Discovery on the east coast of America
European claims and explorations, 1650
French claims, etc., In 1700
British colonies, 1733
European possessions, 1763
the British colonies in 1764
British colonies, 1776
results of the war for independence
the united states, 1783
the united states, 1789
distribution of population, 1790
slave and free soil in 1790
the united states, 1801
the united states, 1810
north America after 1824
distribution of population, 1820
freedom and slavery in 1820
the united states, 1826
territory claimed by Texas in 1845
the Oregon country
routes of the early explorers
territory ceded by Mexico, 1848 and 1853
results of the compromise of 1850
the united states in 1851
expansion of slave soil, 1790-1860
distribution of population, 1850
the united states, 1861
war for the union
industrial and railroad map of the united states

A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES

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DISCOVERERS AND EXPLORERS

CHAPTER I

EUROPE FINDS AMERICA

%1.  Nations that have owned our Soil.%—­Before the United States became a nation, six European powers owned, or claimed to own, various portions of the territory now contained within its boundary.  England claimed the Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida.  Spain once held Florida, Texas, California, and all the territory south and west of Colorado.  France in days gone by ruled the Mississippi valley.  Holland once owned New Jersey, Delaware, and the valley of the Hudson in New York, and claimed as far eastward as the Connecticut river.  The Swedes had settlements on the Delaware.  Alaska was a Russian possession.

Before attempting to narrate the history of our country, it is necessary, therefore, to tell

1.  How European nations came into possession of parts of it.

2.  How these parts passed from them to us.

3.  What effect the ownership of parts of our country by Europeans had on our history and institutions before 1776.