TABLE OF CONTENTS
Reading edition
Preface v
I Settlements North and South
The Founding of Jamestown 1
William Simmonds Describes the Settlers’ Problems 2
John Smith’s Adventures 4
The Founding of Plymouth 9
William Bradford’s History Of Plymouth Plantation 9
John Winthrop, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony 17
Cotton Mather Describes John Winthrop 18
John Winthrop’s Letters to His Wife 19
II Religious Life in America
New England 22
Edward Taylor’s Poems 23
The Salem Witch Trials 25
Samuel Sewall’s Confession of Error 30
The Great Awakening: Jonathan Edwards 30
Other Colonies 33
John Woolman’s Journal 33
III Colonial Problems
Indian Troubles 37
Mrs. Rowlandson’s Captivity 38
Conflict with France 42
George Washington’s Letter on Braddock’s Defeat 42
Benjamin Franklin’s Comments on Braddock 44
IV Colonial Life
Transportation 46
Sarah Kemble Knight Journeys to Connecticut 46
Life in the South 49
William Byrd, a Virginia Gentleman 49
William Byrd Sees North Carolina 50
William Byrd Visits Colonel Spotswood 52
Life in a City 52
From Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography 53
The excerpt from Of Plymouth Plantation, by William Bradford, edited by Samuel Eliot Morison, which begins on page 11, was reprinted by permission of Alfred Knopf, Inc., 1952.
The poems by Edward Taylor, “Housewifery” and “The Joy of Church Fellowship Rightly Attended,” which begin on page 23, were reprinted by permission of the New England Quarterly, December, 1937.
The picture on page 1, of Pocahontas saving the life of Captain John Smith, and the picture on page 22, “The Witch,” were reprinted through the courtesy of the Library of Congress. The picture on the cover and the picture on page 37, of a colonial woman captured by Indians, were reprinted through the courtesy of the National Life Insurance Company of Montpelier, Vermont. The picture of Benjamin Franklin shown on page 46 was reprinted through the courtesy of the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company of Boston, Massachusetts.
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