Early Explorations And Colonizing Efforts
<p>First French voyages.&mdash;The first Frenchmen who visited America appear to have been Norman and Breton fishermen, who engaged in fishing off the Newfoundland coast perhaps as early as 1500. Sailors from Dieppe also visited the coasts of North an... Efforts To Occupy Lower California
<p>Pearl fishing and efforts to colonize.&mdash;Interest in California did not cease with Vizca&iacute;no's failures. On the contrary, private interest in the pearl fisheries of the Gulf of California continued throughout the seventeenth century, and ... England Under The Early Stuarts 1603-1640
<p>James I.&mdash;When James Stuart came to the throne, he had an exalted idea of the kingship, believing that he ruled by divine right. The Tudors had wielded almost absolute power, the privy council overshadowing parliament. James naturally intended... Expansion Of The Massachusetts Bay Colony Rhode Island
<p>Roger Williams.&mdash;The power of the Massachusetts magistrates was exercised to maintain the ideal of a biblical commonwealth, whose principles were expounded by John Cotton of the Boston church. Those who did not agree were in danger. Among the ... Exploration Of The Mainland Coasts And The Search For A Strait
<p>Voyages toward the South.&mdash;The discovery by Columbus (1498) of pearls on the southern mainland, combined with the Portuguese successes in India, gave new incentive to voyages, and within the next few years many thousands of miles of coastline ... Explorations In The Northern Interior And On The Pacific
<h5><em>FLORIDA</em></h5> <p>De Le&oacute;n.&mdash;While some conquerors were struggling in Central America, Mexico, and Peru, others were trying to subdue the vast northern region called Florida. In 1514 Juan Ponce de Le&oacute;n secured a patent to ... Features Of Society
<p>Near the coast.&mdash;Colonial society in the older settled regions was aristocratic rather than democratic This was due mainly to English customs and traditions, to an increasing wealth and corresponding raising of the standard of living, to the s... Financial Affairs
<p>Fiscal machinery.&mdash;The most difficult problem which Congress had to solve was the raising of sufficient funds to carry on the Revolution. To handle the public moneys and devise means for raising revenue, fiscal machinery gradually came into ex... First Attempts In Eastern Texas
<p>Plans to occupy the mouth of the Mississippi.&mdash;The aggressive policy of the French, English, and Dutch in the West Indies, the raids of freebooters on the Spanish settlements, the occupation of Carolina by England, and the advance of the Frenc... Foreign Intrusions In The Atlantic
<p>The Spanish trade monopoly.&mdash;The French had been expelled from Florida, and the coast occupied up to Port Royal Sound, but freebooters continued to prey on treasure and merchant vessels. Spain undertook to preserve the trade and wealth of the ... Frontier Administration
<p>The governors.&mdash;The old days of the <em>adelantados</em>, with unlimited powers, had passed, and the royal arm now reached the farthest outposts. The secular government of the frontier provinces was almost wholly military. A few villas or town... General Features
<p>Population and settled area.&mdash;By 1760 the population of the English continental colonies was probably 1,650,000; of these the New England colonies contained about a half-million, the middle group about four hundred and fifty thousand, and sout... Governmental Reorganization
<p>Organization of executive departments.&mdash;The failure of the congressional committee system to perform executive functions had grown more apparent as the war progressed, and in the closing days of the Second Continental Congress measures were ta... Growth Of Geographical Knowledge
<p>Classical ideas of the world.&mdash;The discoveries of the century completely transformed the conceptions of geography. Greek and Roman scholars had agreed that there were three continents, Europe, Asia, and Africa, encircled by the ocean. Aristotl... Guiana
<p>For a hundred years the Caribbean had been a Spanish sea. Hardy English mariners had frequently penetrated it, but always at their peril, and they had never seriously injured the Spanish colossus. To gain a foothold on its shores and to appropriate...

Hudson's Bay Company The West Indies The Massachusetts Bay Colony The Mines Of Northern Mexico The Founding Of Alta California The Conquest Of The Valley Of Mexico Spain During The Conquest The Settlement Of The Atlantic Seaboard

The Struggle With The English On The Carolina Border The Occupation Of The Floridas Trans-alleghany Settlement Beginning Of Organized Resistance The Trans-mississippi West The War Of The English Succession Western Trade And Exploration The Struggle With Rivals In The West Indies