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A SCHOOL HISTORY

OF THE

UNITED STATES


BY

JOHN BACH McMASTER

PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY
OF PENNSYLVANIA

1897




PREFACE

It has long been the custom to begin the history of our country with the
discovery of the New World by Columbus. To some extent this is both wise
and necessary; but in following it in this instance the attempt has been
made to treat the colonial period as the childhood of the United States;
to have it bear the same relation to our later career that the account
of the youth of a great man should bear to that of his maturer years,
and to confine it to the narration of such events as are really
necessary to a correct understanding of what has happened since 1776.

The story, therefore, has been restricted to the discoveries,
explorations, and settlements within the United States by the English,
French, Spaniards, and Dutch; to the expulsion of the French by the
English; to the planting of the thirteen colonies on the Atlantic
seaboard; to the origin and progress of the quarrel which ended with the
rise of thirteen sovereign free and independent states, and to the
growth of such political institutions as began in colonial times. This
period once passed, the long struggle for a government followed till our
present Constitution--one of the most remarkable political instruments
ever framed by man--was adopted, and a nation founded.

Scarcely was this accomplished when the French Revolution and the rise
of Napoleon involved us in a struggle, first for our neutral rights, and
then for our commercial independence, and finally in a second war with
Great Britain. During this period of nearly five and twenty years,
commerce and agriculture flourished exceedingly, but our internal
resources were little developed. With the peace of 1815, however, the
era of industrial development commences, and this has been treated with
great--though it is believed not too great--fullness of detail; for,
beyond all question, _the_ event of the world's history during the
nineteenth century is the growth of the United States. Nothing like it
has ever before taken place.

To have loaded down the book with extended bibliographies would have
been an easy matter, but quite unnecessary. The teacher will find in
Channing and Hart's _Guide to the Study of American History_ the best
digested and arranged bibliography of the subject yet published, and
cannot afford to be without it. If the student has time and disposition
to read one half of the reference books cited in the footnotes of this
history, he is most fortunate.

JOHN BACH McMASTER.

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.




CONTENTS


CHAPTER

I.      EUROPE FINDS AMERICA
II.     THE SPANIARDS IN THE UNITED STATES
III.    ENGLISH, DUTCH, AND SWEDES ON THE SEABOARD
IV.     THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND
V.      THE MIDDLE AND SOUTHERN COLONIES
VI.     THE FRENCH IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY
VII.    THE INDIANS
VIII.   THE STRUGGLE FOR NEW FRANCE AND LOUISIANA
IX.     LIFE IN THE COLONIES IN 1763
X.      "LIBERTY, PROPERTY, AND NO STAMPS"
XI.     THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE
XII.    UNDER THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION
XIII.   MAKING THE CONSTITUTION
XIV.    OUR COUNTRY IN 1790
XV.     THE RISE OF PARTIES
XVI.    THE STRUGGLE FOR NEUTRALITY
XVII.   STRUGGLE FOR "FREE TRADE AND SAILORS' RIGHTS"
XVIII.  THE WAR FOR COMMERCIAL INDEPENDENCE
XIX.    PROGRESS OF OUR COUNTRY BETWEEN 1790 AND 1815
XX.     SETTLEMENT OF OUR BOUNDARIES
XXI.    THE RISING WEST
XXII.   THE HIGHWAYS OF TRADE AND COMMERCE
XXIII.  POLITICS FROM 1824 TO 1845
XXIV.   EXPANSION OF THE SLAVE AREA
XXV.    THE TERRITORIES BECOME SLAVE SOIL
XXVI.   PROGRESS IN THE UNITED STATES BETWEEN 1840 AND 1860
XXVII.  WAR FOR THE UNION, 1861-1865
