INTRODUCTION.

HERE are five periods in the history of the United States.

THERE

It is important for the student to understand these at the beginning. Without such an understanding his notion of our country's history will be confused and his study rendered difficult.

2. First of all there was a time when the Western continent was under the dominion of the Red men. The savage races possessed the soil, hunted in the forests, roamed over the prairies. This is the Aboriginal Period in American history.

3. After the discovery of America, the people of Europe were for a long time engaged in exploring the New World and in making themselves familiar with its shape and character. For more than a hundred years, curiosity was the leading passion with. the adventurers who came to our shores. Their disposition was to go everywhere and settle nowhere. These early times may be called the Period of Voyage and Discovery.

4. Next came the time of planting colonies. The adventurers, tired of wandering about, became anxious to found new States in the wilderness. Kings and queens turned their attention to the work of colonizing the New World. Thus arose a third periodthe Period of Colonial History.

5. The Colonies grew strong and multiplied. There were thirteen little sea-shore republics. The rulers of the mother-country began a system of oppression and tyranny. The Colonies revolted, fought side by side, and won their freedom. Not satisfied with mere independence, they built them a Union strong and great. This is the Period of Revolution and Confederation.

6. Then the United States of America entered upon their career as a nation. Three times tried by war, and many times vexed with civil dissensions, the Union established by our fathers still remains for us and for posterity.

7. Collecting these results, we find in the history of our country: First. THE ABORIGINAL PERIOD; from remote antiquity to the coming of the White men.

Second. THE PERIOD OF VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY; A. D. 986–

1607.

Third. THE COLONIAL PERIOD; A. D. 1607-1775.

Fourth. THE PERIOD OF REVOLUTION AND CONFEDERATION; A. D. 1775-1789.

Fifth. THE NATIONAL PERIOD; A. D. 1789-1882.

In this order the History of the United States will be presented in the following pages.

HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.

PART I.

ABORIGINAL AMERICA.

THE

CHAPTER I.

THE RED MEN.

HE primitive inhabitants of the New World were the Red men called INDIANS. The name Indian was given to them from their supposed identity with the people of India. Columbus and his followers believed that they had reached the islands of the far East, and that the natives were of the same race with the inhabitants of the Indies. The mistake of the Spaniards was soon discovered; but the name Indian has ever since remained to designate the native tribes of the Western continent.

2. The origin of the Indians is involved in obscurity. At what date or by what route they came to the New World is unknown. The notion that the Red men are the descendants of the Israelites is absurd. That Europeans or Africans, at some early period, crossed the Atlantic by sailing from island to island, seems improbable. That the people of Kamtchatka came by way of Behring Strait into the northwestern parts of America, has little evidence to support it. Perhaps a more thorough knowledge of the Indian languages may yet throw some light on the origin of the race.

3. The Indians belong to the Bow-and-Arrow family of men. To the Red man the chase was everything. Without the chase he

languished and died. To smite the deer and the bear was his chief delight and profit. Such a race could live only in a country of woods and wild animals.

4. The northern parts of America were inhabited by THE ESQUIMAUX. The name means the eaters of raw meat. They lived in snow huts or hovels. Their manner of life was that of fishermen and hunters. They clad themselves in winter with the skins of seals, and in summer, with those of reindeers.

5. The greater portion of the United States east of the Mississippi was peopled by the family of THE ALGONQUINS. They were divided into many tribes, each having its local name and tradition. Agriculture was but little practiced by them. They roamed about from one hunting-ground and river to another. When the White men came, the Algonquin nations were already declining in numbers and influence. Only a few thousands now remain.

6. Around the shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario lived THE HURON-IROQUOIS. At the time of their greatest power, they embraced no fewer than nine nations. The warriors of this confederacy presented the Indian character in its best aspect. They were brave, patriotic, and eloquent; faithful as friends, but terrible as enemies.

7. South of the Algonquins were THE CHEROKEES and THE MOBILIAN NATIONS. The former were highly civilized for a primitive people. The principal tribes of the Mobilians were the Yamassees and Creeks of Georgia, the Seminoles of Florida, and the Choctaws and Chickasaws of Mississippi. These displayed the usual disposition and habits of the Red men.

8. West of the Mississippi was the family of THE DAKOTAS. South of these, in a district nearly corresponding with the State of Texas, lived the wild COMANCHES. Beyond the Rocky Mountains were the Indian nations of the Plains; the great families of THE SHOSHONEES, THE SELISH, THE KLAMATHS, and THE CALIFORNIANS. On the Pacific slope, farther southward, dwelt in former times the civilized but feeble race of AZTECS.

Their wars were

To forgive an in

9. The Red men had a great passion for war. undertaken for revenge, rather than conquest. jury was considered a shame. Revenge was the noblest of the virtues. The open battle of the field was unknown in Indian

warfare. Fighting was limited to the ambuscade and the massacre. Quarter was rarely asked, and never granted.

10. In times of peace the Indian character appeared to a better advantage. But the Red man was always unsocial and solitary. He sat by himself in the woods. The forest was better than a wigwam, and a wigwam better than a village. The Indian woman was a degraded creature-a mere drudge and beast of burden. 11. In the matter of the arts the Indian was a barbarian. His

Translation: Eight soldiers (9), with muskets (10), commanded by a captain (1), and accompanied by a secretary (2), a geologist (3), three attendants (4, 5, 6), and two Indian guides (7, 8), encamped here. They had three camp fires (13, 14, 15), and ate a turtle and prairie hen (11, 12), for supper.

house was a hovel, built of poles set up in a circle, and covered with skins and the branches of trees. Household utensils were few and rude. Earthen pots, bags and pouches for carrying provisions, and stone hammers for pounding corn, were the stock and store. His, weapons of offense and defense were the hatchet and the bow and arrow. In times of war, the Red man painted his face and body with all manner of glaring colors. The fine arts were wanting. Indian writing consisted of half-intelligible hieroglyphics scratched on the face of rocks or cut in the bark of trees.

12. The Indian languages bear little resemblance to those of other races. The Red man's vocabulary was very limited. The