Beginnings of the American People | Page 3

narrative. The economic conditions and changes of 1861 to 1865 are therefore treated in connection with the great issues of the seventies and eighties--the protective tariff and "big business." The money question, railway regulation, corruption in public affairs, never absent from our national life, are the chief themes of Professor Paxson's book. But while the motif of the volume is prosperity, business success, and commercial expansion, space has been found for sympathetic accounts of the dominating personalities of the time,--for Blaine and Cleveland; for Bryan, Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson. And as is fitting, the leaders of the industrial and intellectual interests of the time also receive attention.
Of closer personal and scholarly interest to Professor Paxson is the subject of the growth and development of the Rocky Mountain States: Far-Western railway-building, mining, cattle-raising, and the establishment of government agencies for the conservation of the national resources. While the older and dangerous sectionalism seems to be forever past, the special interests of the Far West, as shown in this work, still lend color to a new sectionalism which sometimes threatens the old political party habits; witness the contest of 1908-12 and the troubles between California and Japan. And here Professor Paxson challenges attention by his treatment of the results of the Spanish-American War, the imperialism which brought to the United States the control of the Philippines, and made the isolated and somewhat provincial country of Blaine and Cleveland a world-power, with interests in the Pacific and a potential voice in the final destiny of China.
Such have been the problems and the aims of the writers of these four short volumes. In order to visualize the main topics discussed, resort has been made to the making of maps, simple drawings intended to show at the different crises just where, or how important, were the decisive factors. This is a feature which, it is thought, will please both lay and professional readers. Certainly the making of these maps was no small part of the work of each author, and in most instances they are entirely original and made from data not hitherto used in this way; for example, the drawings which show just what sections of the States the various candidates for the Presidency "carried." The same may be said of those which treat of the cotton, tobacco, and industrial areas of the United States.
Although there may be faults and errors in the work, it seems to the Editor that, on the whole, the story of the beginnings, the growth, and the present greatness of the country, as set forth in these volumes, is both interesting and suggestive, that the real forces have been duly emphasized, and that at many points contributions to historical knowledge have been made.
WILLIAM E. DODD.

PREFACE
In preparing this sketch of the American colonies, I have had friendly encouragement and assistance from a number of men whose knowledge of the subject as a whole, or of certain aspects of it, is far more extensive and accurate than my own. I am particularly indebted to my colleagues in the University of Kansas, Professor F.H. Hodder and Professor W.W. Davis, who have read and criticized the manuscript chapter by chapter. The editor of the series has not only read the manuscript, but has put me in the way of much valuable material which I should otherwise have missed. Professor G.S. Ford and Professor Wallace Notestein, of the University of Minnesota, and Professor F.J. Turner, of Harvard University, have read portions of the manuscript. These good friends have saved me many minor errors and some serious blunders; and their cautions and suggestions have often enabled me to improve the work in form and arrangement, and in relative emphasis.
CARL BECKER.

CONTENTS
I. THE DISCOVERY OF THE OLD WORLD AND THE NEW 1
II. THE PARTITION OF THE NEW WORLD 30
III. THE ENGLISH MIGRATION IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 65
IV. ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES 125
V. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 161
VI. THE WINNING OF INDEPENDENCE 202
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 277
INDEX i

MAPS
Facing SCH?NER'S GLOBE, WITH MAGELLAN'S ROUTE AND DEMARCATION LINE; DRAWN 1523 28
AREAS SETTLED BY 1660, AND BETWEEN 1660 AND 1700 134
GROWTH OF ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS, 1700-1760 178
AREA OF GERMAN SETTLEMENTS AND FRONTIER LINE IN 1775 180
AREA OF SETTLEMENT IN 1774; BOUNDARY PROPOSED BY SPAIN IN 1782; BOUNDARY SECURED BY TREATY OF 1783; AND SETTLEMENTS WEST OF ALLEGHANIES IN 1783 272

BEGINNINGS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
CHAPTER I
THE DISCOVERY OF THE OLD WORLD AND THE NEW
We come in search of Christians and spices. VASCO DA GAMA.
Gold is excellent; gold is treasure, and he that possesses it does all that he wishes to in this world, and succeeds in helping souls into paradise.
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.
I
Contact with the Orient has always been an important factor in the history of Europe. Centers of civilization and of political power have shifted with every