History of the United States of America, Volume II: From the Discovery of the Continent

Summary

A Dusty Tomes Audio Book
In Cooperation with Spoken Realms

Volume 2 of History of the United States of America: From the Discovery of the Continent by George Bancroft. A major US history series in six volumes. “Author’s Last Revision” 1883 by D. Appleton and Company.

Bancroft as US Secretary of the Navy established the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. He was a senior American diplomat in Europe, leading diplomatic missions to Britain and Germany. His comprehensive study of the origins and development of the United States caused him to be referred to as the “Father of American history.”

From the Author’s Preface regarding the Last Revision to the series:
… greater precision has been sought for; the fitter word that offered itself accepted; and, without the surrender of the right of history to pronounce its opinion, care has been taken never unduly to forestall the judgment of the reader, but to leave events as they sweep onward to speak their own condemnation or praise.

From a 2008 Review by Stephen W. Sawyer:
For Bancroft, then, the historian brought the Revolution to life in the present in order that it might circulate within the country and throughout humanity. Bancroft was convinced that a poet-historian could uncover the democratic ideal that was unfolding in the American project.
Dawes and Nichols argued that Bancroft was a sound historian in that he grounded his work in archival material. “George Bancroft was the first American historian who conscientiously endeavored to make no important statement without reference to an original document.”

“The author exercises powers of narration which enable the reader to watch the drama of man’s experience proceed like a splendid and inspiring pageant.” (Dawes and Nichols 280) These remarks still capture an essential element of Bancroft’s project. He saw his writing, literary or poetical as it may have been, as part of the “realization” of man’s experience with democracy. This was the Bancroft that was celebrated in the first half of the nineteenth century, pushed aside in the nationalist consensus of American historical professionalism in the 1890s, and then rediscovered in the inter-war period. He was not describing a democracy that already existed in flowery prose, but employing the poet’s pen to give life to a democratic project which he thought was in the making.

Editor’s Introduction
Author’s Preface
CONTENTS  OF  THE  SECOND VOLUME
HISTORY OF THE COLONIZATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PART III
COLONIZATION OF THE WEST AND OF GEORGIA
CHAPTER  I. THE SOUTHERN STATES AFTER THE REVOLUTION
CHAPTER  II. THE MIDDLE STATES AFTER THE REVOLUTION
CHAPTER III. NEW ENGLAND AFTER THE REVOLUTION
CHAPTER IV. PARLIAMENT AND THE COLONIES
CHAPTER V. THE RED MEN EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI
CHAPTER VI. THE LANGUAGES AND MANNERS OF THE RED MEN
CHAPTER VII. POLITY AND RELIGION OF THE RED MEN
CHAPTER  VIII. THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF THE RED MEN
CHAPTER  IX. PROGRESS OF FRANCE IN NORTH AMERICA
CHAPTER  X. FRANCE AND THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI
CHAPTER  XI. THE RIVALRY OF FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN IN AMERICA
CHAPTER  XII. THE WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION
CHAPTER  XIII. OF THE BOUNDARIES OF BRITISH, FRENCH, AND SPANISH COLONIES
CHAPTER  XIV. PROGRESS OF LOUISIANA
CHAPTER  XV. COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION UNDER THE HOUSE OF HANOVER
CHAPTER  XVI. THE BRITISH SLAVE-TRADE. COLONIZATION OF GEORGIA
CHAPTER  XVII. WAR BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND SPAIN, 1739–1748

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION IN FIVE EPOCHS
I. BRITAIN OVERTHROWS THE EUROPEAN COLONIAL SYSTEM
CHAPTER  I. AMERICA CLAIMS LEGISLATIVE INDEPENDENCE OF ENGLAND. HENRY PELHAM’S ADMINISTRATION, 1748
CHAPTER  II. THE ROYAL GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK APPEALS TO THE PARAMOUNT POWER OF BRITAIN. HENRY PELHAM’S ADMINISTRATION, 1748–1749
CHAPTER  III. THE EXPLORATION OF OHIO. PELHAM’S ADMINISTRATION CONTINUED
CHAPTER  IV. AMERICA REFUSES TO BE RULED BY ARBITRARY INSTRUCTIONS. PELHAM’S ADMINISTRATION CONTINUED, 1751–1753
CHAPTER  V. FRANKLIN PLANS UNION FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. PELHAM’S ADMINISTRATION CONTINUED, 1758–1754
CHAPTER  VI. THE OLD THIRTEEN COLONIES. NEWCASTLE’S ADMINISTRATION
CHAPTER  VII. THE MINISTERS ARE ADVISED TO TAX AMERICA BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT NEWCASTLE’S ADMINISTRATION, 1754–1755
CHAPTER  VIII. ENGLAND AND FRANCE CONTEND FOR THE OHIO VALLEY AND FOR ACADIA. NEWCASTLE’S ADMINISTRATION CONTINUED, 1755
CHAPTER  IX. GREAT BRITAIN UNITES AMERICA UNDER MILITARY RULE. NEWCASTLE’S ADMINISTRATION CONTINUED, 1755–1756
CHAPTER  X. THE ARISTOCRACY WITHOUT THE PEOPLE CANNOT GOVERN ENGLAND. NEWCASTLE’S ADMINISTRATION CONTINUED, 1756–1757
CHAPTER  XI. THE WHIG ARISTOCRACY CANNOT CONQUER CANADA. ANARCHY IN THE ADMINISTRATION, 1757
CHAPTER  XII. THE NEW PROTESTANT POWERS AGAINST THE CATHOLIC POWERS OF THE MIDDLE AGE. WILLIAM PITT’S MINISTRY
CHAPTER  XIII. CONQUEST OF THE VALLEY OF THE WEST. PITT’S MINISTRY, 1757–1758
CHAPTER  XIV. THE CONQUEST OF CANADA. PITT’S MINISTRY CONTINUED, 1759
CHAPTER  XV. INVASION OF THE VALLEY OF THE TENNESSEE. PITT’S MINISTRY, 1759–1760
CHAPTER  XVI. POSSESSION TAKEN OF THE COUNTRY ON THE LAKES. PITT’S MINISTRY, 1760
CHAPTER  XVII. THE KING AND THE ARISTOCRACY AGAINST THE GREAT COMMONER. GEORGE III DRIVES OUT PITT, 1760–1761
CHAPTER  XVIII. THE ACTS OF TRADE PROVOKE REVOLUTION. THE REMODELING OF THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS, 1761–1762
CHAPTER  XIX. THE KING DRIVES OUT THE NEWCASTLE WHIGS. THE DAWN OF THE NEW REPUBLIC, 1762–1768

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