Social materials of the colonies.

Character of Virginians and New Englanders.

war,' a period of about two hundred and sixty years. During that time, fifteen colonies were planted,' thirteen of which were commenced within the space of about fifty-six years [1607 to 1673]. By the union of Plymouth and Massachusetts,' and Connecticut and New Haven,* the number of colonies was reduced to thirteen, and these were they which went into the Revolutionary contest in 1775.

2. Several European nations contributed men and women for the founding of these colonies. They were distinguished by differences in language, tastes, habits, and religious faith. England furnished the far greater number, and the settlements came to be known as Anglo-American colonies, governed by English laws. Very soon, common interests produced a unity, and the people of several nations joined heartily in maintaining the integrity of the British realm when it was assailed." They were still more united in opposing British aggressions upon their rights.'

3. There were differences in the character of the people of the several colonies. The Virginians and their southern neighbors were mostly from a class of English society in which restraints were not very rigid; and the warm climate produced a tendency toward indolence and ease. Hence slave labor, relieving the white man from toil, was regarded as a great blessing.

4. The New Englanders were chiefly from another class of English society, and included many religious enthusiasts, who sometimes possessed more zeal than wisdom. They were rigid disciplinarians in church and state; and their early legislation exhibits some curious laws respecting the minute details of social and domestic life. Their sterile soil made industry a necessity, and the climate inclined them to activity. Their habits and their

1. Section XII., page 95.

2. Virginia, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Haven, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. 4. Verse 3, page 78.

3. Verse 26, page 66.

5. England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Holland, France, Denmark, Sweden, and the Baltic region.

6. Section XII.

7. Chapter V.

QUESTIONS.-1. What can you say about the establishment of colonies in America? 2. What materials composed the colonists? What position did England hold? Did unity mark the colonists, and how? 3. What can you say about the Virginians and their southern neighbors? 4. What can you say about the New England people, their laws and habits?

The Dutch, Swedes, and Quakers.

Pursuits of the colonists.

dwellings were simple; and their influence in the erection of our Republic was most salutary.

5. The industry, thrift, honesty, and aversion to change, peculiar to the Dutch, prevailed in New York and New Jersey, and portions of Pennsylvania, for almost a century after the first settlements were made. The Swedes were similar; while the Quakers were marked by a refined simplicity and equanimity which won the esteem of all. Their lives were governed by a religious sentiment without fanaticism, which formed a powerful safeguard against vice and immorality. The people of Maryland exhibited some of the traits of all.

EARLY N. E. HOUSE.1

6. Agriculture was the chief pursuit everywhere, yet commerce and navigation were not wholly neglected, notwithstanding the restrictions of the navigation laws. They were compelled, by necessity, to be self-reliant, and what they could not buy from the workshops of England for their simple apparel and furniture, and implements of agriculture, they rudely manufactured, and were content."

7. Their commerce had a feeble infancy. Until their separation from England, in 1776, their interchange of commodities with the rest of the world might not, with propriety, be dignified

1. This is a picture of one of the oldest houses in New England, and is a favorable specimen of the best class of frame dwellings, at that time. It is yet standing [1864], we believe, near Medfield, in Massachusetts.

2. From the beginning of colonization, there were shoemakers, tailors, and blacksmiths in the several colonies; but, manufacturing, in its true sense, was discouraged by rigorous laws, because it was thought it would be detrimental to English interests. It was enacted that all manufactories of iron and steel in the colonies, should be considered a "common nuisance," to be abated within thirty days after notice being given, or the owner should suffer a fine of a thousand dollars. The exportation of hats even from one colony to another was prohibited, and no hatter was allowed to have more than two apprentices at one time. The importation of sugar, rum, and molasses was burdened with exorbitant duties; and the Carolinians were forbidden to cut down the pine trees of their vast forests, and convert their wood into staves, and their juice into turpentine and tar, for commercial purposes. The first Navigation Act [1651] forbade all importations into England, except in English ships, or those belonging to English colonies. In 1660, this act was confirmed, and unjust additions were made to it. The colonies were forbidden to export their chief productions to any country except to England or its dependencies. Similar acts, all bearing heavily upon colonial commerce, were made law, from time to time.

QUESTIONS.-5. What were the peculiarities of the Dutch and Swedes? What marked the character of the Quakers? What can you say about the people of Maryland? 6. What can you tell about the pursuits of the colonists? What made home manufactures a necessity?

95

Commerce and education.

FRENCH AND NAN WAR.

Wars between the English, and the French and Indians.

with the name of commerce. English jealousy of the prosperity and independence of the colonies, caused many unwise restrictions upon their industry and enterprise to be imposed; and these were the principal causes which finally led to the great revolt in 1775, and the separation of the colonies from the "mother country," as England was called.

8. Education was early fostered among the people, particularly in New England, where the COMMON SCHOOL, the chief glory of our Republic, was early established and tenderly nurtured.' Provision was made for the education of all. The rigid laws which discouraged all frivolous amusements, were productive of a habit of reading. The books were devoted chiefly to history and religion, and large numbers were sold. A traveler asserts, as early as 1686, that several booksellers in Boston had "made fortunes by their business." But newspapers, the great educators of the people in our day, were very few and of little worth before the era of the Revolution.

9. Such were the people, and such their political and social condition, at the commencement of the great struggle between the French and English for supreme dominion in America, which we are now to consider.

SECTION XII.

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.

1. We have already noticed three wars between the English colonists in America and the French and Indians. These origi

2

1. Schools for the education of both white and Indian children were formed in Virginia as early as 1621; and in 1692, William and Mary College was established at Williamsburg. The Reformed Dutch Church established a school in New Amsterdam, in 1633. Harvard College, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, was founded in 1637. Yale College, in Connecticut, was established at Saybrook in 1701, and removed to its present location, in New Haven, in 1717. It was named in honor of Elihu Yale, president of the East India Company, and one of its most liberal benefactors. The college of New Jersey, at Princeton, called Nassau Hall, was incorporated in 1738.

2. King William's War, page 65; Queen Anne's War, page 67; and King George's War, page 68.

QUESTIONS.-7. What can you tell about the commerce of the colonies? What folly did the English Government commit? 8. What can you say about education in the colonies? What encouraged reading? What kind of books were read? What have you to say about books and newspapers?

The English and French in America.

Beginning of disputes.

nated in disputes in Europe. The fourth and last, which resulted in the establishment of England's supremacy in America, originated here in disputes about boundaries and territorial possessions.

2. The English, at the time we are considering (1750), a million strong, occupied the sea-board from Maine to Florida, along a line of a thousand miles. The French, not more than one hundred thousand in number, were seated chiefly in the vicinity of the St. Lawrence, but had military, religious, and commercial stations on the borders of the great lakes,' the Mississippi, and the Gulf of Mexico. They were chiefly engaged in traffic with the Indians, and thereby, and with the influence of the Jesuit priests, they acquired great control over the savages.

3. After the loss of Louisburg,' the French determined to check the growth of English power in America, by alliances with the savage tribes in the interior, the erection of fortifications, and the desolation of frontier settlements. The English colonies became uneasy, and resolved to meet the danger by pushing boldly into the interior. The king granted six hundred thousand acres of land on the southern side of the Ohio river to English and Virginia speculators, called The Ohio Company, in 1749, and they immediately sent surveyors and traders in that direction. Some of these men were seized and imprisoned by the French in 1753.* This act led to war.

4. Dinwiddie, acting governor of Virginia, sent a remonstrance to St. Pierre, the French commander, then at a fort in the present Erie county, Pennsylvania. It was carried by George

1. Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Superior.

2. Verse 24, page 65.

3. Verse 34, page 68.

4. While the English and French were disputing about the ownership of the territory, the claims of the real proprietors, by preemptive right, were overlooked. These were the Indians. When the agent of the Ohio Company went into the Indian cou try, on the borders of the Ohio river, a messenger was sent by two Indian sachems to make the significant. inquiry, "Where is the Indians' land? The English," he said, "claim it all on one side of the river, the French on the other; where does the Indians' land lie?"

5. The French had already erected several forts in that direction. Twelve hundred men erected one on the south shore of Lake Erie, at Presque Isle, now Erie; soon afterward, another was built at Le Bœuf, on the Venango (French creek), now the village of Waterford; and a third was erected at Venango, at the junction of French creek and the Alleghany river, now the village of Franklin.

QUESTIONS.-1. What can you say about wars between the English, French, and Indians? What about the last one? 2. What was the number of English and French inhabitants in America, in 1750? What territory did they occupy? What gave the French an advantage? 3. What did the French determine to do after the loss of Louisburg? What did the English do? What can you tell about a land company? What outrage did the French commit?

Difficulties between the English and French in the Ohio country.

Washington, a young Virginian, twenty-one years of age, who now appeared in public life for the first time.' He performed his duty satisfactorily, and bore back to the governor a sealed answer to his remonstrance. Washington placed it in the hands of Dinwiddie on the 16th of January, 1754, and was highly commended for his courage, prudence, and sagacity.

5. St. Pierre, acting, as he said, under orders from Du Quesne, governor of Canada, refused to withdraw his troops from the domain of the Ohio Company, as requested by Dinwiddie. The governor and the legislature of Virginia prepared to drive them away. The other colonies were appealed to for aid; and at the close of March, 1754, a body of Virginians, and some North and South Carolina troops, were at Alexandria, on the Potomac, under Colonel Joshua Fry and Major George Washington, ready to march into the wilderness. On the 2d of April they marched toward the Ohio.

6. At this time some men were employed by the Ohio Company in the construction of a fort on the site of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. The French seized and finished it, and called it Fort du Quesne, in honor of the governor of Canada. Washington, with a part of the colonial troops, pushed forward to retake it. He heard of a strong force coming to meet him, and he built a fort, which he named Necessity, in which to await the coming up of the remainder of the colonial troops. Some of his men surprised an advance party of the French (May 28, 1754), and slew their leader (Jumonville) and others. This was the first blood shed in the long and distressing war that ensued.

7. Colonel Fry died at the close of May (May 30), and the chief command devolved on Washington. The troops came up, and he pressed forward. Hearing of the approach of a large body of French and Indians, he fell back to Fort Necessity, where

1. He started with only three attendants. He was joined by two others at the site of Cumberland in Maryland. Their journey was a perilous one over mountains, across streams, and through morasses, while the country was covered with snow.

QUESTIONS.-4. What did the governor of Virginia do? Who bore a message to the French commander? What can you say about Washington and the performance of his duty? 5. What can you tell about the French commander's reply? What preparations were made for war? 6. What can you tell about Fort du Quesne? Relate what Washington and his troops did. 7. How came Washington to be chief commander?