A HISTORY OF
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
BY
WOODROW WILSON, PH.D., LITT.D., LL.D.
IN FIVE VOLUMES
VOL. I.
The Swarming of the English
[Illustration: Woodrow Wilson]
A HISTORY OF
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
BY
WOODROW WILSON, PH.D., LITT.D., LL.D.
PRESIDENT OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS, MAPS,
PLANS, FACSIMILES, RARE PRINTS,
CONTEMPORARY VIEWS, ETC.
IN FIVE VOLUMES
VOL. I.
[Illustration]
NEW YORK AND LONDON
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
MCMVII
Copyright, 1901, 1902, by WOODROW WILSON.
Copyright, 1901, 1902, by HARPER & BROTHERS.
_All rights reserved._
TO
E. A. W.
IN LOVING ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GENTLE
BENEFITS WHICH CAN NEITHER BE
MEASURED NOR REPAID
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. BEFORE THE ENGLISH CAME 1
II. THE SWARMING OF THE ENGLISH,—
THE VIRGINIA COMPANY 34
NEW NETHERLAND AND NEW PLYMOUTH 69
THE MASSACHUSETTS COMPANY 100
THE PROVINCE OF MARYLAND 126
THE EXPANSION OF NEW ENGLAND 138
THE CIVIL WARS AND THE COMMONWEALTH 170
THE RESTORATION 207
NEW JERSEY AND CAROLINA 238
PENNSYLVANIA 283
THE REVOLUTION 328
NOTES ON ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
WOODROW WILSON (_photogravure_) _Frontispiece_
FACSIMILE OF ANNOTATIONS IN THE HANDWRITING OF CHRISTOPHER
COLUMBUS.—From Harrisse’s _Notes on Columbus_, opposite p.
84, after a copy of Cardinal Pierre d’Ailly’s _Imago Mundi_,
printed about 1490, and preserved in the Biblioteca Colombina,
at Seville, Spain. The annotations shown appear on the margin
of p. 18 of that copy 3
MARCO POLO.—Adapted from an engraving in Ruge’s _Geschichte des
Zeitalters der Entdeckungen_, p. 53, which was taken from an
old portrait in the possession of Monsignor Badia, of Rome. The
oldest attempt to give a portrait of him appeared in the first
printed edition of his travels, issued at Nuremberg in 1477.
Col. Henry Yule says, in his _Book of Ser Marco Polo_, vol.
i., p. cii., that “there is no portrait ... with any claim to
authenticity.” 5
TOSCANELLI MAP.—Facsimile of a conjectural restoration of a
supposed map of Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, sent by him to
Columbus in 1474, and by which, some claim, Columbus sailed
on his first voyage across the Atlantic. This view has been
recently controverted in a work by Henri Vignaud. Reproduced
from Winsor’s _America_, vol. ii., p. 103. A larger map—a newer
interpretation—is given by Gustavo Uzielli in his ponderous
volume on the life and times of Toscanelli, written in Italian
and published under the auspices of the Minister of Public
Instruction of Rome in 1894 6
NINE LINES FROM THE “COSMOGRAPHIÆ INTRODUCTIO,” IN WHICH THE
NAME AMERICA FIRST OCCURS.—This work was compiled by Martin
Waltzemüller or Waldseemüller, a native of Freiburg, whose
name is also found as Hylacomylus, its grecized form. The
first part of his treatise is an introduction to cosmography,
while the second part gives the four navigations of Americus
Vespucius. Several editions, differing typographically, were
issued at St. Dié, in Lorraine, in 1507. The facsimile is from
one of these editions in the New York Public Library (Lenox
Building) 7
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF SIR JOHN HAWKINS.—From a drawing
adapted after a bas-relief ivory bust; see the frontispiece
to _Hawkins’ Voyages_, edited by Clements R. Markham for the
Hakluyt Society in 1878 9
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE.—From a drawing
adapted after a copper-plate engraving in Holland’s _Herwologia
Anglica_, p. 106 10
BUFFALO OR “CROOK-BACKED” OX.—From Thevet’s _Les Singularitez
de la France Antarctique_ (Antwerp, 1558), verso of folio 144.
Reproduced from a copy of this work in the New York Public
Library (Lenox Building). It is perhaps the earliest appearance
of an engraving of the buffalo 11
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF JUAN PONCE DE LEON.—The portrait is
drawn after an engraving in a volume of Herrera’s _Historia
General_, edition of 1728 12
AUTOGRAPH OF PÁNFILO DE NARVAEZ.—Copied after a facsimile in
Buckingham Smith’s _Cabeça de Vaca_, 1871 13
HERNANDO DE SOTO.—Redrawn from an old print 15
AUTOGRAPH OF FRANCISCO VÁSQUEZ DE CORONADO 16
RUINS OF ARIZONA CLIFF-DWELLINGS.—From a recent photograph.
There are many illustrations of these unique structures in
Nordenskiold’s _Cliff Dwellers_, 1893 17
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF JACQUES CARTIER.—From a drawing
adapted after the St. Malo portrait 18
OLD GATEWAY, ST. AUGUSTINE.—From a drawing by Harry Fenn 19
ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA, 1742.—Redrawn from an old print 20
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF SIR MARTIN FROBISHER.—From Henry
Holland’s Herwologia Anglica (London, 1620), between pp. 96
and 97 21
AUTOGRAPH OF HENRY VIII 23
SPANISH GALLEON.—Redrawn from Fiske’s _Old Virginia and her
Neighbours_, vol. i., p. 39, who took it from La Gravière’s
_Les marins du XVᵉ et du XVIᵉ siècle_ 25
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT.—From Holland’s
_Herwologia Anglica_, p. 64 26
SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT’S MAP.—From the original map in his _A
Discourse of a Discouerie for a New Passage to Cataia._ London,
1576. In the New York Public Library (Lenox Building) 27
PORTRAIT OF WALTER RALEGH.—From an engraving by Robinson, after
a painting by Zucchero _Facing p._ 28
MAP OF ROANOKE ISLAND AND VICINITY.—Copied from an original
drawing of John With, or White, preserved in the British Museum 29
TITLE-PAGE OF SIR WALTER RALEGH’S “DISCOVERIE.”—At least three
varieties of this tract were issued in 1596. Facsimile from an
original in the New York Public Library (Lenox Building) 31
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF JAMES I.—From a painting By C.
Jonson, in the possession of W. J. Hay, at Duns, England 35
THE SHIPS GOODSPEED, SARAH CONSTANT, AND DISCOVERY AT THE CAPES
OF THE DELAWARE.—Redrawn from old prints 36
“SHIPS WERE RARE.”—From a drawing adapted after an old print 37
“LIKE PILGRIMS, HERE AND THERE CROSSING THE WATERS.”—From a
drawing adapted after an old print 39
SEAL OF HIS MAJESTY’S COUNCIL OF VIRGINIA.—from Alexander
Brown’s _Genesis of the United States_, vol. i., p. 57. It is
the seal which was used in the publications of the Virginia
Company 40
TITLE-PAGE OF RICHARD HAKLUYT’S “DIVERS VOYAGES.”—From a
copy of the excessively rare original book in the New York
Public Library (Lenox Building), a British Museum duplicate.
It is Hakluyt’s first publication; includes, among others,
the voyages of Cabot, Zeno, Ribault, and Verazzano; and was
reprinted by the Hakluyt Society in 1850 41
AUTOGRAPH OF RICHARD HAKLUYT 42
INDIAN VILLAGE OF SECOTAN.—Facsimile from an original in the
New York Public Library (Lenox Building), which forms plate xx.
in Part I. of the _Great Voyages_, published by Theodor De Bry
in 1590. This part was issued in this year in Latin, German,
French, and English. The English edition is one of the rarest
books in the whole field of Americana 43
TITLE-PAGE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH’S “TRUE RELATION.”—From an
original in the New York Public Library (Lenox Building). It
is both the earliest printed work of Smith and the earliest
published work relating to the colony at Jamestown, Virginia 47
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH’S MAP OF VIRGINIA, 1612.—From an original
of the first issue in the New York Public Library (Lenox
Building); engraved by W. Hole. It was several times reissued,
and was copied in many publications subsequently 49
TITLE-PAGE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH’S “GENERALL HISTORIE.”—From an
original copy of the first issue in the New York Public Library
(Lenox Building). This work was reissued in 1625, 1626, 1627,
1631, and 1632 51
TITLE-PAGE OF LORD DELAWARE’S “RELATION.”—From a copy of
the original edition in the New York Public Library (Lenox
Building). A facsimile edition of twenty copies was privately
printed at New York in 1868 53
AUTOGRAPH OF SIR GEORGE YEARDLEY.—From a holograph letter of
Yeardley, dated “James citty Jan. 10th 1619” [_i.e._ 1620], in
the “Smyth of Nibley Papers,” New York Public Library (Lenox
Building) 55
FACSIMILE OF LETTER OF SIR EDWIN SANDYS TO SIR GEORGE
YEARDLEY.—Facsimile from the “Smyth of Nibley papers” in the
New York Public Library (Lenox Building). It is a contemporary
transcript, probably in the handwriting of John Smyth 57
FIRST VIRGINIA ASSEMBLY—GOVERNOR YEARDLEY PRESIDING.—From a
painting by F. Luis Mora 59
LANDING OF NEGROES AT JAMESTOWN FROM A DUTCH MAN-OF-WAR,
1619.—From a painting by Howard Pyle 61
AUTOGRAPH OF SIR THOMAS DALE 62
JAMESTOWN IN 1622.—From an old print 63
GRAVE OF POWHATAN.—From a photograph by George S. Cook 65
ALL THAT IS LEFT OF JAMESTOWN.—From a sketch by Harry Fenn 66
VIEW OF QUEBEC ABOUT 1732.—From Henry Popple’s _Map of the
British Empire in America_. London, 1733. Reproduced from an
original in the New York Public Library (Lenox Building) 70
TITLE-PAGE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH’S “DESCRIPTION OF NEW
ENGLAND.”—From a copy of the original in the New York Public
Library (Lenox Building). It is the _first_ book published
in which the name “New England” appears—a designation which
originated with Smith 71
EARLIEST VIEW OF NEW AMSTERDAM.—This first engraved view of New
Amsterdam appears on the upper half of p. 21 of _Beschrijvinge
van Virginia, Nieuw Nederlandt_ [etc.], published at Amsterdam
by Joost Hartgers in 1651. It represents the present lower end
of New York as it appeared about 1628 to 1632. Reproduced from
an original in the New York Public Library (Lenox Building) 73
DEPARTURE OF THE PILGRIMS FROM DELFT HAVEN.—Reproduced from an
old Dutch painting in the possession of George Henry Boughton,
the artist. See _Harper’s Weekly_ for March 9, 1895, for an
account of it 75
THE MAYFLOWER IN PLYMOUTH HARBOR.—From a painting by W. L.
Halsall in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, Mass. 77
HOUSE IN PLYMOUTH, ENGLAND, WHERE THE MAYFLOWER PILGRIMS WERE
ENTERTAINED.—From a photograph by H. F. W. Lyouns of Boston 79
PORTRAIT OF JOHN WINTHROP.—From a painting by Van Dyck, in the
Massachusetts State House _Facing p._ 80
AUTOGRAPH OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.—Much reduced in size 81
ELDER BREWSTER’S CHAIR.—The original is preserved in Pilgrim
Hall, Plymouth, Mass. 82
AUTOGRAPH OF JOHN ROBINSON.—Facsimile of an autograph found on the
title-page of a copy of Edward Sandys’s _Relation of the State
of Religion_ (London, 1605), formerly in the possession of Dr.
Charles Deane, and sold at the sale of his library in 1898 83
A PILGRIM BABY’S CRADLE.—from the original in Pilgrim Hall,
Plymouth, Mass. 84
TITLE-PAGE OF THOMAS MORTON’S “NEW ENGLISH CANAAN.”—From a
copy of the original of this facetious book in the New York
Public Library (Lenox Building). It is also in the libraries
of Harvard College, Massachusetts Historical Society, Yale
University, New York Historical Society, Library of Congress,
and in the collection of John Carter Brown (Brown University).
The Prince Society reprinted it in 1883 87
HOLOGRAPH LETTER FROM MYLES STANDISH TO GOVERNOR BRADFORD.—From
the original in the Emmet Collection, No. 4935, New York Public
Library (Lenox Building) 88
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF EDWARD WINSLOW.—From the painting in
Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, Mass. 90
TITLE-PAGE OF MOURT’S “RELATION.”—From an original in the New
York Public Library (Lenox Building). Other copies are at
Harvard College, Boston Public Library, and Collection of John
Carter Brown (Brown University). It “is a sort of journal not
intended for publication by those who had a chief hand in it,
Bradford and Winslow, which, being sent to friends in London,
was printed there, and is known as ‘Mourt’s Relation.’”—WINSOR. 91
TITLE-PAGE OF EDWARD WINSLOW’S “GOOD NEWES FROM NEW
ENGLAND.”—From an original in the New York Public Library
(Lenox Building). Other copies of one or the other of the two
issues which appeared in 1624 can be found in the Boston Public
Library, Massachusetts Historical Society, John Carter Brown
Collection (Brown University), and the British Museum. The book
covers the history of Plymouth Colony from November, 1621, to
September, 1623, and “is a story of the griefs and perils and
escapes of the young settlement” 93
PAGE FROM BRADFORD’S “HISTORY OF PLIMOTH PLANTATION,” SHOWING
BRADFORD’S HANDWRITING.—The original manuscript, now deposited
in the State Library of Massachusetts, is a folio volume
measuring 11½ by 7⅞ inches, and 1½ inches in thickness. It
gives chiefly in the form of annals a history of Plymouth
Colony to 1647, and was first printed at Boston, in 1856, in
the _Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society_,
fourth series, vol. iii., at which time a private edition of
fifty copies was also issued for its editor, Charles Deane. A
fine facsimile of the whole manuscript from which this page
is reproduced was issued with an introduction by John A.
Doyle, and published at London in 1896. The General Court of
Massachusetts authorized a verbatim reprint in 1898 94
AUTOGRAPH OF GOVERNOR WILLIAM BRADFORD 97
TITLE-PAGE OF THE ROYAL VERSION OR KING JAMES’S BIBLE.—There
are two issues of the first edition of 1611, known respectively
as the “He” and “She” bibles, from the rendering of Ruth iii.,
15. Reproduced from an original in the New York Public Library
(Lenox Building) 101
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF JOHN CALVIN.—From an engraving by T.
Woolnoth, believed to have been taken from a painting by Hans
Holbein. The autograph is copied from an original in the New
York Public Library (Lenox Building) 103
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF JOHN ENDECOTT.—From the original
painting in the possession of Hon. William C. Endicott, of
Danvers, Mass. 105
TITLE-PAGE OF FRANCIS HIGGINSON’S “NEW ENGLAND’S PLANTATION,”
1630.—From an original of the first edition in the New
York Public Library (Lenox Building), which possesses also
the second and third editions printed in the same year as
the first. The narration covers the interval from July to
September, 1629 107
MYLES STANDISH.—Redrawn from an old print 109
TITLE-PAGE OF THE “BAY PSALM BOOK.” Facsimile of the first
edition from the Lenox copy in New York Public Library.
Altogether ten copies are known of this first book printed in
English America, by Stephen Day, or Daye, at Cambridge, Mass.
For the latest account of its history and seventeenth century
editions, see _The Literary Collector_, vol. iii. (1901), 69-72 111
A VIRGINIA PLANTER WITH HIS ATTENDANTS IN HIS BOAT ON THE JAMES
RIVER.—From a painting by F. C. Yohn 113
DUTCH WEST INDIA COMPANY’S HOUSE, HAARLEM STREET,
AMSTERDAM.—Drawn from an old print. It is located at 75 Haarlem
Street, and is used as a home for aged men and women 115
ENGLISH GENTLEMAN, 1633; ENGLISH GENTLEWOMAN, 1631.—From
Green’s _History of the English People_ 117
AUTOGRAPH OF KILIAN VAN RENSSELAER, PATROON 118
ORDER CREATING BOARD OF SELECTMEN, CHARLESTOWN, 1634.—From a
heliotype in Winsor’s _Boston_, vol. i., opposite p. 388; the
original is among the _Charlestown Records_. It is dated “this
10th of February, 1634” 120
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF WILLIAM LAUD, ARCHBISHOP OF
CANTERBURY.—From an old print, after the painting of Sir
Anthony Vandyck 123
TITLE-PAGE OF HAMMOND’S “LEAH AND RACHEL.”—Original copies of
this excessively rare book are in Harvard College Library and
the Carter Brown Collection of Providence. It was reprinted in
Peter Force’s _Tracts_, vol. iii., No. 14. Washington, 1844 127
PORTRAIT OF GEORGE CALVERT, FIRST LORD BALTIMORE.—From a
painting in the State House at Annapolis _Facing p._ 128
PORTRAIT OF CECILIUS CALVERT, SECOND LORD BALTIMORE.—From a
line engraving by Abraham Blotling (or Blooteling), in New York
Public Library (Lenox Building), Emmet Collection, No. 1687 132
ARRIVAL OF WINTHROP’S COMPANY IN BOSTON HARBOR.—From the
painting by William Formby Halsall, in the possession of Walter
B. Ellis, Esq., of Boston, Mass. 139
AUTOGRAPH OF THOMAS HOOKER 141
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF JOHN COTTON.—From the original
painting owned by his descendant, Miss Adèle G. Thayer, of
Brookline, Mass. 143
MINOT HOUSE, DORCHESTER.—Erected about 1633 in that part of
Dorchester called Neponset. Redrawn from Winsor’s _Boston_,
vol. i., p. 432 145
AUTOGRAPH OF WOUTER VAN TWILLER 146
DUTCH FORT—“GOOD HOPE.”—Redrawn from an old print 148
TITLE-PAGE OF THE CAMBRIDGE PLATFORM.—From an original in the
New York Public Library (Lenox Building). It is the first
edition of this famous book, and was printed by Samuel Green,
the second printer of Cambridge, Mass. 151
UNCAS AND HIS SQUAW. THEIR MARKS.—From Smith and Watson’s
_American Historical and Literary Curiosities_, first series,
plate xlix. In New York Public Library (Lenox Building) 153
MIANTONOMO. HIS MARK.—From Winsor’s _Boston_, vol. i., p. 253 154
ST. BOTOLPH’S CHURCH, BOSTON, LINCOLNSHIRE, ENGLAND.—From a
photograph 156
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF SIR HENRY VANE.—From a line engraving
by Houbraken, after the painting by Sir Peter Lely, in Birch’s
_Heads_. London, 1743. In New York Public Library (Lenox
Building) 157
ANNE HUTCHINSON PREACHING IN HER HOUSE IN BOSTON.—From a
painting by Howard Pyle 158
OLD FORT AT SAYBROOK, 1639.—Redrawn from an old print 160
HOOKER’S HOUSE AT HARTFORD.—Redrawn from an old print 161
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF REV. JOHN DAVENPORT.—From a painting
in Alumni Hall, Yale University. Autograph from an original in
the “Winthrop-Davenport Papers,” New York Public Library (Lenox
Building) 162
HOUSE AT GUILFORD, 1639.—Built in 1639 for Rev. Henry
Whitefield, one of the founders of Guilford, Conn., and the
oldest house now standing in that State. See another view in
Edwin Whitefield’s _Homes of our Forefathers_. Boston, 1882 163
MAP OF NEW AMSTERDAM AND VICINITY, 1666.—Facsimile of the lower
portion of the first published map of Hudson’s River, which
is found in a Dutch work entitled, _Verdere Aenteyckeninge_,
printed at Middleburgh by Jacques Fierens in 1666. From the
original in the New York Public Library (Lenox Building) 166
AUTOGRAPH OF SAMUEL BLOMAERT 168
STATUE OF SIR HENRY VANE.—From a photograph of the original
statue by Frederick Macmonnies, in the Boston Public Library 171
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF CHARLES I.—From an engraving after
the painting by Sir Anthony Vandyck 173
VIEW OF NEW AMSTERDAM IN 1656.—Drawn and adapted by Harry Fenn
after a view on the Visscher map. It is known as the Augustine
Herrman view, and was often reproduced in one form or other 175
WATER GATE, FOOT OF WALL STREET, NEW YORK, 1674.—From an old
print 176
FIRST MEETING-HOUSE, 1634-1638. ROGER WILLIAMS’S CHURCH.—From
an old print. A question has recently arisen as to whether this
old building was ever used by Roger Williams 177
AUTOGRAPH OF ROGER WILLIAMS. 178
TITLE-PAGE OF ROGER WILLIAMS’S “KEY INTO THE LANGUAGE OF
AMERICA.”—This is the earliest printed book of Roger Williams.
Each chapter contains short vocabularies and dialogues in
Indian and English, followed by observations, and ending with
a poem. From an original in the New York Public Library (Lenox
Building) 179
THE CANAL, BROAD STREET, NEW YORK, 1659.—Redrawn from an old
print 180
FARRER’S MAP OF VIRGINIA, 1651.—From the original in New York
Public Library (Lenox Building), in Edward Williams’s _Virgo
Triumphans: or, Virginia richly and truly valued_. London,
1650. The book, ascribed to Williams, is in substance the work
of John Farrer. For an account of the different states of this
map, see Winsor’s _America_, vol. iii., p. 168 182
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF JOHN HAMPDEN.—From a line engraving
by Houbraken in Birch’s _Heads_. London, 1743. In New York
Public Library (Lenox Building). Autograph from Nugent’s
_Memorials of Hampden_. London, 1865 184
AUTOGRAPH OF SIR WILLIAM BERKELEY 185
TITLE-PAGE OF NORTON’S “HEART OF NEW ENGLAND RENT.”—From a copy
of the original edition in the New York Public Library (Lenox
Building) 187
TITLE-PAGE OF JOHN COTTON’S “SPIRITUAL MILK FOR BOSTON
BABES.”—From the original American edition of 1656, in the New
York Public Library (Lenox Building). It was first issued in
London in 1646, a copy of which is in the British Museum 189
OLIVER CROMWELL’S LETTER TO JOHN COTTON.—From the original
manuscript in the New York Public Library (Lenox Building),
now reproduced in facsimile for the first time in its entirety.
It is printed in the _Bulletin of the New York Public Library_,
vol. iv. (1900), pp. 13 and 14, which see also for an account
of its history 191 to 194
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF JOHN PYM.—From a line engraving
by Houbraken in Birch’s _Heads_. London, 1743. In the New
York Public Library (Lenox Building). Autograph from Thane’s
_British Autography_ 196
PETER STUYVESANT’S BOWERY HOUSE.—Redrawn from Valentine’s
_Manual_ for 1866, p. 579 197
TITLE-PAGE OF “NEW HAVEN’S SETTLING IN NEW ENGLAND.”—From an
original in the New York Public Library (Lenox Building). Only
five or six copies are known to be in existence 199
ARRIVAL OF STUYVESANT AT NEW AMSTERDAM.—From a painting by
Howard Pyle 201
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF PETER STUYVESANT.—From an engraving
after the painting by Vandyck. Redrawn from an old print 203
OLD STATE HOUSE OF NEW AMSTERDAM.—Redrawn from an old print 204
ORIGINAL TOWN HOUSE, BOSTON, 1657-1711. BUILT BY THOMAS
JOY.—From a print after the original pencil sketch by Thomas
Joy 205
AUTOGRAPHS OF ROBERT SEDGWICK AND JOHN LEVERETT 208
TITLE-PAGE OF “A DECLARATION OF THE SAD AND GREAT PERSECUTION
AND MARTYRDOM OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD, CALLED QUAKERS, IN NEW
ENGLAND.”—This protest of the Quakers, although not dated on
the title, was printed in 1660. The title-page is printed in
black and red lines. From an original in the New York Public
Library (Lenox Building) 210
SEAL OF VIRGINIA AFTER THE RESTORATION.—From _William and Mary
College Quarterly_ 211
PORTRAIT OF JAMES BLAIR.—From the painting in William and Mary
College _Facing p._ 212
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF CHARLES II.—From a print after the
painting by Sir Peter Lely 214
PORTRAIT OF EDWARD HYDE, EARL OF CLARENDON.—From a line
engraving by M. Burg after the painting by Sir Peter Lely. In
New York Public Library (Lenox Building), Emmet Collection, No.
1694 223
THE WALL, WALL STREET, NEW YORK, 1660.—Redrawn from an old
print 225
SIGNATURES OF THE COMMISSIONERS TO RETAKE NEW NETHERLAND 227
EARLY WINDMILL, NEW YORK.—Redrawn from an old print 228
SLAB MARKING THE TOMB OF PETER STUYVESANT.—Redrawn drawn from a
photograph 230
FACSIMILE OF THE KING’S PROCLAMATION FOR THE ARREST OF WHALLEY
AND GOFFE.—From the original broadside in the New York Public
Library (Lenox Building) 235
AUTOGRAPH OF GEORGE CARTERET 239
AUTOGRAPH OF PHILIP CARTERET 242
LOADING SHIPS IN ALBEMARLE SOUND.—From a painting by Howard Pyle 245
SIGNATURES OF CAROLINA PROPRIETORS 247
SEAL OF THE LORDS PROPRIETORS OF CAROLINA.—From a photograph
from the original seal 249
MAP OF CAROLINA, 1687.—From the map by Robert Morden in Richard
Blome’s _Present State of His Majesties Isles and Territories
in America_. London, 1687. In New York Public Library (Lenox
Building) 251
PORTRAIT OF THE EARL OF SHAFTESBURY.—From a line engraving by
Houbraken, after the painting by Sir Peter Lely, in Birch’s
_Heads_. London, 1743. In New York Public Library (Lenox
Building) 255
ST. PETER’S CHURCH, KENT COUNTY, VIRGINIA.—Drawn from a
photograph 257
TITLE-PAGE OF INCREASE MATHER’S “BRIEF HISTORY OF THE WARR WITH
THE INDIANS IN NEW-ENGLAND.”—From an original in the New York
Public Library (Lenox Building) 259
TITLE-PAGE OF MRS. APHRA BEHN’S “WIDDOW RANTER.”—From the
original first edition in the New York Public Library (Lenox
Building) 260
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF LORD CULPEPER.—From a painting in the
possession of the Virginia Historical Society 263
ON THE WAR-PATH.—From a painting by Howard Pyle 265
TITLE-PAGE OF JOHN ELIOT’S “ALGONQUIN NEW TESTAMENT.”—This
New Testament in the Natick dialect is the first printed in
any language on the Western Continent. Besides the English
title-page shown here, it has another in Indian. About sixteen
copies are known to be extant, and are described in Pilling’s
_Bibliography of the Algonquin Languages_ (Washington, 1891),
pp. 132-139. Facsimile from an original in the New York Public
Library (Lenox Collection) 268
NATHANIEL BACON AND HIS FOLLOWERS BURNING JAMESTOWN.—From a
painting by Howard Pyle 270
TITLE-PAGE OF “STRANGE NEWS FROM VIRGINIA.”—From an original in
the New York Public Library (Lenox Building) 273
GOVERNOR BERKELEY CONDEMNING WILLIAM DRUMMOND TO DEATH.—From a
painting by F. Luis Mora 275
A VIRGINIA VESTRY MEETING AFTER THE RESTORATION.—From a
painting by F. Luis Mora 278
KING PHILIP’S MARK.—From Fiske’s _Beginnings of New England_
(Boston, 1898), p. 240, which was taken from a manuscript deed
of land in Taunton, Mass. 279
OLD HOUSE IN DOCK SQUARE, BOSTON.—From an old print 280
NEW YORK CITY HALL AND DOCKS IN 1679.—Redrawn from a view
in Dankers and Sluyter’s _Journal of a Voyage to New York_.
Brooklyn, 1867 284
NEW YORK ABOUT 1673.—Redrawn from the view on Hugo Allard’s
map. At least six later issues, by other map makers, are known
to exist 286
THE STRAND, NEW YORK, 1679.—This view of the Strand (now
Whitehall Street) is redrawn from an adaptation of Dankers and
Sluyter. Cf. Shannon’s _Manual_ for 1869 287
A NEW YORK HOUSE IN 1679.—Redrawn from Valentine’s _Manual_ 289
TITLE-PAGE OF “A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PROVINCE OF
CAROLINA.”—From the original pamphlet in the New York Public
Library (Lenox Building) of this first publication about
Carolina 291
ORIGINAL BROAD SEAL OF SOUTH CAROLINA.—Drawn from a photograph
of an original seal in the Virginia Historical Society 293
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF SIR EDMUND ANDROS.—From the
frontispiece to vol. i. of _The Andros Tracts_, published by
the Prince Society. Boston, 1868. Autograph from an original in
the New York Public Library (Lenox Building). _Vide_ p. 297 295
DOCUMENT BEARING THE AUTOGRAPH OF SIR EDMUND ANDROS.—From the
original manuscript in the New York Public Library (Lenox
Building), Emmet Collection, No. 4913 297
PORTRAIT OF WILLIAM PENN, AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-TWO.—From a
painting in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania _Facing p._ 300
WILLIAM PENN’S FIRST RESIDENCE IN AMERICA (LETITIA
COTTAGE).—Redrawn from an old print by Harry Fenn 301
SEAL AND SIGNATURES OF THE PENNSYLVANIA FRAME OF
GOVERNMENT.—From Winsor’s _America_, vol. iii., p. 484 302
THE PENN ARMS.—From Penn’s Genealogy 303
SEAL OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY PROVINCE.—From a title-page of the
printed _Records of Massachusetts Bay_, edited by Dr. Nathaniel
B. Shurtleff 304
MASSACHUSETTS COINAGE.—Photographed from original coins in the
New York Public Library (Lenox Building) 305
PROVINCE HOUSE, RESIDENCE OF THE ROYAL GOVERNORS OF
MASSACHUSETTS.—Redrawn from an old print 307
FACSIMILE OF A SHERIFF’S RETURN EXECUTION OF A WITCH.—From the
original document in Salem, Massachusetts 308
A PENNSYLVANIA CAVE-DWELLING IN 1683.—From a painting by Howard
Pyle 309
PAGE OF TUNES FROM THE BAY PSALM BOOK.—From the unique copy
of the original edition of Boston, 1698, in the Massachusetts
Historical Society, in which the tunes first appeared 311
AT AN IROQUOIS COUNCIL FIRE.—From a painting by Frederic
Remington 314
MEDAL PRESENTED BY JAMES II. TO THE KING OF THE
POTOMACKS.—Photographed from the original in the Virginia
Historical Society 316
LETTER FROM GOVERNOR DONGAN TO GOVERNOR PENN.—From a lithograph
facsimile in New York Public Library (Lenox Building), Emmet
Collection, No. 10,546 319
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF JAMES II.—From a photograph of the
original painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller 321
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF WILLIAM III.—From an old print 323
TITLE-PAGE OF LAWSON’S “NEW VOYAGE TO CAROLINA.”—From an
original in the New York Public Library (Lenox Building).
It was first issued as a part of Stevens’s _Collection of
Voyages_, vol. i., and separates on large paper also are
extant. Both forms are represented in the above-mentioned
library 325
TITLE-PAGE OF “NEW-ENGLAND’S SPIRIT OF PERSECUTION TRANSMITTED
TO PENNSYLVANIA.”—One of the earliest issues of William
Bradford’s press in New York, after his removal from
Philadelphia. From an original in the New York Public Library
(Lenox Building), which is one of five known copies 330
INVENTORY SIGNED BY PAUL RICHARD AND JACOB LEISLER.—From
the original document in the New York Public Library (Lenox
Building) 332
TITLE-PAGE OF THE PENNSYLVANIA FRAME OF GOVERNMENT.—From
Winsor’s _Narrative and Critical History of America_, vol.
iii., p. 484 334
GOVERNOR SLOUGHTER SIGNING THE DEATH WARRANT OF LEISLER.—From a
painting by Howard Pyle 336
MAP OF NEW YORK CITY IN 1695.—This map accompanied the
publication of the Rev. John Miller’s _Description of New
York_, first printed at London in 1843. The map has often been
reproduced since that year 338
PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.—Redrawn from an
old print 342
PHIPS RECOVERING THE SUNKEN TREASURE.—From a painting by Howard
Pyle 344
WILLIAM PENN’S RESIDENCE IN 1699.—Redrawn from an old print 346
AN INTERVIEW BETWEEN SIR EDMUND ANDROS AND JAMES BLAIR.—From a
painting by Howard Pyle 347
THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.—Redrawn from an old
print 349
_For the verification of the documents and the illustrative material
here, and for the notes on their sources, we are indebted to Mr.
Victor H. Paltsits, of the New York Public Library (Lenox Building),
whose scholarly researches made possible so full a list._
A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
CHAPTER I
BEFORE THE ENGLISH CAME
When the history of English settlement in America begins, the breathless,
eager stir of the Elizabethan age is over, and the sober, contentious
seventeenth century has come, with its perplexed politics, its schismatic
creeds, its scheming rivalries in trade. An age of discovery and bold
adventure has given place to an age of commerce and organization. More
than one hundred years have elapsed since the discovery of North America.
Spain has lost her great place in the politics of Europe, and France
and England are pressing forward to take it. While parts changed and
the stage was reset, the century through, the great continent lay “a
veiled and virgin shore,” inflaming desires that could not be gratified,
stirring dreams that only enticed brave men to their death, exciting
to enterprise and adventure, but never to substantial or lasting
achievement. The same mistake that had led to its discovery had prevented
its profitable occupation. Columbus had set out to seek, not a new
continent, but old Cathay; and died believing that what he had found
was in fact the eastern coasts of Asia. The explorers who followed him
in the next century had persisted in seeking, as he had sought, not new,
but old lands, rich with ancient kingdoms and fabled stores of treasure,
lying ready to the hand of conqueror and buccaneer. Such ancient kingdoms
Cortez and Pizarro actually found in South America and upon the Isthmus;
and such every adventurer promised himself he should find just beyond the
coasts of the northern continent also. Or else he should find something
that would be quite as valuable, and possibly no less romantic,—a
fountain of youth, untouched mines of precious ore, or waters floored
with priceless pearls.
The discovery of the New World had drawn Europe when she was most
credulous into a realm of dreams. The Revival of Learning had come.
Europe had read once more and with freshened eyes, as if for the first
time, the frank sentences of the ancient classics, written when men
looked heartily, fearlessly, artlessly about them, and her imagination
had been quickened and enriched by what she read, her thoughts set free
and rejuvenated. What she had seen also, as well as what she had read,
had given her new life. For the Middle Ages were now passed, and she
had herself become a new world. France had lost her feudal princes in
the Hundred Years’ War, and was at last a real kingdom under veritable
kings, for Louis XI. had reigned. England had been transformed by the
Wars of the Roses from a feudal into a national monarchy, and the
first Tudor was on the throne. Spain had cast out the Moor, and was
united under Christian sovereigns. Former geographical relations, too,
had disappeared. The old Europe had had its heart and centre in the
Mediterranean; but the capture of Constantinople by the Turk, and the
establishment of the hostile Turkish power upon all the eastern coasts
of the Mediterranean, now shut her out from the habitual courses of her
life by cutting off direct intercourse with the East. She was forced to
seek new routes for her commerce, a different life for her nations, new
objects of policy, other aims of ambition.
[Illustration: ANNOTATIONS IN HANDWRITING OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS]
Having felt the keen early airs of the Renaissance, her powers were
heartened and stimulated for the task, and she faced it with a glad
spontaneity and energy. She was strangely filled with hope and with a
romantic ardor for adventure, ready to see and to test every new thing.
It was naturally her first thought to find her way again, by new routes,
to India and the great East. Portuguese sailors, accordingly, sought and
found their way around the southern capes of Africa; and Columbus, more
bold and more believing still, pushed straight forth into the unknown
Atlantic, that dread and mysterious “Sea of Darkness” which had lain so
silent all the centuries, keeping its secrets. He would make directly for
the shores of Asia and the kingdom of the Tartars.
[Illustration: MARCO POLO]
In the new delight of giving rein to their imaginations men were ready
to believe anything. They could believe even Marco Polo, whom they had
hitherto been inclined to deem an impudent impostor. In the latter half
of the thirteenth century, Polo, accompanying his father and uncle, had
journeyed overland to the farthest kingdoms of Asia, when the great
Tartar empire of Kublai Khan stretched from Europe to the Chinese Sea.
He had seen throughout nearly twenty years the full splendor of that
stupendous realm, its rich provinces, its teeming and ancient cities,
its abounding wealth and unexampled power. Some of its authority he had
himself wielded; for he had been taken into the intimate counsels of the
Great Khan, and had gone up and down his coasts upon weighty errands
of state. But the men of his day at home would not credit what he had
to tell them of the boundless extent and resplendent glory of lands
which no one else among their neighbors had ever seen, or ever heard
named even, save by this Venetian adventurer. Who could say what truth
there was, or what falsehood, in these tales of the ends of Asia and
of a great sea lying beyond? Polo’s story slumbered, accordingly, in
curious manuscripts, or kept covert with the learned, until revived and
brought to day again by the congenial air and the enticing credulity
of the fifteenth century. In the view of that hopeful age nothing was
impossible. These things and many more Columbus credited and pondered, as
he pored upon crude and curious maps, sketched out of travellers’ tales
and astronomers’ reckonings; and it was the very Cathay of Marco Polo he
put across the new ocean to find.
[Illustration: A CONJECTURAL RESTORATION OF TOSCANELLI’S MAP]
[Illustration: PASSAGE IN “COSMOGRAPHIÆ INTRODUCTIO” IN WHICH THE NAME
AMERICA FIRST OCCURS]
The success of Columbus solved the mystery of the Atlantic, but it did
little to instruct Europe, or even to guide her fancy, concerning the
real nature of the lands he had found. No one dreamed that they were the
coasts of a new world. Who could believe the globe big enough to have
held through all the ages a whole continent of which Christendom had
never heard, nor even so much as had poetic vision,—unless, perchance,
this were the fabled Atlantis? Slowly, very slowly, exploration brought
the facts to light; but even then men were loath to receive the truth.
When Vespucius brought home authentic charts of new coasts in the
southwest, thrust far out into the Atlantic, so that even mariners who
strayed from their course to the Cape under stress of storms from out
the east might hit upon them, there was nothing for it but to deem this
indeed a New World. No such Asian coasts had ever been heard of in that
quarter of the globe. This southern world must, no doubt, lie between
Africa and the kingdoms of China. But the northern continent had been
found just where the Asian coasts were said to lie. It was passing hard
to conceive it a mere wilderness, without civilization or any old order
of settled life. Had Polo, after all, been so deep a liar? Men would not
so cheat their imaginations and balk their hopes of adventure. Unable to
shake off their first infatuation, they went wistfully on, searching for
kingdoms, for wonders, for some native perfection, or else some store of
accumulated bounty, until at last fancy was wholly baffled and rebuked by
utmost discipline of total and disastrous failure. Not until a century
had been wasted were confident adventurers sobered: the century of the
Reformation and the Elizabethan literature. Then at last they accepted
the task of winning America for what it was: a task of first settlement
in a wilderness,—hard, unromantic, prodigious,—practicable only by
strong-willed labor and dogged perseverance to the end.
While North America waited, South America prodigally afforded the spirit
of the age what it craved. There men actually found what they had deemed
Asia to contain. Here was, in fact, treasure-trove. The sea filled with
mighty Spanish armaments, commanded by masters of conquest like Cortez;
and the quaint and cloistered civilization of the New World trembled and
fell to pieces under the rude blows of the Spanish soldiers. Then the sea
filled again, this time with galleons deep-laden with the rich spoils
of the romantic adventure. Whereupon daring English seamen like Hawkins
and Drake turned buccaneers; and scant thought was given any longer to
the forested wilds of North America. England and Spain faced each other
on the seas. A few protestant sailors from the stout-hearted Devonshire
ports undertook to make proud Spain smart for the iniquities wrought upon
Englishmen by the Inquisition, while they lined their pockets, the while,
out of Spanish bottoms. By the time the great Armada came, England had
found her sea-legs. Spain recognized in the smartly handled craft which
beat her clumsy galleons up the Channel the power that would some day
drive her from the seas. Her hopes went to pieces with that proud fleet,
before English skill and prowess and pitiless sea-weather. It had been a
century of preparation, a century of vast schemes but half accomplished,
of daring but not steadfast enterprise, of sudden sallies of audacious
policy, but not of cautious plans or prudent forecasts. The New World in
the north still waited to be used.
[Illustration: JOHN HAWKINS]
[Illustration: SIR FRANCIS DRAKE]
And yet much had in fact been accomplished towards the future successful
occupation of North America. Some part of the real character of the new
continent stood sufficiently revealed. Early in the century Balboa had
crossed the Isthmus and
“Stared at the Pacific—and all his men
Looked at each other with a wild surmise—
Silent upon a peak in Darien.”
Magellan had found his way to the south, round about the coasts of South
America, into the new ocean; and before the middle of the century Spanish
vessels had beat their adventurous way along almost the entire Pacific
length of both continents. By the time Drake set out on his famous first
voyage round the world in 1577, the Spaniards had already established a
trade route across the Pacific to India and the Spice Islands.
[Illustration: “CROOK-BACKED” OX]
Their discoveries became very slowly known to the rest of the world;
they had no mind to advertise what they found, and so invite rivalry.
Each nation that coveted the new lands was left to find out for itself
how they lay, with what coasts, upon what seas. It did at last become
generally known, however, that America was no part of Asia, but itself a
separate continent, backed by an ocean greater even than the Atlantic.
What was still hidden was the enormous extent of the New World. It
had been found narrow enough from ocean to ocean at the Isthmus; and
the voyagers along its farther coasts had not been expert to mark the
real spread and trend of its outlines. They imagined it of no great
bulk. Throughout the century every explorer who sought to penetrate its
interior from the Atlantic along any considerable watercourse confidently
hoped to find, near the sources of the stream, similar passage down the
western slopes of the continent to the great sea at the west. Adventurer
after adventurer, moreover, pushed northward among the ice to find a
northwest passage whereby to enter the Pacific.
[Illustration: PONCE DE LEON]
All such mistakes only served to make the real character of the northern
continent the more evident. Every discovery contributed to sober
discoverers. That the interior was one vast wilderness, grown thick with
tangled forests, blocked by mountains which stood old and untouched, or
else stretching wide “through mighty plains and sandy heaths, smooth
and wearisome, and bare of wood,” with only “crook-backed oxen” for
inhabitants, the Spaniards had abundantly discovered by many a costly
adventure. In 1513, the year of Balboa’s great discovery, and again in
1521, the gallant Ponce de Leon led an expedition into the beautiful
peninsula which he named Florida, in search of a fabled spring whose
waters, of “sweet savour and reflaire,” it was said, “as it were of
divers manner of spicery,” would impart immortal youth to those who drank
of them. But the wilderness baffled him, and he lost both his hope and
his life in the enterprise.
[Illustration: SIGNATURE OF PÁNFILO DE NARVAEZ]
In 1528 Pánfilo de Narvaez sought to take the land by storm, in true
Spanish fashion, landing a force of three hundred men at Apalache Bay,
with horses and trappings and stores, to march in quest of kingdoms
and treasures. And march they did, thrusting their way through the
forests and swamps very manfully towards the vast unknown interior of
the continent. Their ships, meanwhile, they sent away, to bring still
others to the enterprise, but with plans of rendezvous so vague and
ill-conceived that they never beheld them again. After three fruitless
months spent with keen suffering of want and disappointment in the
wild forests, where there was neither kingdom nor treasure, they found
themselves thrown back upon the coast again, dismayed, and in search of
their craft. Finding that they must help themselves, they built such
boats as they could, and tried to pick their way by sea to the westward.
Caught in a rush of waters at the mouth of the Mississippi, two of their
five boats were overwhelmed, and all who were in them were lost. The
rest drifted on till cast ashore far to the west. Four men, and four
only, of all the company survived to tell the story to the world. After a
marvellous and pitiful pilgrimage of almost two thousand miles, full of
every perilous and strange adventure, they actually reached the Spanish
settlements on the Pacific, eight years after that gallant landing at
Apalache.
[Illustration: HERNANDO DE SOTO]
In 1539 Hernando de Soto repeated the folly. He brought to the Bay of
Espiritu Santo nine vessels, with near six hundred men and more than
two hundred horses. Leaving a small part of his force with the fleet,
he set out with a great force for the interior of the continent. It was
childish folly; but it was gallantly done, with all the audacity and
hardness of purpose that distinguished Spanish conquest in that day. With
contempt of danger, meting out bitter scorn and cruelty to every human
foe, and facing even pitiless nature itself without blanching or turning
back, proud and stubborn to the last through every tormenting trial of
the desperate march, they forced their way onward to the great waters
of the Mississippi. From the mouth of that river, in boats of their own
construction, some three hundred survivors reached Spanish posts on the
Gulf. But without their leader. De Soto had sickened and died as they
beat up and down the wilderness which lay along the great stream of the
Mississippi, whose inland courses he had discovered, and they had buried
his body beneath its sluggish waters.
[Illustration: SIGNATURE OF CORONADO]
Meanwhile a like expedition was wasting its strength in the wilds which
stretched back from the Pacific. In 1540 Coronado, Spanish Governor of
New Galicia, had led an army of three hundred Spaniards and eight hundred
Indians northward from his Pacific province in search of seven fabled
cities of “Cibola.” These “cities” proved to be only humble pueblos such
as those whose ruins still so curiously mark the river cliffs of Arizona
and New Mexico. Having put out parties to explore the courses of the
Colorado and the Rio Grande, only to find the stately cañons of the one,
at the west, and the spreading valley of the other, at the south, without
the notable peoples and provinces he looked for, he himself pressed
doggedly onward for weary hundreds of miles, eastward and northeastward,
to the far Missouri, to find at last nothing but vast deserts, without a
trace of population or any slightest promise of treasure. It was a hard
lesson thoroughly learned, bitten in by sufferings which corroded like
deadly acids.
[Illustration: RUINS OF ARIZONA CLIFF-DWELLINGS]
[Illustration: JACQUES CARTIER]
[Illustration: OLD GATEWAY, ST. AUGUSTINE]
By such means was the real nature of the North American continent
painfully disclosed, each maritime nation acting for itself. Spanish,
English, and French seamen beat, time and again, up and down its coasts,
viewing harbors, trying inlets, tracing the coast lines, carrying away
rumors of the interior. The Spaniards explored and partially settled
the coasts of the Gulf. In 1534-35 Jacques Cartier penetrated the St.
Lawrence, in the name of his French master, as far as the present site of
Montreal; and in 1541 planted a rude fort upon the heights of Quebec. In
1562-64 settlements of French Huguenots were effected in Florida, only
to be destroyed, with savage ruthlessness, by the Spaniards, who in 1565
in their turn established St. Augustine, from which the French found it
impossible permanently to dislodge them. In the opening years of the
seventeenth century French colonies were planted on the St. Lawrence at
Montreal and Quebec, and in Acadia, in the region which was afterwards
to be known as Nova Scotia. English settlements also were attempted.
All signs combined to indicate the coming in of a new age of organized
enterprise, when, with one accord, the nations which coveted the virgin
continent should cease to
“fly to India for gold,
Ransack the ocean for Orient pearl,
And search all corners of the new-found world
For pleasant fruits and princely delicates,”
and should compete, instead, to build communities and erect states over
sea, and so possess themselves of a vast treasure of their own making.
[Illustration: ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA, 1742]
[Illustration: SIR MARTIN FROBISHER]