the United States. colonists to a flood of millions of survived had it not been for the
did leave the peoples of the region The great wealth that poured into newcomers. Impelled by powerful help of friendly Indians, who taught
a remarkable, if unintended, gift: Spain from the colonies in Mexico, and diverse motivations, they built them how to grow native plants —
Enough of his horses escaped to the Caribbean, and Peru provoked a new civilization on the northern pumpkin, squash, beans, and corn.
transform life on the Great Plains. great interest on the part of the part of the continent. In addition, the vast, virgin forests,
Within a few generations, the Plains other European powers. Emerging The first English immigrants extending nearly 2,100 kilometers
Indians had become masters of maritime nations such as England, to what is now the United States along the Eastern seaboard, proved
horsemanship, greatly expanding drawn in part by Francis Drake’s crossed the Atlantic long after thriv- a rich source of game and firewood.
the range of their activities. successful raids on Spanish treasure ing Spanish colonies had been estab- They also provided abundant raw
While the Spanish were pushing ships, began to take an interest in the lished in Mexico, the West Indies, materials used to build houses, fur-
up from the south, the northern New World. and South America. Like all early niture, ships, and profitable items
portion of the present-day United In 1578 Humphrey Gilbert, the travelers to the New World, they for export.
States was slowly being revealed author of a treatise on the search came in small, overcrowded ships. Although the new continent was
through the journeys of men such for the Northwest Passage, received During their six- to 12-week voy- remarkably endowed by nature,
as Giovanni da Verrazano. A Flo- a patent from Queen Elizabeth to ages, they lived on meager rations. trade with Europe was vital for ar-
rentine who sailed for the French, colonize the “heathen and barba- Many died of disease, ships were ticles the settlers could not produce.
Verrazano made landfall in North rous landes” in the New World that often battered by storms, and some The coast served the immigrants
Carolina in 1524, then sailed north other European nations had not yet were lost at sea. well. The whole length of shore pro-
along the Atlantic Coast past what is claimed. It would be five years before Most European emigrants left vided many inlets and harbors. Only
now New York harbor. his efforts could begin. When he was their homelands to escape politi- two areas — North Carolina and
A decade later, the Frenchman lost at sea, his half-brother, Walter cal oppression, to seek the freedom southern New Jersey — lacked har-
Jacques Cartier set sail with the Raleigh, took up the mission. to practice their religion, or to bors for ocean-going vessels.
hope — like the other Europeans In 1585 Raleigh established the find opportunities denied them at Majestic rivers — the Kennebec,
before him — of finding a sea pas- first British colony in North Amer- home. Between 1620 and 1635, eco- Hudson, Delaware, Susquehanna,
sage to Asia. Cartier’s expeditions ica, on Roanoke Island off the coast nomic difficulties swept England. Potomac, and numerous others —
along the St. Lawrence River laid the of North Carolina. It was later aban- Many people could not find work. linked lands between the coast and
foundation for the French claims to doned, and a second effort two years Even skilled artisans could earn the Appalachian Mountains with
North America, which were to last later also proved a failure. It would little more than a bare living. Poor the sea. Only one river, however, the
until 1763. be 20 years before the British would crop yields added to the distress. In St. Lawrence — dominated by the
Following the collapse of their try again. This time — at Jamestown addition, the Commercial Revolu- French in Canada — offered a water
first Quebec colony in the 1540s, in 1607 — the colony would succeed, tion had created a burgeoning tex- passage to the Great Lakes and the
French Huguenots attempted to set- and North America would enter a tile industry, which demanded an heart of the continent. Dense forests,
tle the northern coast of Florida two new era. ever-increasing supply of wool to the resistance of some Indian tribes,
decades later. The Spanish, viewing keep the looms running. Landlords and the formidable barrier of the
the French as a threat to their trade EARLY SETTLEMENTS enclosed farmlands and evicted the Appalachian Mountains discour-
route along the Gulf Stream, de-
stroyed the colony in 1565. Ironical- T he early 1600s saw the begin-
peasants in favor of sheep cultiva-
tion. Colonial expansion became
aged settlement beyond the coastal
plain. Only trappers and traders
ly, the leader of the Spanish forces, ning of a great tide of emigration an outlet for this displaced peasant ventured into the wilderness. For
Pedro Menéndez, would soon estab- from Europe to North America. population. the first hundred years the colonists
lish a town not far away — St. Au- Spanning more than three centu- The colonists’ first glimpse of built their settlements compactly
gustine. It was the first permanent ries, this movement grew from a the new land was a vista of dense along the coast.
10 11

7. CHAPTER 1: EARLY AMERICA OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
Political considerations influ- they chose a site about 60 kilometers only 1,132 were living there in 1624. nized government, the men drafted
enced many people to move to up the James River from the bay. On recommendation of a royal com- a formal agreement to abide by “just
America. In the 1630s, arbitrary rule Made up of townsmen and ad- mission, the king dissolved the Vir- and equal laws” drafted by leaders
by England’s Charles I gave impetus venturers more interested in finding ginia Company, and made it a royal of their own choosing. This was the
to the migration. The subsequent re- gold than farming, the group was colony that year. Mayflower Compact.
volt and triumph of Charles’ oppo- unequipped by temperament or abil- In December the Mayflower
nents under Oliver Cromwell in the ity to embark upon a completely new MASSACHUSETTS reached Plymouth harbor; the Pil-
D
1640s led many cavaliers — “king’s life in the wilderness. Among them, grims began to build their settle-
men” — to cast their lot in Virginia.Captain John Smith emerged as the uring the religious upheavals ment during the winter. Nearly half
In the German-speaking regions of dominant figure. Despite quarrels, of the 16th century, a body of men the colonists died of exposure and
Europe, the oppressive policies of starvation, and Native-American and women called Puritans sought disease, but neighboring Wampa-
various petty princes — particularly attacks, his ability to enforce disci- to reform the Established Church noag Indians provided the informa-
with regard to religion — and the pline held the little colony together of England from within. Essentially, tion that would sustain them: how to
devastation caused by a long series through its first year. they demanded that the rituals and grow maize. By the next fall, the Pil-
of wars helped swell the movement In 1609 Smith returned to Eng- structures associated with Roman grims had a plentiful crop of corn,
to America in the late 17th and 18th land, and in his absence, the colony Catholicism be replaced by simpler and a growing trade based on furs
centuries. descended into anarchy. During the Calvinist Protestant forms of faith and lumber.
The journey entailed careful winter of 1609-1610, the majority of and worship. Their reformist ideas, A new wave of immigrants ar-
planning and management, as well the colonists succumbed to disease. by destroying the unity of the state rived on the shores of Massachusetts
as considerable expense and risk. Only 60 of the original 300 settlers church, threatened to divide the Bay in 1630 bearing a grant from
Settlers had to be transported nearlywere still alive by May 1610. That people and to undermine royal au- King Charles I to establish a colony.
5,000 kilometers across the sea. Theysame year, the town of Henrico (now thority. Many of them were Puritans whose
needed utensils, clothing, seed, tools,
Richmond) was established farther In 1607 a small group of Sepa- religious practices were increasingly
building materials, livestock, arms, up the James River. ratists — a radical sect of Puritans prohibited in England. Their leader,
and ammunition. In contrast to the It was not long, however, before who did not believe the Established John Winthrop, urged them to cre-
colonization policies of other coun- a development occurred that revo- Church could ever be reformed ate a “city upon a hill” in the New
tries and other periods, the emigra- lutionized Virginia’s economy. In — departed for Leyden, Holland, World — a place where they would
tion from England was not directly 1612 John Rolfe began cross-breed- where the Dutch granted them asy- live in strict accordance with their
sponsored by the government but by ing imported tobacco seed from the lum. However, the Calvinist Dutch religious beliefs and set an example
private groups of individuals whose West Indies with native plants and restricted them mainly to low-paid for all of Christendom.
chief motive was profit. produced a new variety that was laboring jobs. Some members of the The Massachusetts Bay Colony
pleasing to European taste. The first congregation grew dissatisfied with was to play a significant role in the
JAMESTOWN shipment of this tobacco reached this discrimination and resolved to development of the entire New Eng-
T London in 1614. Within a decade it emigrate to the New World. land region, in part because Win-
he first of the British colonies had become Virginia’s chief source In 1620, a group of Leyden Puri- throp and his Puritan colleagues
to take hold in North America was of revenue. tans secured a land patent from the were able to bring their charter
Jamestown. On the basis of a charter Prosperity did not come quickly, Virginia Company. Numbering 101, with them. Thus the authority for
which King James I granted to the however, and the death rate from they set out for Virginia on the May- the colony’s government resided in
Virginia (or London) Company, a disease and Indian attacks remained flower. A storm sent them far north Massachusetts, not in England.
group of about 100 men set out for extraordinarily high. Between 1607 and they landed in New England Under the charter’s provisions,
the Chesapeake Bay in 1607. Seeking and 1624 approximately 14,000 on Cape Cod. Believing themselves power rested with the General
to avoid conflict with the Spanish, people migrated to the colony, yet outside the jurisdiction of any orga- Court, which was made up of “free-
12 13

8. CHAPTER 1: EARLY AMERICA OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
men” required to be members of the and deep, rich soil. These new com- encouraged a type of feudal aris- and to avoid trouble with the British
Puritan, or Congregational, Church. munities often eliminated church tocracy, known as the “patroon” government, they also encouraged
This guaranteed that the Puritans membership as a prerequisite for system. The first of these huge es- Protestant immigration.
would be the dominant political as voting, thereby extending the fran- tates were established in 1630 along Maryland’s royal charter had
well as religious force in the colony. chise to ever larger numbers of men. the Hudson River. Under the pa- a mixture of feudal and modern
The General Court elected the gov- At the same time, other settle- troon system, any stockholder, or elements. On the one hand the
ernor, who for most of the next gen- ments began cropping up along the patroon, who could bring 50 adults Calvert family had the power to
eration would be John Winthrop. New Hampshire and Maine coasts, to his estate over a four-year period create manorial estates. On the oth-
The rigid orthodoxy of the Pu- as more and more immigrants was given a 25-kilometer river-front er, they could only make laws with
ritan rule was not to everyone’s lik- sought the land and liberty the New plot, exclusive fishing and hunting the consent of freemen (property
ing. One of the first to challenge the World seemed to offer. privileges, and civil and criminal ju- holders). They found that in order
General Court openly was a young risdiction over his lands. In turn, he to attract settlers — and make a
clergyman named Roger Williams, NEW NETHERLAND AND provided livestock, tools, and build- profit from their holdings — they
who objected to the colony’s seizure MARYLAND ings. The tenants paid the patroon had to offer people farms, not just
Hired byHenryDutch East India
of Indian lands and advocated sepa- rent and gave him first option on tenancy on manorial estates. The
ration of church and state. Another the surplus crops. number of independent farms grew
dissenter, Anne Hutchinson, chal- Company, Hudson in 1609 Further to the south, a Swed- in consequence. Their owners de-
lenged key doctrines of Puritan the- explored the area around what is ish trading company with ties to manded a voice in the affairs of the
ology. Both they and their followers now New York City and the river the Dutch attempted to set up its colony. Maryland’s first legislature
were banished. that bears his name, to a point prob- first settlement along the Delaware met in 1635.
Williams purchased land from ably north of present-day Albany, River three years later. Without the
the Narragansett Indians in what is New York. Subsequent Dutch voy- resources to consolidate its position, COLONIAL-INDIAN
now Providence, Rhode Island, in ages laid the basis for their claims New Sweden was gradually absorbed RELATIONS
By 1640 the British had solid
1636. In 1644, a sympathetic Puri- and early settlements in the area. into New Netherland, and later,
tan-controlled English Parliament As with the French to the north, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
gave him the charter that estab- the first interest of the Dutch was In 1632 the Catholic Calvert fam- colonies established along the New
lished Rhode Island as a distinct the fur trade. To this end, they cul- ily obtained a charter for land north England coast and the Chesapeake
colony where complete separation of tivated close relations with the Five of the Potomac River from King Bay. In between were the Dutch and
church and state as well as freedom Nations of the Iroquois, who were Charles I in what became known the tiny Swedish community. To the
of religion was practiced. the key to the heartland from which as Maryland. As the charter did not west were the original Americans,
So-called heretics like Williams the furs came. In 1617 Dutch set- expressly prohibit the establishment then called Indians.
were not the only ones who left tlers built a fort at the junction of of non-Protestant churches, the col- Sometimes friendly, sometimes
Massachusetts. Orthodox Puritans, the Hudson and the Mohawk Rivers, ony became a haven for Catholics. hostile, the Eastern tribes were no
seeking better lands and opportuni- where Albany now stands. Maryland’s first town, St. Mary’s, longer strangers to the Europeans.
ties, soon began leaving Massachu- Settlement on the island of Man- was established in 1634 near where Although Native Americans ben-
setts Bay Colony. News of the fertil- hattan began in the early 1620s. In the Potomac River flows into the efited from access to new technol-
ity of the Connecticut River Valley, 1624, the island was purchased from Chesapeake Bay. ogy and trade, the disease and thirst
for instance, attracted the interest of local Native Americans for the re- While establishing a refuge for for land that the early settlers also
farmers having a difficult time with ported price of $24. It was promptly Catholics, who faced increasing per- brought posed a serious challenge to
poor land. By the early 1630s, many renamed New Amsterdam. secution in Anglican England, the their long-established way of life.
were ready to brave the danger of In order to attract settlers to the Calverts were also interested in cre- At first, trade with the European
Indian attack to obtain level ground Hudson River region, the Dutch ating profitable estates. To this end, settlers brought advantages: knives,
14 15

9. CHAPTER 1: EARLY AMERICA OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
axes, weapons, cooking utensils, The steady influx of settlers cisions, some fighting with the Brit- established in the Carolinas and the
fishhooks, and a host of other into the backwoods regions of the ish, some with the colonists, some Dutch driven out of New Nether-
goods. Those Indians who traded Eastern colonies disrupted Native- remaining neutral. As a result, ev- land. New proprietary colonies were
initially had significant advantage American life. As more and more eryone fought against the Iroquois. established in New York, New Jersey,
over rivals who did not. In response game was killed off, tribes were Their losses were great and the Delaware, and Pennsylvania.
to European demand, tribes such as faced with the difficult choice of go- league never recovered. The Dutch settlements had been
the Iroquois began to devote more ing hungry, going to war, or moving ruled by autocratic governors ap-
attention to fur trapping during the and coming into conflict with other SECOND GENERATION OF pointed in Europe. Over the years,
17th century. Furs and pelts pro- tribes to the west. BRITISH COLONIES the local population had become
T
vided tribes the means to purchase The Iroquois, who inhabited the estranged from them. As a result,
colonial goods until late into the area below lakes Ontario and Erie in he religious and civil conflict in when the British colonists began en-
18th century. northern New York and Pennsylva- England in the mid-17th century croaching on Dutch claims in Long
Early colonial-Native-American nia, were more successful in resist- limited immigration, as well as the Island and Manhattan, the unpopu-
relations were an uneasy mix of ing European advances. In 1570 five attention the mother country paid lar governor was unable to rally the
cooperation and conflict. On the tribes joined to form the most com- the fledgling American colonies. population to their defense. New
one hand, there were the exemplary plex Native-American nation of its In part to provide for the defense Netherland fell in 1664. The terms
relations that prevailed during the time, the “Ho-De-No-Sau-Nee,” or measures England was neglect- of the capitulation, however, were
first half century of Pennsylvania’s League of the Iroquois. The league ing, the Massachusetts Bay, Plym- mild: The Dutch settlers were able
existence. On the other were a long was run by a council made up of 50 outh, Connecticut, and New Haven to retain their property and worship
series of setbacks, skirmishes, and representatives from each of the five colonies formed the New England as they pleased.
wars, which almost invariably re- member tribes. The council dealt Confederation in 1643. It was the As early as the 1650s, the Albe-
sulted in an Indian defeat and fur- with matters common to all the European colonists’ first attempt at marle Sound region off the coast
ther loss of land. tribes, but it had no say in how the regional unity. of what is now northern North
The first of the important Native- free and equal tribes ran their day- The early history of the British Carolina was inhabited by settlers
American uprisings occurred in Vir- to-day affairs. No tribe was allowed settlers reveals a good deal of con- trickling down from Virginia. The
ginia in 1622, when some 347 whites to make war by itself. The council tention — religious and political first proprietary governor arrived in
were killed, including a number of passed laws to deal with crimes such — as groups vied for power and po- 1664. The first town in Albemarle, a
missionaries who had just recently as murder. sition among themselves and their remote area even today, was not es-
come to Jamestown. The Iroquois League was a strong neighbors. Maryland, in particular, tablished until the arrival of a group
White settlement of the Con- power in the 1600s and 1700s. It suffered from the bitter religious ri- of French Huguenots in 1704.
necticut River region touched off the traded furs with the British and valries that afflicted England during In 1670 the first settlers, drawn
Pequot War in 1637. In 1675 King sided with them against the French the era of Oliver Cromwell. One of from New England and the Carib-
Philip, the son of the native chief in the war for the dominance of the casualties was the state’s Tolera- bean island of Barbados, arrived
who had made the original peace America between 1754 and 1763. tion Act, which was revoked in the in what is now Charleston, South
with the Pilgrims in 1621, attempted The British might not have won that 1650s. It was soon reinstated, howev- Carolina. An elaborate system of
to unite the tribes of southern New war otherwise. er, along with the religious freedom government, to which the British
England against further European The Iroquois League stayed it guaranteed. philosopher John Locke contribut-
encroachment of their lands. In strong until the American Revolu- With the restoration of King ed, was prepared for the new colony.
the struggle, however, Philip lost tion. Then, for the first time, the Charles II in 1660, the British once One of its prominent features was a
his life and many Indians were sold council could not reach a unani- again turned their attention to failed attempt to create a hereditary
into servitude. mous decision on whom to support. North America. Within a brief span, nobility. One of the colony’s least
Member tribes made their own de- the first European settlements were appealing aspects was the early trade
16 17

10. CHAPTER 1: EARLY AMERICA OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
in Indian slaves. With time, howev- set out to create a refuge where the Perhaps half the settlers living in There was one very important
er, timber, rice, and indigo gave the poor and former prisoners would be the colonies south of New England exception to this pattern: African
colony a worthier economic base. given new opportunities. came to America under this system. slaves. The first black Africans were
In 1681 William Penn, a wealthy Although most of them fulfilled brought to Virginia in 1619, just 12
Quaker and friend of Charles II, re- SETTLERS, SLAVES, AND their obligations faithfully, some ran years after the founding of James-
ceived a large tract of land west of SERVANTS away from their employers. Never- town. Initially, many were regarded
M
the Delaware River, which became theless, many of them were eventu- as indentured servants who could
known as Pennsylvania. To help en and women with little active ally able to secure land and set up earn their freedom. By the 1660s,
populate it, Penn actively recruited interest in a new life in America were homesteads, either in the colonies in however, as the demand for planta-
a host of religious dissenters from often induced to make the move to which they had originally settled or tion labor in the Southern colonies
England and the continent — Quak- the New World by the skillful per- in neighboring ones. No social stig- grew, the institution of slavery be-
ers, Mennonites, Amish, Moravians, suasion of promoters. William Penn, ma was attached to a family that had gan to harden around them, and
and Baptists. for example, publicized the oppor- its beginning in America under this Africans were brought to America in
When Penn arrived the follow- tunities awaiting newcomers to the semi-bondage. Every colony had its shackles for a lifetime of involuntary
ing year, there were already Dutch, Pennsylvania colony. Judges and share of leaders who were former in- servitude. 9
Swedish, and English settlers living prison authorities offered convicts dentured servants.
along the Delaware River. It was a chance to migrate to colonies like
there he founded Philadelphia, the Georgia instead of serving prison
“City of Brotherly Love.” sentences.
In keeping with his faith, Penn But few colonists could finance
was motivated by a sense of equality the cost of passage for themselves
not often found in other American and their families to make a start in
colonies at the time. Thus, women the new land. In some cases, ships’
in Pennsylvania had rights long captains received large rewards from
before they did in other parts of the sale of service contracts for poor
America. Penn and his deputies migrants, called indentured servants,
also paid considerable attention and every method from extravagant
to the colony’s relations with the promises to actual kidnapping was
Delaware Indians, ensuring that used to take on as many passengers
they were paid for land on which as their vessels could hold.
the Europeans settled. In other cases, the expenses of
Georgia was settled in 1732, transportation and maintenance
the last of the 13 colonies to be were paid by colonizing agencies like
established. Lying close to, if not ac- the Virginia or Massachusetts Bay
tually inside the boundaries of Span- Companies. In return, indentured
ish Florida, the region was viewed as servants agreed to work for the agen-
a buffer against Spanish incursion. cies as contract laborers, usually for
But it had another unique quality: four to seven years. Free at the end of
The man charged with Georgia’s for- this term, they would be given “free-
tifications, General James Ogletho- dom dues,” sometimes including a
rpe, was a reformer who deliberately small tract of land.
18 19

11. CHAPTER 1: EARLY AMERICA OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
THE ENDURING MYSTERY OF THE ANASAZI
Time-worn pueblos and dramatic cliff towns, set amid the stark, rugged me-
sas and canyons of Colorado and New Mexico, mark the settlements of some of
the earliest inhabitants of North America, the Anasazi (a Navajo word meaning
“ancient ones”).
By 500 A.D. the Anasazi had established some of the first villages in
the American Southwest, where they hunted and grew crops of corn, squash,
and beans. The Anasazi flourished over the centuries, developing sophisticated
dams and irrigation systems; creating a masterful, distinctive pottery tradi-
tion; and carving multiroom dwellings into the sheer sides of cliffs that remain
among the most striking archaeological sites in the United States today.
Yet by the year 1300, they had abandoned their settlements, leaving their
pottery, implements, even clothing — as though they intended to return — and
seemingly vanished into history. Their homeland remained empty of human
beings for more than a century — until the arrival of new tribes, such as the
Navajo and the Ute, followed by the Spanish and other European settlers.
The story of the Anasazi is tied inextricably to the beautiful but harsh
environment in which they chose to live. Early settlements, consisting of simple
pithouses scooped out of the ground, evolved into sunken kivas (underground
rooms) that served as meeting and religious sites. Later generations developed
the masonry techniques for building square, stone pueblos. But the most dra-
matic change in Anasazi living was the move to the cliff sides below the flat-
topped mesas, where the Anasazi carved their amazing, multilevel dwellings.
The Anasazi lived in a communal society. They traded with other peoples
Major Native American cultural groupings, A.D. 500-1300.
in the region, but signs of warfare are few and isolated. And although the Ana-
sazi certainly had religious and other leaders, as well as skilled artisans, social
or class distinctions were virtually nonexistent.
Religious and social motives undoubtedly played a part in the building
of the cliff communities and their final abandonment. But the struggle to raise
food in an increasingly difficult environment was probably the paramount fac-
tor. As populations grew, farmers planted larger areas on the mesas, causing
some communities to farm marginal lands, while others left the mesa tops for
the cliffs. But the Anasazi couldn’t halt the steady loss of the land’s fertility
from constant use, nor withstand the region’s cyclical droughts. Analysis of tree
rings, for example, shows that a drought lasting 23 years, from 1276 to 1299,
finally forced the last groups of Anasazi to leave permanently.
Although the Anasazi dispersed from their ancestral homeland, their
legacy remains in the remarkable archaeological record that they left behind,
and in the Hopi, Zuni, and other Pueblo peoples who are their descendants. 
20 21

12. 2
CHAPTER
THE
COLONIAL
PERIOD
Pilgrims signing the
Mayflower Compact
aboard ship, 1620.
22

13. CHAPTER 2: THE COLONIAL PERIOD OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
“What then is the American, nearby. Compactness made possible William Penn, Pennsylvania func-
the village school, the village church,
tioned smoothly and grew rapidly.
this new man?” and the village or town hall, where
citizens met to discuss matters of
By 1685, its population was almost
9,000. The heart of the colony was
common interest. Philadelphia, a city of broad, tree-
The Massachusetts Bay Colony shaded streets, substantial brick and
American author and agriculturist
J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, 1782
continued to expand its commerce. stone houses, and busy docks. By the
From the middle of the 17th century end of the colonial period, nearly a
onward it grew prosperous, so that century later, 30,000 people lived
Boston became one of America’s there, representing many languages,
greatest ports. creeds, and trades. Their talent for
Oak timber for ships’ hulls, tallsuccessful business enterprise made
pines for spars and masts, and pitch the city one of the thriving centers of
for the seams of ships came from the the British Empire.
Northeastern forests. Building their Though the Quakers dominated
NEW PEOPLES were even more so among the three own vessels and sailing them to portsin Philadelphia, elsewhere in Penn-
M
regional groupings of colonies. all over the world, the shipmasters of
sylvania others were well represent-
ost settlers who came to Amer- Massachusetts Bay laid the founda- ed. Germans became the colony’s
ica in the 17th century were English, NEW ENGLAND tion for a trade that was to grow most skillful farmers. Important,
T
but there were also Dutch, Swedes, steadily in importance. By the end too, were cottage industries such as
and Germans in the middle region, he northeastern New England of the colonial period, one-third of weaving, shoemaking, cabinetmak-
a few French Huguenots in South colonies had generally thin, stony all vessels under the British flag were
ing, and other crafts. Pennsylvania
Carolina and elsewhere, slaves from soil, relatively little level land, and built in New England. Fish, ship’s was also the principal gateway into
Africa, primarily in the South, and long winters, making it difficult stores, and woodenware swelled the the New World for the Scots-Irish,
a scattering of Spaniards, Italians, to make a living from farming. exports. New England merchants who moved into the colony in the
and Portuguese throughout the col- Turning to other pursuits, the New and shippers soon discovered that early 18th century. “Bold and indi-
onies. After 1680 England ceased to Englanders harnessed waterpower rum and slaves were profitable com- gent strangers,” as one Pennsylvania
be the chief source of immigration, and established grain mills and modities. One of their most enter- official called them, they hated the
supplanted by Scots and “Scots- sawmills. Good stands of timber prising — if unsavory — trading English and were suspicious of all
Irish” (Protestants from Northern encouraged shipbuilding. Excellent practices of the time was the “trian-government. The Scots-Irish tended
Ireland). In addition, tens of thou- harbors promoted trade, and the gular trade.” Traders would purchase to settle in the backcountry, where
sands of refugees fled northwestern sea became a source of great wealth. slaves off the coast of Africa for New
they cleared land and lived by hunt-
Europe to escape war, oppression, In Massachusetts, the cod industry England rum, then sell the slaves in ing and subsistence farming.
and absentee-landlordism. By 1690 alone quickly furnished a basis for the West Indies where they would New York best illustrated the
the American population had risen prosperity. buy molasses to bring home for sale polyglot nature of America. By 1646
to a quarter of a million. From then With the bulk of the early settlers to the local rum producers. the population along the Hudson
on, it doubled every 25 years until, living in villages and towns around River included Dutch, French, Danes,
in 1775, it numbered more than 2.5 the harbors, many New Englanders THE MIDDLE COLONIES Norwegians, Swedes, English, Scots,
S
million. Although families occa- carried on some kind of trade or Irish, Germans, Poles, Bohemians,
sionally moved from one colony to business. Common pastureland and ociety in the middle colonies was Portuguese, and Italians. The Dutch
another, distinctions between indi- woodlots served the needs of towns- far more varied, cosmopolitan, and continued to exercise an important
vidual colonies were marked. They people, who worked small farms tolerant than in New England. Under social and economic influence on
24 25

14. CHAPTER 2: THE COLONIAL PERIOD OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
the New York region long after the terials in the world. Not bound to blankets. Quilt-making remains an England colonies, except for Rhode
fall of New Netherland and their a single crop as was Virginia, North American tradition today. Island, followed its example.
integration into the British colonial and South Carolina also produced The Pilgrims and Puritans had
system. Their sharp-stepped gable and exported rice and indigo, a blue SOCIETY, SCHOOLS, AND brought their own little libraries
roofs became a permanent part of dye obtained from native plants that CULTURE and continued to import books
A
the city’s architecture, and their was used in coloring fabric. By 1750 from London. And as early as the
merchants gave Manhattan much more than 100,000 people lived in significant factor deterring the 1680s, Boston booksellers were do-
of its original bustling, commercial the two colonies of North and South emergence of a powerful aristocratic ing a thriving business in works of
atmosphere. Carolina. Charleston, South Caroli- or gentry class in the colonies was classical literature, history, politics,
na, was the region’s leading port and the ability of anyone in an estab- philosophy, science, theology, and
THE SOUTHERN COLONIES trading center. lished colony to find a new home belles-lettres. In 1638 the first print-
In middle colonies, the Southern
In the southernmost colonies, as on the frontier. Time after time, ing press in the English colonies and
contrast to New England and everywhere else, population growth dominant Tidewater figures were the second in North America was
the in the backcountry had special sig- obliged to liberalize political poli- installed at Harvard College.
colonies were predominantly rural nificance. German immigrants and cies, land-grant requirements, and The first school in Pennsylvania
settlements. Scots-Irish, unwilling to live in religious practices by the threat of a was begun in 1683. It taught reading,
By the late 17th century, Virgin- the original Tidewater settlements mass exodus to the frontier. writing, and keeping of accounts.
ia’s and Maryland’s economic and where English influence was strong, Of equal significance for the Thereafter, in some fashion, every
social structure rested on the great pushed inland. Those who could not future were the foundations of Quaker community provided for the
planters and the yeoman farmers. secure fertile land along the coast, or American education and culture elementary teaching of its children.
The planters of the Tidewater region, who had exhausted the lands they established during the colonial pe- More advanced training — in classi-
supported by slave labor, held most held, found the hills farther west riod. Harvard College was founded cal languages, history, and literature
of the political power and the best a bountiful refuge. Although their in 1636 in Cambridge, Massachu- — was offered at the Friends Public
land. They built great houses, ad- hardships were enormous, restless setts. Near the end of the century, School, which still operates in Phila-
opted an aristocratic way of life, and settlers kept coming; by the 1730s the College of William and Mary delphia as the William Penn Charter
kept in touch as best they could with they were pouring into the Shenan- was established in Virginia. A few School. The school was free to the
the world of culture overseas. doah Valley of Virginia. Soon the years later, the Collegiate School of poor, but parents were required to
The yeoman farmers, who worked interior was dotted with farms. Connecticut, later to become Yale pay tuition if they were able.
smaller tracts, sat in popular assem- Living on the edge of Native University, was chartered. In Philadelphia, numerous pri-
blies and found their way into politi- American country, frontier families Even more noteworthy was the vate schools with no religious affili-
cal office. Their outspoken indepen- built cabins, cleared the wilderness, growth of a school system main- ation taught languages, mathemat-
dence was a constant warning to the and cultivated maize and wheat. tained by governmental authority. ics, and natural science; there were
oligarchy of planters not to encroach The men wore leather made from The Puritan emphasis on reading also night schools for adults. Women
too far upon the rights of free men. the skin of deer or sheep, known directly from the Scriptures under- were not entirely overlooked, but
The settlers of the Carolinas as buckskin; the women wore gar- scored the importance of literacy. In their educational opportunities were
quickly learned to combine agri- ments of cloth they spun at home. 1647 the Massachusetts Bay Colony limited to training in activities that
culture and commerce, and the Their food consisted of venison, enacted the “ye olde deluder Satan” could be conducted in the home.
marketplace became a major source wild turkey, and fish. They had their Act, requiring every town having Private teachers instructed the
of prosperity. Dense forests brought own amusements: great barbecues, more than 50 families to establish daughters of prosperous Philadel-
revenue: Lumber, tar, and resin dances, housewarmings for newly a grammar school (a Latin school phians in French, music, dancing,
from the longleaf pine provided married couples, shooting matches, to prepare students for college). painting, singing, grammar, and
some of the best shipbuilding ma- and contests for making quilted Shortly thereafter, all the other New sometimes bookkeeping.
26 27

15. CHAPTER 2: THE COLONIAL PERIOD OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
In the 18th century, the intel- primitive cabins, were firm devotees that the charges printed by Zenger Christian churches that believe in
lectual and cultural development of scholarship, and they made great were true and hence not libelous. personal conversion and the iner-
of Pennsylvania reflected, in large efforts to attract learned ministers to The jury returned a verdict of not rancy of the Bible) and the spirit of
measure, the vigorous personalities their settlements. guilty, and Zenger went free. revivalism, which continue to play
of two men: James Logan and Ben- Literary production in the The increasing prosperity of the significant roles in American reli-
jamin Franklin. Logan was secretary colonies was largely confined to towns prompted fears that the devil gious and cultural life. It weakened
of the colony, and it was in his fine li- New England. Here attention con- was luring society into pursuit of the status of the established clergy
brary that young Franklin found the centrated on religious subjects. worldly gain and may have contrib- and provoked believers to rely on
latest scientific works. In 1745 Logan Sermons were the most common uted to the religious reaction of the their own conscience. Perhaps most
erected a building for his collection products of the press. A famous 1730s, known as the Great Awaken- important, it led to the proliferation
and bequeathed both building and Puritan minister, the Reverend Cot- ing. Its two immediate sources were of sects and denominations, which
books to the city. ton Mather, wrote some 400 works. George Whitefield, a Wesleyan re- in turn encouraged general accep-
Franklin contributed even more His masterpiece, Magnalia Christi vivalist who arrived from England tance of the principle of religious
to the intellectual activity of Phila- Americana, presented the pageant in 1739, and Jonathan Edwards, who toleration.
delphia. He formed a debating club of New England’s history. The most served the Congregational Church
that became the embryo of the popular single work of the day was in Northampton, Massachusetts. EMERGENCE OF COLONIAL
American Philosophical Society. His the Reverend Michael Wigglesworth’s Whitefield began a religious re- GOVERNMENT
In the earlystriking of colonial de-
endeavors also led to the founding long poem, “The Day of Doom,” vival in Philadelphia and then moved
of a public academy that later de- which described the Last Judgment on to New England. He enthralled phases
veloped into the University of Penn- in terrifying terms. audiences of up to 20,000 people velopment, a feature was the
sylvania. He was a prime mover in In 1704 Cambridge, Massachu- at a time with histrionic displays, lack of controlling influence by the
the establishment of a subscription setts, launched the colonies’ first gestures, and emotional oratory. English government. All colonies ex-
library, which he called “the mother successful newspaper. By 1745 there Religious turmoil swept through- cept Georgia emerged as companies
of all North American subscription were 22 newspapers being published out New England and the middle of shareholders, or as feudal propri-
libraries.” in British North America. colonies as ministers left established etorships stemming from charters
In the Southern colonies, wealthy In New York, an important step churches to preach the revival. granted by the Crown. The fact that
planters and merchants imported in establishing the principle of free- Edwards was the most prominent the king had transferred his immedi-
private tutors from Ireland or Scot- dom of the press took place with the of those influenced by Whitefield ate sovereignty over the New World
land to teach their children. Some case of John Peter Zenger, whose and the Great Awakening. His most settlements to stock companies and
sent their children to school in Eng- New York Weekly Journal, begun in memorable contribution was his proprietors did not, of course, mean
land. Having these other opportuni- 1733, represented the opposition to 1741 sermon, “Sinners in the Hands that the colonists in America were
ties, the upper classes in the Tidewa- the government. After two years of of an Angry God.” Rejecting theat- necessarily free of outside control.
ter were not interested in supporting publication, the colonial governor rics, he delivered his message in a Under the terms of the Virginia
public education. In addition, the could no longer tolerate Zenger’s quiet, thoughtful manner, arguing Company charter, for example, full
diffusion of farms and plantations satirical barbs, and had him thrown that the established churches sought governmental authority was vested
made the formation of community into prison on a charge of seditious to deprive Christianity of its func- in the company itself. Nevertheless,
schools difficult. There were only a libel. Zenger continued to edit his tion of redemption from sin. His the crown expected that the com-
few free schools in Virginia. paper from jail during his nine- magnum opus, Of Freedom of Will pany would be resident in England.
The desire for learning did not month trial, which excited intense (1754), attempted to reconcile Cal- Inhabitants of Virginia, then, would
stop at the borders of established interest throughout the colonies. vinism with the Enlightenment. have no more voice in their govern-
communities, however. On the fron- Andrew Hamilton, the prominent The Great Awakening gave rise ment than if the king himself had
tier, the Scots-Irish, though living in lawyer who defended Zenger, argued to evangelical denominations (those retained absolute rule.
28 29

16. CHAPTER 2: THE COLONIAL PERIOD OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
Still, the colonies considered Calverts in Maryland, William Penn and control of the government the settlers had come to a land of
themselves chiefly as common- in Pennsylvania, the proprietors in passed to elected representatives. seemingly unending reach. On such
wealths or states, much like England North and South Carolina, and the Subsequently, other New England a continent, natural conditions pro-
itself, having only a loose association proprietors in New Jersey specified colonies — such as Connecticut moted a tough individualism, as
with the authorities in London. In that legislation should be enacted and Rhode Island — also succeeded people became used to making their
one way or another, exclusive rule with “the consent of the freemen.” in becoming self-governing simply own decisions. Government pen-
from the outside withered away. The In New England, for many years, by asserting that they were beyond etrated the backcountry only slowly,
colonists — inheritors of the long there was even more complete any governmental authority, and and conditions of anarchy often pre-
English tradition of the struggle self-government than in the other then setting up their own political vailed on the frontier.
for political liberty — incorporated colonies. Aboard the Mayflower, the system modeled after that of the Yet the assumption of self-gov-
concepts of freedom into Virginia’s Pilgrims adopted an instrument for Pilgrims at Plymouth. ernment in the colonies did not go
first charter. It provided that English government called the “Mayflower In only two cases was the self- entirely unchallenged. In the 1670s,
colonists were to exercise all liber- Compact,” to “combine ourselves to- government provision omitted. the Lords of Trade and Plantations,
ties, franchises, and immunities “as gether into a civil body politic for our These were New York, which was a royal committee established to
if they had been abiding and born better ordering and preservation ... granted to Charles II’s brother, the enforce the mercantile system in
within this our Realm of England.” and by virtue hereof [to] enact, con- Duke of York (later to become King the colonies, moved to annul the
They were, then, to enjoy the ben- stitute, and frame such just and equal James II), and Georgia, which was Massachusetts Bay charter because
efits of the Magna Carta — the laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, granted to a group of “trustees.” In the colony was resisting the govern-
charter of English political and and offices ... as shall be thought most both instances the provisions for ment’s economic policy. James II in
civil liberties granted by King John meet and convenient for the general governance were short-lived, for 1685 approved a proposal to create
in 1215 — and the common law good of the colony. ...” the colonists demanded legislative a Dominion of New England and
— the English system of law based Although there was no legal basis representation so insistently that the place colonies south through New
on legal precedents or tradition, not for the Pilgrims to establish a system authorities soon yielded. Jersey under its jurisdiction, thereby
statutory law. In 1618 the Virginia of self-government, the action was In the mid-17th century, the tightening the Crown’s control over
Company issued instructions to its not contested, and, under the com- English were too distracted by their the whole region. A royal governor,
appointed governor providing that pact, the Plymouth settlers were able Civil War (1642-49) and Oliver Sir Edmund Andros, levied taxes
free inhabitants of the plantations for many years to conduct their own Cromwell’s Puritan Commonwealth by executive order, implemented a
should elect representatives to join affairs without outside interference. to pursue an effective colonial pol- number of other harsh measures,
with the governor and an appointive A similar situation developed in icy. After the restoration of Charles and jailed those who resisted.
council in passing ordinances for the the Massachusetts Bay Company, II and the Stuart dynasty in 1660, When news of the Glorious Rev-
welfare of the colony. which had been given the right to England had more opportunity to olution (1688-89), which deposed
These measures proved to be govern itself. Thus, full authority attend to colonial administration. James II in England, reached Boston,
some of the most far-reaching in the rested in the hands of persons resid- Even then, however, it was inef- the population rebelled and impris-
entire colonial period. From then ing in the colony. At first, the dozen ficient and lacked a coherent plan. oned Andros. Under a new charter,
on, it was generally accepted that the or so original members of the com- The colonies were left largely to their Massachusetts and Plymouth were
colonists had a right to participate in pany who had come to America at- own devices. united for the first time in 1691 as
their own government. In most in- tempted to rule autocratically. But The remoteness afforded by a vast the royal colony of Massachusetts
stances, the king, in making future the other colonists soon demanded ocean also made control of the colo- Bay. The other New England colo-
grants, provided in the charter that a voice in public affairs and indi- nies difficult. Added to this was the nies quickly reinstalled their previ-
the free men of the colony should cated that refusal would lead to a character of life itself in early Amer- ous governments.
have a voice in legislation affecting mass migration. ica. From countries limited in space The English Bill of Rights and
them. Thus, charters awarded to the The company members yielded, and dotted with populous towns, the Toleration Act of 1689 affirmed
30 31

17. CHAPTER 2: THE COLONIAL PERIOD OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
freedom of worship for Christians stand the importance of what the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is now lo- conflict with France, known as the
in the colonies as well as in England colonial assemblies were doing and cated, between a band of French reg- French and Indian War in America
and enforced limits on the Crown. simply neglected them. Nonethe- ulars and Virginia militiamen under and the Seven Years’ War in Europe.
Equally important, John Locke’s less, the precedents and principles the command of 22-year-old George Only a modest portion of it was
Second Treatise on Government established in the conflicts between Washington, a Virginia planter and fought in the Western Hemisphere.
(1690), the Glorious Revolution’s assemblies and governors eventually surveyor. The British government In the Peace of Paris (1763),
major theoretical justification, set became part of the unwritten “con- attempted to deal with the conflict France relinquished all of Canada,
forth a theory of government based stitution” of the colonies. In this way, by calling a meeting of representa- the Great Lakes, and the territory
not on divine right but on contract. the colonial legislatures asserted the tives from New York, Pennsylvania, east of the Mississippi to the British.
It contended that the people, en- right of self-government. Maryland, and the New England The dream of a French empire in
dowed with natural rights of life, colonies. From June 19 to July 10, North America was over.
liberty, and property, had the right THE FRENCH AND 1754, the Albany Congress, as it Having triumphed over France,
to rebel when governments violated INDIAN WAR came to be known, met with the Iro- Britain was now compelled to face
F
their rights. quois in Albany, New York, in order a problem that it had hitherto ne-
By the early 18th century, almost rance and Britain engaged in a to improve relations with them and glected, the governance of its em-
all the colonies had been brought succession of wars in Europe and secure their loyalty to the British. pire. London thought it essential to
under the direct jurisdiction of the the Caribbean throughout the 18th But the delegates also declared organize its now vast possessions to
British Crown, but under the rules century. Though Britain secured a union of the American colonies facilitate defense, reconcile the diver-
established by the Glorious Revolu- certain advantages — primarily in “absolutely necessary for their pres- gent interests of different areas and
tion. Colonial governors sought to the sugar-rich islands of the Carib- ervation” and adopted a proposal peoples, and distribute more evenly
exercise powers that the king had bean — the struggles were generally drafted by Benjamin Franklin. The the cost of imperial administration.
lost in England, but the colonial indecisive, and France remained in a Albany Plan of Union provided for a In North America alone, British
assemblies, aware of events there, powerful position in North Ameri- president appointed by the king and territories had more than doubled.
attempted to assert their “rights” ca. By 1754, France still had a strong a grand council of delegates chosen A population that had been predom-
and “liberties.” Their leverage rested relationship with a number of Na- by the assemblies, with each colony inantly Protestant and English now
on two significant powers similar tive American tribes in Canada and to be represented in proportion to its included French-speaking Catholics
to those held by the English Parlia- along the Great Lakes. It controlled financial contributions to the gener- from Quebec, and large numbers of
ment: the right to vote on taxes and the Mississippi River and, by estab- al treasury. This body would have partly Christianized Native Ameri-
expenditures, and the right to initi- lishing a line of forts and trading charge of defense, Native American cans. Defense and administration
ate legislation rather than merely re- posts, had marked out a great cres- relations, and trade and settlement of the new territories, as well as of
act to proposals of the governor. cent-shaped empire stretching from of the west. Most importantly, it the old, would require huge sums of
The legislatures used these rights Quebec to New Orleans. The British would have independent authority money and increased personnel. The
to check the power of royal gover- remained confined to the narrow to levy taxes. But none of the colo- old colonial system was obviously
nors and to pass other measures to belt east of the Appalachian Moun- nies accepted the plan, since they inadequate to these tasks. Measures
expand their power and influence. tains. Thus the French threatened were not prepared to surrender ei- to establish a new one, however,
The recurring clashes between gov- not only the British Empire but also ther the power of taxation or control would rouse the latent suspicions
ernor and assembly made colonial the American colonists themselves, over the development of the western of colonials who increasingly would
politics tumultuous and worked for in holding the Mississippi Valley, lands to a central authority. see Britain as no longer a protector
increasingly to awaken the colonists France could limit their westward England’s superior strategic posi- of their rights, but rather a danger
to the divergence between American expansion. tion and her competent leadership to them. 9
and English interests. In many cases, An armed clash took place in ultimately brought victory in the
the royal authorities did not under- 1754 at Fort Duquesne, the site where
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18. CHAPTER 2: THE COLONIAL PERIOD OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
AN EXCEPTIONAL NATION? THE WITCHES OF SALEM
The United States of America did not emerge as a nation until about 175 In 1692 a group of adolescent girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, became
years after its establishment as a group of mostly British colonies. Yet from the subject to strange fits after hearing tales told by a West Indian slave. They
beginning it was a different society in the eyes of many Europeans who viewed accused several women of being witches. The townspeople were appalled but
it from afar, whether with hope or apprehension. Most of its settlers — whether not surprised: Belief in witchcraft was widespread throughout 17th-century
the younger sons of aristocrats, religious dissenters, or impoverished inden- America and Europe. Town officials convened a court to hear the charges of
tured servants — came there lured by a promise of opportunity or freedom not witchcraft. Within a month, six women were convicted and hanged.
available in the Old World. The first Americans were reborn free, establishing The hysteria grew, in large measure because the court permitted wit-
themselves in a wilderness unencumbered by any social order other than that nesses to testify that they had seen the accused as spirits or in visions. Such
of the primitive aboriginal peoples they displaced. Having left the baggage of “spectral evidence” could neither be verified nor made subject to objective
a feudal order behind them, they faced few obstacles to the development of a examination. By the fall of 1692, 20 victims, including several men, had been
society built on the principles of political and social liberalism that emerged executed, and more than 100 others were in jail (where another five victims
with difficulty in 17th- and 18th-century Europe. Based on the thinking of the died) — among them some of the town’s most prominent citizens. When the
philosopher John Locke, this sort of liberalism emphasized the rights of the charges threatened to spread beyond Salem, ministers throughout the colony
individual and constraints on government power. called for an end to the trials. The governor of the colony agreed. Those still
Most immigrants to America came from the British Isles, the most in jail were later acquitted or given reprieves.
liberal of the European polities along with The Netherlands. In religion, the Although an isolated incident, the Salem episode has long fascinated
majority adhered to various forms of Calvinism with its emphasis on both Americans. Most historians agree that Salem Village in 1692 experienced a
divine and secular contractual relationships. These greatly facilitated the kind of public hysteria, fueled by a genuine belief in the existence of witch-
emergence of a social order built on individual rights and social mobility. The craft. While some of the girls may have been acting, many responsible adults
development of a more complex and highly structured commercial society in became caught up in the frenzy as well.
coastal cities by the mid-18th century did not stunt this trend; it was in these Even more revealing is a closer analysis of the identities of the accused
cities that the American Revolution was made. The constant reconstruction of and the accusers. Salem Village, as much of colonial New England, was
society along an ever-receding Western frontier equally contributed to a lib- undergoing an economic and political transition from a largely agrarian, Pu-
eral-democratic spirit. ritan-dominated community to a more commercial, secular society. Many of
In Europe, ideals of individual rights advanced slowly and unevenly; the the accusers were representatives of a traditional way of life tied to farming
concept of democracy was even more alien. The attempt to establish both in and the church, whereas a number of the accused witches were members of a
continental Europe’s oldest nation led to the French Revolution. The effort to rising commercial class of small shopkeepers and tradesmen. Salem’s obscure
destroy a neofeudal society while establishing the rights of man and democrat- struggle for social and political power between older traditional groups and a
ic fraternity generated terror, dictatorship, and Napoleonic despotism. In the newer commercial class was one repeated in communities throughout Ameri-
end, it led to reaction and gave legitimacy to a decadent old order. In America, can history. It took a bizarre and deadly detour when its citizens were swept
the European past was overwhelmed by ideals that sprang naturally from the up by the conviction that the devil was loose in their homes.
process of building a new society on virgin land. The principles of liberalism The Salem witch trials also serve as a dramatic parable of the deadly
and democracy were strong from the beginning. A society that had thrown off consequences of making sensational, but false, charges. Three hundred years
the burdens of European history would naturally give birth to a nation that later, we still call false accusations against a large number of people a
saw itself as exceptional.  “witch hunt.” 
34 35

19. CHAPTER 2: THE COLONIAL PERIOD OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
Map depicting the English colonies and western territories, 1763-1775.
37

20. John Smith,
the stalwart
English explorer
and settler whose
leadership helped
save Jamestown from
collapse during its critical
early years.
B ECO M I N G A
NATION A PICTURE PROFILE
Detail from a painting by American artist Benjamin West
The United States of America was transformed in the two centuries (1738-1820), which depicts William Penn’s treaty with the
from the first English settlement at Jamestown in 1607 to the Native Americans living where he founded the colony of
Pennsylvania as a haven for Quakers and others seeking
beginning of the 19th century. From a series of isolated colonial religious freedom. Penn’s fair treatment of the Delaware
settlements hugging the Atlantic Coast, the United States evolved Indians led to long-term, friendly relations, unlike the conflicts
into a new nation, born in revolution, and guided by a Constitution between European settlers and Indian tribes in other colonies.
embodying the principles of democratic self-government.
38 39