A History of the United States - Charles Kendall Adams

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fisheries in Newfoundland; and it was not until after 1570 that they seriously took part in the affairs of America. Their tardiness was probably at first due to the marriage of Henry VIII. with a Spanish princess, then to their own internal troubles in consequence of the Pope’s condemnation of Henry’s conduct. Finally, in the reign of Elizabeth, a love of geographical knowledge and discovery having sprung up, they turned their attention to exploring for a northwest passage to the East. Martin Frobisher made three voyages (1576–1578), and sought gold in Labrador. Francis Drake,[17] in his voyage round the world (1577–1580), explored part of the Pacific coast of the present United States. Sir Humphrey Gilbert and his half-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh,[18] wished to colonize as well as explore, and after one disastrous attempt Gilbert took possession of Newfoundland in the name of Queen Elizabeth. He was lost on the return voyage, but left behind him an undying reputation for courage and piety.[19]

      Sir Walter Raleigh.

       Table of Contents

      19. Colonization in the Sixteenth Century.—As we have just seen, Spain, France, and England made many efforts during the sixteenth century to obtain permanent possessions in the New World. Spain succeeded in Mexico and Peru, and made a mere beginning in Florida. France did not really get a foothold in Canada until the first decade of the next century, and this was likewise the case with the English in Virginia. All three nations had too many things to disturb them at home to be able to put forth their full strength in establishing their claims to the new country. The work of exploration in consequence was hazardous and slow. Then, again, the precise value of the possessions they were striving for was not understood. Men chiefly sought the precious metals, and in the race for these Spain came off victor. But to obtain them she sacrificed the lives of the helpless natives and of imported negro slaves, and thus never laid the foundations for successful, thriving colonies. She injured herself, too, by accustoming her own people to the idea that the mother country ought to be supported by her colonies, and that labor was beneath a Spaniard of good blood.

      20. Changes in the Theory of Colonization.—France and England, also, sought for gold and silver, but found none. The lands they occupied could be made productive, but not by the ne’er-do-well adventurers who first came out. When, however, fish and furs, and, later on, tobacco, became far more profitable than the metals would have been, the character of both English and French colonists gradually improved. The value of the new possessions was not to be perceived fully, however, until the eighteenth century, when they played a part in all the important European wars. Nor even then did statesmen at home realize that the mother country’s interests were best served by keeping her colonists prosperous. A colony was at first viewed merely as a source of revenue, and in some cases even as a dumping-ground for criminals. It is only of late that colonies have figured as outlets for superfluous population and as bases for extending commercial operations.

      References.—General Works which should be consulted in connection with each of the five chapters of Part I. are: J. Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America (contains special monographs of great value); G. Bancroft, History of the United States (revised edition); R. Hildreth, History of the United States; J. A. Doyle, The English in America; R. G. Thwaites, The Colonies, chaps. i.–iii. (“Epochs of American History”); G. P. Fisher, The Colonial Era (“American History Series”).

      Special Works: J. Fiske, Discovery of America; E. J. Payne, History of the New World called America; W. H. Prescott, Conquest of Mexico and Conquest of Peru; E. Eggleston, The Beginners of a Nation; J. Winsor, Christopher Columbus; also biographies of Columbus by Washington Irving, C. K. Adams, and C. R. Markham; W. Irving, Companions of Columbus; A. Helps, Spanish Conquest of America; F. Parkman, Pioneers of France; J. Winsor, From Cartier to Frontenac; E. J. Payne, Voyages of the Elizabethan Seamen (also various biographies of Drake, Raleigh, etc.); H. H. Bancroft, The Pacific States, Vol. XVIII.

      On the Indians, see Fiske and Payne, as above, and the writings of L. H. Morgan and A. F. Bandelier. For full bibliographies, consult Channing and Hart’s Guide to American History. For illustrative material, consult Old South Leaflets and Hart’s American History told by Contemporaries. The first voyage of Columbus is described in Cooper’s Mercedes of Castile; Elizabethan maritime enterprise, in C. Kingsley’s Westward Ho!

[1] For a brief but scientific account of the chief characteristics of the aborigines, see article, “Indians,” by D. G. Brinton and J. W. Powell, in Johnson’s Universal Cyclopædia.
[2] They became the “Six Nations” after they were joined by the Tuscaroras of North Carolina.
[3] “Seminoles” means “wanderers”; the tribe was made up of refugees from other tribes, notably from the Creeks.
[4] The remains of the old mill at Newport, Rhode Island, and certain inscriptions have at one time and another been held to date from the visits of the Northmen; but archæologists have not assented to these views.
[5] Born at Genoa, Italy, about 1436; died, 1506. Early became a maker of maps and charts; about 1470 went to Lisbon, whence he sailed to Guinea, and probably to Iceland; studied the matter of circumnavigating the globe, and planned the project of reaching the East Indies by sailing in a westerly direction; failing to procure aid in Portugal, went to Spain, where he finally received help from the Spanish court, immediately after the fall of Granada in 1492; set out with three vessels, August 3, 1492; landed, October 12; discovered Cuba and Hayti, and reached home in March, 1493; sailed again in the autumn of 1493, and remained till 1496; made a third voyage, 1498; was imprisoned on charges of cruelty, and taken to Spain in chains; was soon released, and made his fourth and last voyage in 1502.
[6] No portrait of Columbus has any claim to authenticity. There is no evidence that his likeness was drawn or painted by anyone who ever saw him.
[7] The diary of Columbus, studied in connection with the possible landing places in the West Indies, shows that the vessels probably floated past Watling’s Island in the night of October 11, and that a landing was made the next morning on the west side of the island.
[8] Born about 1474, in Venice or Bristol. Probably accompanied his father John in the latter’s first voyage to America in 1497, and succeeded him in command of the second expedition, in 1498.
[9] In consequence of these discoveries fishing rights on the island have been held by the French to our day.
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