From Verrazano and Cartier to La Salle (1524-1687) we are carried over more than a century and a half of history. But we behold the Frenchman in the van of the army of pioneers who conquered the vast interior wilderness of the continent. He has extended New France from a small settlement at Quebec, westward to the upper limits of the Great Lakes; thence southward to the Gulf of Mexico, through one of the richest and most productive valleys in the world. We have seen the Dutch under Henry Hudson (1609) sailing into the Hudson River, establishing the right of Holland to the New Netherlands in America and plying their trade along that river and the coasts of Long Island Sound. From the Cabots to the Jamestown colony (1497-1607) we note a long line of disasters for England. But we are thrilled by the promise that it is reserved to her to sow on this new soil the seeds of individual liberty, which, taking deep root, shall blossom forth into the thirteen original colonies and later reach fruition in the greatest attempt at self-government the human mind has ever conceived-the United States of America. 45. Conflicting Claims. We thus see, as we narrow ourselves to the territory occupied by the present boundaries of the United States, that there were conflicting claims to this territory. These conflicts, leading to endless trouble in later years, were settled only by appeal to the sword. Let us note carefully the claims of the contending nations: Spain laid claim to the eastern coast of the United States under the name of Florida, and the Pacific coast under the name of New Mexico. The French laid claim to Canada and the Mississippi valley. The Dutch claimed the territory lying between Narragansett Bay and the Delaware River. The English, by right of discovery and occupation, proceeded to hold the coast from Nova Scotia to Florida, thence westward to the Pacific. Before taking up the story of the English colonies in the New World it is well that we should take a glance at the Continent of North America and learn something of its native inhabitant, who confronted the early settler at every step, and, with dogged resistance, disputed the right of the European to encroach upon his territory. CHAPTER III THE CONTINENT AND THE INDIAN 1492-1902 46. North America.-The word "continent" is here used to designate a body of land, whether large or small, having on one side a primary axis—a high mountain range,--and on the other a secondary axis-a low mountain range,—with a broad plain or valley between them. Thus North America taken by itself is a continent. Its primary axis is the Rocky Mountain range, taken together with its related ranges and the plateau upon which this upheaval rests, which extends from Alaska to the Isthmus of Panama. Its secondary axis is the Appalachian range and the tableland upon which it rests, which extends from the plateau of Labrador to the hills of northern Georgia. The great central plain of North America lies between these two highlands and extends from the Arctic Sea to the Gulf of Mexico. 47. The United States.-That portion of the continent lying within the boundaries of the republic partakes of the physical characteristics of the whole continent. On the east are the Atlantic slope and coastal plain; on the west, the Pacific slope; and in the interior, the great central plain. THE ATLANTIC PLAIN Looking outward upon the ocean with its fine harbors and bays, the Atlantic plain lay stretched out as a perpetual invitation to Europe to plant colonies upon its coasts and along the courses of its numerous streams. This narrow strip of territory, scarcely more than one hundred and fifty miles |