Preface v
I Settlements North and South
The Founding of Jamestown 1
William Simmonds Describes the Settlers’ Problems 2
John Smith’s Adventures 4
The Founding of Plymouth 9
William Bradford’s History Of _Plymouth Plantation_ 9
John Winthrop, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony 17
Cotton Mather Describes John Winthrop 18
John Winthrop’s Letters to His Wife 19
II Religious Life in America
New England 22
Edward Taylor’s Poems 23
The Salem Witch Trials 25
Samuel Sewall’s Confession of Error 30
The Great Awakening: Jonathan Edwards 30
Other Colonies 33
John Woolman’s Journal 33
III Colonial Problems
Indian Troubles 37
Mrs. Rowlandson’s Captivity 38
Conflict with France 42
George Washington’s Letter on Braddock’s Defeat 42
Benjamin Franklin’s Comments on Braddock 44
IV Colonial Life
Transportation 46
Sarah Kemble Knight Journeys to Connecticut 46
Life in the South 49
William Byrd, a Virginia Gentleman 49
William Byrd Sees North Carolina 50
William Byrd Visits Colonel Spotswood 52
Life in a City 52
From Benjamin Franklin’s _Autobiography_ 53
The excerpt from _Of Plymouth Plantation_, by William Bradford, edited
by Samuel Eliot Morison, which begins on page 11, was reprinted by
permission of Alfred Knopf, Inc., 1952.
The poems by Edward Taylor, “Housewifery” and “The Joy of Church
Fellowship Rightly Attended,” which begin on page 23, were reprinted by
permission of the _New England Quarterly_, December, 1937.
The picture on page 1, of Pocahontas saving the life of Captain John
Smith, and the picture on page 22, “The Witch,” were reprinted through
the courtesy of the Library of Congress. The picture on the cover and
the picture on page 37, of a colonial woman captured by Indians, were
reprinted through the courtesy of the National Life Insurance Company of
Montpelier, Vermont. The picture of Benjamin Franklin shown on page 46
was reprinted through the courtesy of the John Hancock Mutual Life
Insurance Company of Boston, Massachusetts.