named Virginia in homage to the maiden state of his sovereign mistress, Queen Elizabeth of England, whose fame the "Poets' Poet" was even then preparing chivalrously to sing as the

"Goddesse heavenly bright,

Mirror of grace and Majestie divine,

Great Ladie of the greatest Isle, whose light,

Like Phœbus' Lamp, throughout the world doth shine."

3. Spread of the English Power.

But this first attempt came to naught, nor was it till about the year 1607, in the reign of James I., that the English settlements in the lands lying between the 34th and 45th parallels began to acquire a firm footing. They were soon followed by the Dutch and the Swedes, who took possession of isolated strips along the coast, the first founding the settlement of New Netherland, with its capital New Amsterdam, the present New York, the latter settling first in Delaware and afterwards in New Jersey, but ultimately giving way to the Dutch. But before the close of the seventeenth century Dutch and Swede alike had passed under the rule of England, which was thus enabled to impart a certain stamp of uniformity on all her colonies on the eastern seaboard.

The English now found themselves face to face with the Spanish domain on the south, and the more thriving French dominions on the north. The European contests, mostly fanned by the ambition of the Bourbon monarchs, to become masters in the Old, caused the flames of war to extend to the New, World. The long struggles that ensued resulted in the total expulsion of the French from the Northern Continent, where England henceforth reigned supreme. Of their former power in these regions the French have retained nothing but certain fishing rights in the Newfoundland waters.

4. Democratic and Religious Character of the Early English Settlements.

Religious and political oppression at home had driven most of the early English colonists to found these first settlements on the eastern shores of North America. Thus the northern colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island were established by religious enthusiasts between the years 1621 and 1638, all four being united in 1643 under the name of New England. In the same way, the Catholic Lord Baltimore in 1628 founded for his co-religionists the settlements of Maryland, with the town named after him on Chesapeake Bay. Thither were attracted the persecuted Catholics in Europe, especially the Irish and Germans from the Palatinate. In 1681 the Quaker William Penn, with many of his adherents, settled in Pennsylvania, and built Philadelphia, the "city of brotherly love."

All these British North American colonists enjoyed from the first large democratic liberties, for the Puritans, constituting by far the greater number of the immigrants, had succeeded in carrying out a political and social system based on the strictest republican principles. It was of course easier to accomplish this in America than it would have been in a country like Europe, which was occupied from time immemorial by a dense population cultivating almost every square acre of land. In the New World, the ground, with all its natural fertility, had first to be cleared, and was in the meantime called upon to support but a very scanty population. At that time. the total area of the settled districts may have been some 320,000 square miles, with not more than 1,400,000 inhabitants in 1749, and in 1775 about 2,803,000,

that is to say, nine Europeans to every square mile.

In such extensive districts where vast distances sepa

rated neighbour from neighbour, the personality of each individual is naturally brought into play far more than could be the case in crowded communities, nor is anyone powerful enough to impose an arbitrary yoke on the unwilling necks of men living so much apart. In the early English colonies the only law unreluctantly submitted to was that of the Church, which, resting on the broadest possible basis, thus acquired paramount and undue influence in temporal matters. Not only was the whole political organisation of the several colonies subordinate to it, but became in its hands a mere instrument for the acquisition of those higher aims that happened to constitute the essence of true Christianity in the eyes of the various sects for the time being in the ascendant. Everything became subject to its sway, while towards nonconformists each predominant sect displayed an unrelenting spirit of the most crushing intolerance. And not only could this despotic oppression fully reconcile itself with the principles of the most unfettered political freedom, but, as a faithful expression of the unrestricted will of the people, acquired an irresistible power from those very principles themselves.1

5. Political Enfranchisement and Adoption of Republican Principles.

Accustomed to act in the most arbitrary manner towards the native Redskins, now slowly retiring beyond the mountains before each successive wave of immigration throughout the eighteenth century,-encircled by wide domains, a circumstance of itself favourable to the ideas of freedom, and thrown upon their own resources in their struggles with stubborn nature, the New Englanders could not fail to cherish and develop those maxims of liberty 1 John H. Becker, Die hundertjährige Republik.

and equality they had inherited from their forefathers. Hence the refusal of the Home Government to allow them a voice in voting the taxes they had to pay became a sufficient motive for the War of Independence, and when the thirteen Federal States proclaimed their political freedom on July 4th, 1776, the only form of government they could possibly adopt was that of a commonwealth. This need not therefore be regarded as the triumph of any abstract principle, but rather as a simple matter of necessity, according, as it fully did, with the other social conditions of the colonists at that time. Nor did the new order of things involve any fresh step in the development of human progress, but flowed rather from the tenacious spirit of conservatism by which the American people were still animated. Hence, in asserting their political freedom, they proclaimed no new theories, but merely retained the old institutions and sentiments of personal liberty which are the heirloom of the AngloSaxon race, and which from the first found a genial home in that portion of the New World settled by them.

European champions of freedom, such as Lafayette and Kosciusko, finding the progress of events in America to harmonise with their political views, were induced to take an active part in the struggle, which, after a protracted warfare of eight years, resulted in England's fully recognising the independence of the united provinces at the Treaty of Versailles, in 1783. The leading men in the contest were Benjamin Franklin, who succeeded in securing many influential friends for the young republic in Europe, and above all, George Washington, no less wise in council than valiant in the field. Washington (born 22d February 1732, in the county of Westmoreland, Virginia, died 14th December 1799, at Mount Vernon) must be regarded as the true founder and sustainer of the new State. After his death, a federal city,

already founded in 1791, was built almost in the centre of the republic as then constituted, and being destined as the seat of Congress, received the appropriate name of Washington.

6. Federal Union-Progress of Events.

Congress had hitherto represented the united provinces in all foreign matters, but each province now became a separate State, retaining its own original constitution. They had already concluded a reciprocal treaty of union amongst themselves in 1787, referring to a central congress the charge of all general affairs. At the head of the federation was a president chosen by vote, and entrusted with the executive. This office was limited to four years, but with the option of re-election, and George Washington was naturally the first appointed to fill it in the year 1789.

Under the first three presidents the finances of the country were organised, the public debt partly liquidated, partly funded and guaranteed, the savage Indian tribes either reduced to peace or semi-civilised, agriculture greatly encouraged, commerce developed to an extraordinary extent, the population increased beyond all precedent, and the territory of the Union considerably enlarged by the acquisition of extensive regions. This rapid increase of power and prosperity suffered a brief interruption through the war with England in 1812, which, however, was brought to a conclusion the next year. Since then, although various complications frequently threatened to involve the Union in fresh wars, it continued to enjoy the profoundest peace till the year 1846, when it engaged in a successful war against the neighbouring Mexican Republic.