Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 43

(eBook PDF) American History:

Connecting with the Past Vol 1 15th


Edition
Go to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-american-history-connecting-with-the-pas
t-vol-1-15th-edition/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

(eBook PDF) American History: Connecting with the Past


Vol 2 15th Edition

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-american-history-
connecting-with-the-past-vol-2-15th-edition/

American History: Connecting with the Past Volume 1


15th Edition (eBook PDF)

http://ebooksecure.com/product/american-history-connecting-with-
the-past-volume-1-15th-edition-ebook-pdf/

(eBook PDF) American History: Connecting with the Past


15th Edition

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-american-history-
connecting-with-the-past-15th-edition/

(eBook PDF) The American Nation: A History of the


United States, Volume 1 15th Edition

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-the-american-nation-a-
history-of-the-united-states-volume-1-15th-edition/
Give Me Liberty!: An American History Vol. 1 Brief 5th
Edition (eBook PDF)

http://ebooksecure.com/product/give-me-liberty-an-american-
history-vol-1-brief-5th-edition-ebook-pdf/

(eBook PDF) Constructing the American Past: A


Sourcebook of a People's History, Volume 1 to 1877 8th
Edition

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-constructing-the-
american-past-a-sourcebook-of-a-peoples-history-
volume-1-to-1877-8th-edition/

Latin American History Goes to the Movies:


Understanding Latin America's Past through Film

http://ebooksecure.com/product/latin-american-history-goes-to-
the-movies-understanding-latin-americas-past-through-film/

(eBook PDF) Connecting California: Selections in Early


American History 2nd Edition

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-connecting-california-
selections-in-early-american-history-2nd-edition/

(eBook PDF) Africa, vol.1: African History Before 1885

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-africa-vol-1-african-
history-before-1885/
AMERICAN HISTORY
Connecting with the Past | FIFTEENTH EDITION

Volume 1: to 1865

ALAN BRINKLEY
Columbia University
AMERICAN HISTORY: CONNECTING WITH THE PAST, 15E
Alan Brinkley

Published by McGraw-Hill Education, 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121. Copyright © 2015 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights re-
served. Printed in the United States of America. Previous editions © 2012, 2009, and 2007. No part of this publication may be reproduced
or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill
Education, including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning.

Some ancillaries, including electronic and print components, may not be available to customers outside the United States.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 DOW/DOW 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4

ISBN 978-0-07-351329-4
MHID 0-07-351329-6

Senior Vice President, Products & Markets: Kurt L. Strand


Vice President, General Manager, Products & Markets: Michael Ryan
Vice President, Content Design & Delivery: Kimberly Meriwether David
Managing Director: Gina Boedeker
Brand Manager: Laura Wilk
Director, Product Development: Meghan Campbell
Executive Marketing Manager: Stacy Best Ruel
Marketing Manager: April Cole
Lead Product Developer: Rhona Robbin
Digital Product Analyst: John Brady
Director, Content Production: Terri Schiesl
Production Manager: Marianne Musni
Content Project Manager: Emily Kline
Buyer: Laura M. Fuller
Design: David Hash
Content Licensing Specialists: Carolyn Burger, Michelle Whitaker, Dianna Dausener
Cover Image: © Peter Visscher/Getty(RF)
Compositor: Aptara®, Inc.
Typeface: 9.5/12 That Book
Printer: R. R. Donnelley

All credits appearing on page or at the end of the book are considered to be an extension of the copyright page.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Brinkley, Alan.
American history : connecting with the past / Alan Brinkley.—Fifteenth edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-07-351329-4 (alkaline paper)—ISBN 0-07-351329-6 (alkaline paper)—ISBN 978-0-07-777675-6
(alkaline paper)—ISBN 0-07-777675-5 (alkaline paper)—ISBN 978-0-07-777674-9 (alkaline paper)
1. United States—History—Textbooks. I. Title.
E178.1.B826 2014
973—dc23 2014021721

The Internet addresses listed in the text were accurate at the time of publication. The inclusion of a website does not indicate an endorsement by
the authors or McGraw-Hill Education, and McGraw-Hill Education does not guarantee the accuracy of the information presented at these sites.

www.mhhe.com
BRIEF CONTENTS

PREFACE xvii

1 THE COLLISION OF CULTURES 1


2 TRANSPLANTATIONS AND BORDERLANDS 34
3 SOCIETY AND CULTURE IN PROVINCIAL AMERICA 65
4 THE EMPIRE IN TRANSITION 98
5 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 128
6 THE CONSTITUTION AND THE NEW REPUBLIC 159
7 THE JEFFERSONIAN ERA 180
8 VARIETIES OF AMERICAN NATIONALISM 214
9 JACKSONIAN AMERICA 229
10 AMERICA’S ECONOMIC REVOLUTION 254
11 COTTON, SLAVERY, AND THE OLD SOUTH 293
12 ANTEBELLUM CULTURE AND REFORM 314
13 THE IMPENDING CRISIS 339
14 THE CIVIL WAR 364
15 RECONSTRUCTION AND THE NEW SOUTH 399

APPENDIXES A-1

CREDITS C-1

INDEX I-1

• ix
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alan Brinkley is the Allan Nevins Professor of History at Columbia University. He served
as University Provost at Columbia from 2003 to 2009. He is the author of Voices of Protest:
Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression, which won the 1983 National Book
Award; The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People; The End of Reform: New
Deal Liberalism in Recession and War; Liberalism and Its Discontents; Franklin D. Roosevelt; and
The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century. He was the chair of the board of the
National Humanities Center, the chair of the board of the Century Foundation, and a trustee
of Oxford University Press. He is a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1998–1999,
he was the Harmsworth Professor of History at Oxford University, and in 2011–2012, the Pitt
Professor at the University of Cambridge. He won the Joseph R. Levenson Memorial Teaching
Award at Harvard, and the Great Teacher Award at Columbia. He was educated at Princeton
and Harvard.

x •
CONTENTS

PREFACE xvii Maryland and the Calverts 39


Turbulent Virginia 40
Bacon’s Rebellion 41
THE COLLISION OF
1 CULTURES 1 THE GROWTH OF NEW ENGLAND 41
Plymouth Plantation 41
The Puritan Experiment 43
SETTING THE STAGE 2
The Expansion of New England 45
AMERICA BEFORE
Settlers and Natives 46
COLUMBUS 2
The Pequot War, King Philip’s War, and
The Peoples of the
the Technology of Battle 47
Precontact Americas 2
The Growth of Civilizations: THE RESTORATION COLONIES 49
The South 3 The English Civil War 49
The Civilizations of the The Carolinas 49
North 3 New Netherland, New York, and New Jersey 51
Tribal Cultures 7 The Quaker Colonies 52
EUROPE LOOKS WESTWARD 7 BORDERLANDS AND MIDDLE GROUNDS 53
Commerce and Nationalism 8 The Caribbean Islands 54
Christopher Columbus 9 Masters and Slaves in the Caribbean 55
The Conquistadores 12 The Southwestern Borderlands 56
Spanish America 15 The Southeastern Borderlands 57
Northern Outposts 17 The Founding of Georgia 57
The Empire at High Tide 17 Middle Grounds 60
Biological and Cultural Exchanges 18
Africa and America 20 THE EVOLUTION OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE 60
The Drive for Reorganization 60
THE ARRIVAL OF THE ENGLISH 21 The Dominion of New England 62
The Commercial Incentive 21 The “Glorious Revolution” 62
The Religious Incentive 23 Debating the Past
The English in Ireland 27
The French and the Dutch in America 29 Native Americans and the “Middle Ground” 58
The First English Settlements 30 END-OF-CHAPTER REVIEW 63
Roanoke 30
Debating the Past
Why Do Historians So Often Differ? 8
SOCIETY AND CULTURE IN
Debating the Past
The American Population before Columbus 10
3 PROVINCIAL AMERICA 65
America in the World SETTING THE STAGE 66
The Atlantic Context of Early American History 22 THE COLONIAL
America in the World POPULATION 66
Indentured Servitude 66
Mercantilism and Colonial Commerce 26 Birth and Death 68
END-OF-CHAPTER REVIEW 32 Medicine in the
Colonies 69
Women and Families in the
TRANSPLANTATIONS AND
2 BORDERLANDS 34
Chesapeake 69
Women and Families in New England 71
The Beginnings of Slavery in British
America 71
SETTING THE STAGE 35
Changing Sources of European Immigration 74
THE EARLY CHESAPEAKE 35
Colonists and Natives 35 THE COLONIAL ECONOMIES 76
Reorganization and The Southern Economy 77
Expansion 36 Northern Economic and Technological Life 78
Tobacco 37 The Extent and Limits of Technology 80
Expansion 38 The Rise of Colonial Commerce 80
Exchanges of Agricultural Technology 38 The Rise of Consumerism 81

• xi
xii • CONTENTS

PATTERNS OF SOCIETY 82 Patterns of Popular Culture


The Plantation 83 Taverns in Revolutionary Massachusetts 122
Plantation Slavery 84
END-OF-CHAPTER REVIEW 126
The Puritan Community 85
The Witchcraft Phenomenon 86
Cities 87
THE AMERICAN
Inequality 88
AWAKENINGS AND ENLIGHTENMENTS 89
5 REVOLUTION 128
The Pattern of Religions 89
The Great Awakening 90 SETTING THE STAGE 129
The Enlightenment 91 THE STATES UNITED 129
Education 92 Defining American War
The Spread of Science 94 Aims 129
Concepts of Law and Politics 95 The Decision for
Independence 130
Debating the Past
Responses to
The Origins of Slavery 72 Independence 131
Debating the Past Mobilizing for War 131
The Witchcraft Trials 90 THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 133
Patterns of Popular Culture The First Phase: New England 133
Colonial Almanacs 92 The Second Phase: The Mid-Atlantic Region 135
The Iroquois and the British 138
END-OF-CHAPTER REVIEW 96 Securing Aid from Abroad 139
The Final Phase: The South 140
Winning the Peace 143
THE EMPIRE IN
4 TRANSITION 98
WAR AND SOCIETY 143
Loyalists and Minorities 143
The War and Slavery 145
SETTING THE STAGE 99 Native Americans and the Revolution 146
LOOSENING TIES 99 Women’s Rights and Women’s Roles 147
A Tradition of Neglect 99 The War Economy 149
The Colonies Divided 100 THE CREATION OF STATE GOVERNMENTS 150
THE STRUGGLE FOR THE The Assumptions of Republicanism 150
CONTINENT 101 The First State Constitutions 150
New France and the Iroquois Revising State Governments 150
Nation 101 Toleration and Slavery 151
Anglo-French Conflicts 102 THE SEARCH FOR A NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 151
The Great War for the Empire 103 The Confederation 151
THE NEW IMPERIALISM 107 Diplomatic Failures 152
Burdens of Empire 107 The Confederation and the Northwest 153
The British and the Tribes 109 Indians and the Western Lands 155
The Colonial Response 110 Debts, Taxes, and Daniel Shays 155
Debating the Past
STIRRINGS OF REVOLT 112
The Stamp Act Crisis 112 The American Revolution 132
Internal Rebellions 114 America in the World
The Townshend Program 114 The Age of Revolutions 144
The Boston Massacre 115
END-OF-CHAPTER REVIEW 156
The Philosophy of Revolt 117
The Tea Excitement 118
COOPERATION AND WAR 122
THE CONSTITUTION AND
New Sources of Authority 122
Lexington and Concord 124 6 THE NEW REPUBLIC 159
America in the World
SETTING THE STAGE 160
The First Global War 104
FRAMING A NEW GOVERNMENT 160
Consider the Source Advocates of Centralization 160
Tea Parties 120 A Divided Convention 162
CONTENTS • xiii

Compromise 163 “Peaceable Coercion” 204


The Constitution of 1787 164 The “Indian Problem” and the British 205
The Limits of the Tecumseh and the Prophet 206
Constitution 166 Florida and War Fever 207
Federalists and Antifederalists 167
THE WAR OF 1812 208
Completing the Structure 168
Battles with the Tribes 208
FEDERALISTS AND Battles with the British 208
REPUBLICANS 169 The Revolt of New England 210
Hamilton and the Federalists 169 The Peace Settlement 210
Enacting the Federalist Consider the Source
Program 170
Religious Revivals 186
The Republican Opposition 171
America in the World
ESTABLISHING NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY 172
The Global Industrial Revolution 192
Securing the Frontier 172
Native Americans and the New Nation 172 Patterns of Popular Culture
Maintaining Neutrality 173 Horse Racing in Early America 196
Jay’s Treaty and Pinckney’s Treaty 174 END-OF-CHAPTER REVIEW 211
THE DOWNFALL OF THE FEDERALISTS 174
The Election of 1796 175
VARIETIES OF AMERICAN
The Quasi War with France 175
Repression and Protest 176
The “Revolution” of 1800 177
8 NATIONALISM 214
Debating the Past SETTING THE STAGE 215
The Meaning of the Constitution 164 BUILDING A NATIONAL
END-OF-CHAPTER REVIEW 178 MARKET 215
Banking, Currency, and
Protection 215
Transportation 216
THE JEFFERSONIAN ERA
7 180
EXPANDING
WESTWARD 218
SETTING THE STAGE 181 The Great Migrations 218
THE RISE OF CULTURAL The Plantation System in the Southwest 218
NATIONALISM 181 Trade and Trapping in the Far West 219
Patterns of Education 181 Eastern Images of the West 220
Medicine and
Science 183 THE “ERA OF GOOD FEELINGS” 220
Cultural Aspirations in the The End of the First Party System 221
New Nation 183 John Quincy Adams and Florida 221
Religious Skepticism 184 The Panic of 1819 222
The Second Great Awakening 185 SECTIONALISM AND NATIONALISM 222
STIRRINGS OF INDUSTRIALISM 188 The Missouri Compromise 222
Technology in America 188 Marshall and the Court 223
Transportation Innovations 189 The Court and the Tribes 224
The Rising Cities 191 The Latin American Revolution and the Monroe
Doctrine 225
JEFFERSON THE PRESIDENT 192
The Federal City and the “People’s President” 193 THE REVIVAL OF OPPOSITION 226
Dollars and Ships 195 The “Corrupt Bargain” 226
Conflict with the Courts 195 The Second President Adams 227
Jackson Triumphant 227
DOUBLING THE NATIONAL DOMAIN 197 END-OF-CHAPTER REVIEW 228
Jefferson and Napoleon 197
The Louisiana Purchase 199
Lewis and Clark Explore the West 200
JACKSONIAN AMERICA
The Burr Conspiracy 201
EXPANSION AND WAR 202
9 229

Conflict on the Seas 202 SETTING THE STAGE 230


Impressment 203 THE RISE OF MASS POLITICS 230
xiv • CONTENTS

The Emergence of Andrew COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 268


Jackson 230 The Expansion of Business, 1820–1840 268
Expanding The Emergence of the Factory 269
Democracy 231 Advances in Technology 269
Tocqueville and Democracy
in America 232 MEN AND WOMEN AT WORK 270
The Legitimization of Recruiting a Native Workforce 270
Party 233 The Immigrant Workforce 276
“President of the Common Man” 234 The Factory System and the Artisan Tradition 277
Fighting for Control 278
“OUR FEDERAL UNION” 235 “Free Labor” 278
Calhoun and Nullification 235
The Rise of Van Buren 236 PATTERNS OF INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY 279
The Webster-Hayne Debate 236 The Rich and the Poor 279
The Nullification Crisis 237 Social Mobility 281
Middle-Class Life 281
THE REMOVAL OF THE INDIANS 238 The Changing Family 282
White Attitudes Toward the Tribes 238 Women and the “Cult of Domesticity” 282
The Black Hawk War 239 Leisure Activities 287
The “Five Civilized Tribes” 239
Trails of Tears 240 THE AGRICULTURAL NORTH 288
The Meaning of Removal 241 Northeastern Agriculture 288
The Old Northwest 288
JACKSON AND THE BANK WAR 242 Rural Life 290
Biddle’s Institution 242 Consider the Source
The “Monster” Destroyed 243
The Taney Court 243 Nativism and Anti-Immigration Sentiment 260
Consider the Source
THE CHANGING FACE OF AMERICAN POLITICS 244
Democrats and Whigs 245 Rules for Employees 272
Van Buren and the Panic of 1837 246 Consider the Source
The Log Cabin Campaign 247 Family Time 284
The Frustration of the Whigs 248
END-OF-CHAPTER REVIEW 290
Whig Diplomacy 249
Debating the Past
COTTON, SLAVERY, AND
The “Age of Jackson” 234
Patterns of Popular Culture 11 THE OLD SOUTH 293
The Penny Press 250
END-OF-CHAPTER REVIEW 252 SETTING THE STAGE 294
THE COTTON
ECONOMY 294
The Rise of King
AMERICA’S ECONOMIC
10 REVOLUTION 254
Cotton 294
Southern Trade and
Industry 295
SETTING THE STAGE 255 Sources of Southern Difference 298
THE CHANGING AMERICAN
WHITE SOCIETY IN THE SOUTH 298
POPULATION 255
The Planter Class 298
The American Population,
“Honor” 300
1820–1840 255
The “Southern Lady” 300
Immigration and
The Plain Folk 301
Urban Growth,
1840–1860 256 SLAVERY: THE “PECULIAR INSTITUTION” 303
The Rise of Nativism 259 Varieties of Slavery 303
Life under Slavery 304
TRANSPORTATION, COMMUNICATIONS, AND
Slavery in the Cities 305
TECHNOLOGY 262
Free African Americans 306
The Canal Age 263
The Slave Trade 307
The Early Railroads 265
Slave Resistance 309
The Triumph of the Rails 266
Innovations in Communications and THE CULTURE OF SLAVERY 311
Journalism 266 Language and Music 311
CONTENTS • xv

African American Religion 312 Americans in Texas 342


The Slave Family 312 Tensions between the United States
Debating the Past and Mexico 342
Oregon 343
The Character of Slavery 306
Westward Migration 344
Patterns of Popular Culture Life on the Trail 344
The Slaves’ Music 310
EXPANSION AND WAR 346
END-OF-CHAPTER REVIEW 313 The Democrats and Expansion 346
The Southwest and California 347
The Mexican War 348
ANTEBELLUM CULTURE
12 AND REFORM 314
THE SECTIONAL DEBATE 351
Slavery and the Territories 351
The California Gold Rush 351
SETTING THE STAGE 315 Rising Sectional Tensions 353
THE ROMANTIC IMPULSE 315 The Compromise of 1850 353
Nationalism and Romanticism
THE CRISES OF THE 1850S 354
in American
The Uneasy Truce 354
Painting 315
“Young America” 355
Literature and the Quest for
Slavery, Railroads, and the West 355
Liberation 316
The Kansas-Nebraska Controversy 355
Literature in the Antebellum
“Bleeding Kansas” 356
South 317
The Free-Soil Ideology 357
The Transcendentalists 317
The Pro-Slavery Argument 358
The Defense of Nature 318
Buchanan and Depression 358
Visions of Utopia 318
The Dred Scott Decision 358
Redefining Gender Roles 319
Deadlock over Kansas 359
The Mormons 320
The Emergence of Lincoln 359
REMAKING SOCIETY 321 John Brown’s Raid 360
Revivalism, Morality, and Order 321 The Election of Lincoln 360
The Temperance Crusade 322 END-OF-CHAPTER REVIEW 361
Health Fads and Phrenology 323
Medical Science 324
Reforming Education 325
THE CIVIL WAR
Rehabilitation 326
The Indian Reservation 326
The Emergence of Feminism 327
14 364

THE CRUSADE AGAINST SLAVERY 330 SETTING THE STAGE 365


Early Opposition to Slavery 330 THE SECESSION CRISIS 365
Garrison and Abolitionism 331 The Withdrawal of the
Black Abolitionists 331 South 365
Anti-Abolitionism 332 The Failure of
Abolitionism Divided 333 Compromise 366
Fort Sumter 366
Consider the Source The Opposing Sides 368
The Rise of Feminism 328
THE MOBILIZATION OF
America in the World THE NORTH 368
The Abolition of Slavery 334 Economic Measures 368
Patterns of Popular Culture Raising the Union Armies 370
Wartime Politics 370
Sentimental Novels 336
The Politics of Emancipation 372
END-OF-CHAPTER REVIEW 336 African Americans and the Union Cause 376
The War and Economic Development 377
Women, Nursing, and the War 377
THE IMPENDING CRISIS
13 339
THE MOBILIZATION OF THE SOUTH 378
The Confederate Government 378
SETTING THE STAGE 340 Money and Manpower 378
LOOKING WESTWARD 340 States’ Rights versus Centralization 379
Manifest Destiny 340 Economic and Social Effects of the War 380
xvi • CONTENTS

STRATEGY AND DIPLOMACY 381 The Congressional Plan 405


The Commanders 381 The Impeachment of the President 407
The Role of Sea Power 382
THE SOUTH IN RECONSTRUCTION 407
Europe and the Disunited States 383
The Reconstruction Governments 407
The American West and the War 384
Education 408
THE COURSE OF BATTLE 385 Landownership and Tenancy 409
The Technology of Battle 385 The Crop-Lien System 410
The Opening Clashes, 1861 387 The African American Family in
The Western Theater 388 Freedom 412
The Virginia Front, 1862 388
THE GRANT ADMINISTRATION 412
The Progress of War 391
The Soldier President 412
1863: Year of Decision 392
The Grant Scandals 412
The Last Stage, 1864–1865 394
The Greenback Question 413
Debating the Past Republican Diplomacy 413
The Causes of the Civil War 372
THE ABANDONMENT OF
Consider the Source RECONSTRUCTION 414
Wartime Oratory 374 The Southern States “Redeemed” 414
Patterns of Popular Culture The Ku Klux Klan Acts 414
Waning Northern Commitment 414
Baseball and the Civil War 384 The Compromise of 1877 415
America in the World The Legacies of Reconstruction 417
The Consolidation of Nations 386 THE NEW SOUTH 418
END-OF-CHAPTER REVIEW 397 The “Redeemers” 418
Industrialization and the “New South” 419
Tenants and Sharecroppers 420
African Americans and the New South 421
RECONSTRUCTION AND
15 THE NEW SOUTH 399
The Birth of Jim Crow 422
Debating the Past
Reconstruction 416
SETTING THE STAGE 400
THE PROBLEMS OF Patterns of Popular Culture
PEACEMAKING 400 The Minstrel Show 420
The Aftermath of War and Consider the Source
Emancipation 400
Remembering Black History 426
Competing Notions of
Freedom 401 END-OF-CHAPTER REVIEW 428
Issues of Reconstruction 402
Plans for Reconstruction 403 APPENDIXES A-1
The Death of Lincoln 403
Johnson and “Restoration” 404 CREDITS C-1
RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION 404
The Black Codes 405 INDEX I-1
The Fourteenth Amendment 405
PREFACE

• Smartbook®—an online version of this book that adapts


WHY do so many people take an interest in history?
It is, I think, because we know that we are
the products of the past—that everything we know, everything
to each student’s reading experience by offering
self-quizzing and highlighting material that the student
we see, and everything we imagine is rooted in our history. It is struggling with.
is not surprising that there have been historians throughout • Connect History®—homework and quizzing exercises in-
almost all of recorded time. It is only natural that we are inter- cluding map understanding, primary source analysis, im-
ested in what the past was like. Whether we study academic age exploration, key terms, and review and writing
history or not, we all are connected to the past. questions.
Americans have always had a love of their own history. It is • Insight®—a first-of-its-kind analytics tool for Connect as-
a daunting task to attempt to convey the long and remarkable signments that provides instructors with vital informa-
story of America in a single book, but that is what this volume tion about how students are performing and which
attempts to do. The new subtitle of this book, “Connecting assignments are the most effective.
with the Past,” describes this edition’s focus on encouraging • Interactive maps—more than thirty maps in the ebook
readers to be aware of the ways in which our everyday experi- and Connect can be manipulated by students to encour-
ences are rooted in our history. age better geographical understanding.
Like any history, this book is a product of its time and reflects • Critical Missions®—an activity that immerses students in
the views of the past that historians of recent generations have pivotal moments in history. As students study primary
developed. A comparable book published decades from now will sources and maps, they advise a key historical figure on
likely seem as different from this one as this book appears differ- an issue of vital importance—for example, should
ent from histories written a generation or more ago. The writing President Truman drop the atomic bomb on Japan?
of history changes constantly—not, of course, because the past • A Primary Source Primer—a video exercise with
changes, but because of shifts in the way historians, and the pub- multiple-choice questions teaches students the impor-
lics they serve, ask and answer questions about the past. tance of primary sources and how to analyze them. This
There are now, as there have always been, critics of changes online “Introduction to Primary Sources” is designed for
in historical understanding. Many people argue that history is use at the beginning of the course, to save valuable class
a collection of facts and should not be subject to “interpreta- time.
tion” or “revision.” But historians insist that history is not and
In addition to content and scholarship updates throughout,
cannot be simply a collection of facts. They are only the begin-
we have added 4 new “Consider the Source” boxed features
ning of historical understanding. It is up to the writers and
that explore the topics of family time; wartime oratory; black
readers of history to try to interpret the evidence before them;
history; and race, gender, and military service. Our concluding
and in doing so, they will inevitably bring to the task their
chapter, “The Age of Globalization,” now brings American
own questions, concerns, and experiences.
History up-to-date through the summer of 2014 and includes
Our history requires us to examine the experience of the
coverage of the 2008 financial crisis, the rise of the Tea Party,
many different peoples and ideas that have shaped American
the 2012 election, the Affordable Care Act, and the ongoing
society. But it also requires us to understand that the United
federal gridlock.
States is a nation whose people share many things: a common
I am grateful to many people for their help on this book—
political system, a connection to an integrated national (and
especially the people at McGraw-Hill who have supported and
now international) economy, and a familiarity with a shared
sustained it so well for many years. I am grateful to Laura Wilk,
and enormously powerful mass culture. To understand the
Rhona Robbin, Art Pomponio, April Cole, Stacy Ruel, Emily
American past, it is necessary to understand both the forces
Kline, and Carrie Burger. I am grateful, too, to Deborah Bull for
that divide Americans and the forces that draw them together.
her help with photographs. I also appreciate the many sugges-
It is not only the writing of history that changes with time—
tions I have received from students over the last several years,
the tools and technologies through which information is deliv-
as well as the reviews provided by a group of talented scholars
ered change as well. Created as an integral part of the content
and teachers.
of this fifteenth edition are an array of valuable learning re-
Alan Brinkley
sources that will aid instructors in teaching and students in
Columbia University
learning about American history. These resources include:
New York, NY

• xvii
A GUIDED TOUR OF
AMERICAN HISTORY

AMERICAN HISTORY CONNECTS


STUDENTS TO THE RELEVANCE
OF HISTORY THROUGH
A SERIES OF ENGAGING
FEATURES

PaTTERNS OF POPULaR CULTURe Features


These twenty-six features bring fads, crazes,
hang-outs, hobbies, and entertainment into the
story of American history, encouraging students
to expand their definition of what constitutes
history, and to think about how we can best
understand the lived experience of past lives.

xviii •
CONSIDER THE SOURCE Features
These features guide students through careful analysis of
historical documents, both textual and visual, and prompt
them to make connections with contemporary events. New
topics in this edition include family time; wartime oratory;
black history; and race, gender, and military service.

• xix
AMERICa IN THE WORLD Essays
These fifteen essays focus on specific parallels
between American history and that of other
nations, and demonstrate the importance of the
many global influences on the American story.
Topics like the global industrial revolution, the
abolition of slavery, and the origins of the Cold
War provide concrete examples of the
connections between the history of the United
States and the history of other nations.

UNDERSTaND, ANaLYZE, aND


EVaLUaTE Review Questions
Appearing at the end of every
feature essay, these questions
encourage students to move beyond
memorization of facts and names to
explore the importance and
significance of the featured content.

xx •
DEBaTING THE PaST Essays
Twenty-five essays introduce students to the contested quality of much of the
American past, and provide a sense of the evolving nature of historical scholarship.
From addressing the question of “Why do historians so often disagree?” to
examining specific differences in historical understandings of the Constitution, the
character of slavery, and the causes of the Great Depression, these essays
familiarize students with the interpretive character of historical understanding.

• xxi
LIST OF MAPS

1.1 North American Migrations 4 10.5 Lowell, Massachusetts, 1832 276


1.2 How the Early North Americans Lived 5 11.1 Slavery and Cotton in the South, 1820
and 1860 296
1.3 European Exploration and Conquest,
1492–1583 13 11.2 Plantations in Louisiana, 1858 297
1.4 Spanish America 16 11.3 A Georgia Plantation 299
1.5 Europe and West Africa in the Fifteenth 13.1 Expanding Settlement, 1810–1850 341
Century 24
13.2 Western Trails in 1860 345
2.1 The Growth of the Chesapeake, 1607–1750 37
13.3 The Oregon Boundary, 1846 346
2.2 The Growth of New England, 1620–1750 46
13.4 The Mexican War, 1846–1848 348
2.3 The Seventeenth-Century Caribbean 55
13.5 Southwestern Expansion, 1845–1853 350
3.1 North America in 1700 67
13.6 Slave and Free Territories under
3.2 Immigrant Groups in Colonial America, 1760 77 the Compromise of 1850 354
3.3 The “Triangular Trade” 81 14.1 The Process of Secession 367
3.4 African Population as a Proportion of 14.2 The War in the West, 1861–1863 389
Total Population, c. 1775 83
14.3 The Virginia Theater, 1861–1863 390
3.5 The New England Town: Sudbury, Massachusetts,
14.4 The Siege of Vicksburg, May–July 1863 392
Seventeenth Century 85
14.5 Gettysburg, July 1–3, 1863 393
4.1 The Seven Years’ War 106
14.6 Virginia Campaigns, 1864–1865 394
4.2 The Thirteen Colonies in 1763 108
14.7 Sherman’s March to the Sea, 1864–1865 395
4.3 North America in 1763 110
15.1 Reconstruction, 1866–1877 406
4.4 The Battles of Lexington and Concord, 1775 124
15.2 The Southern Plantation before and after
5.1 The Revolution in the North, 1775–1776 137
Emancipation 409
5.2 The Revolution in the Middle Colonies,
15.3 The Crop-Lien System in 1880 423
1776–1778 139
16.1 Mining Towns, 1848–1883 440
5.3 The Revolution in the South, 1778–1781 141
16.2 The Cattle Kingdom, c. 1866–1887 441
5.4 The Conflict over Western Lands 152
16.3 The Indian Frontier 450
5.5 Land Survey: Ordinance of 1785 154
17.1 Railroads, 1870–1890 464
7.1 North America in 1800 194
18.1 The United States in 1900 488
7.2 Washington, D.C., in the Early Nineteenth
Century 194 18.2 Ethnic and Class Segregation in Milwaukee,
1850–1890 492
7.3 Exploring the Louisiana Purchase,
1804–1807 200 18.3 Streetcar Suburbs in Nineteenth-Century New
Orleans 497
7.4 The Indian Response to White Encroachment 205
19.1 Imperialism at High Tide, 1900 531
7.5 The War of 1812 209
19.2 The Spanish-American War in Cuba, 1898 542
8.1 The Missouri Compromise, 1820 223
19.3 The American South Pacific Empire, 1900 547
9.1 The Expulsion of the Tribes, 1830–1835 240
20.1 Establishment of National Parks and Forests 575
10.1 American Population Density, 1820 257
21.1 The United States and Latin America,
10.2 American Population Density, 1860 258
1895–1941 586
10.3 Canals in the Northeast, 1823–1860 264
21.2 America in World War I: The Western Front,
10.4 Railroad Growth, 1850–1860 267 1918 595

xxii •
LIST OF MAPS • xxiii

21.3 African American Migration, 1910–1950 609 28.2 African American Migration, 1950–1980 771
22.1 Farm Tenancy, 1910–1930 621 29.1 The United States in Latin America,
1954–1996 792
24.1 The Tennessee Valley Authority 667
29.2 The War in Vietnam and Indochina,
26.1 World War II in the Pacific 706
1964–1975 797
26.2 World War II in North Africa and Italy: The Allied
30.1 Aboriginal Territories and Modern Reservations
Counteroffensive, 1942–1943 708
of Western Indian Tribes 814
26.3 World War II in Europe: The Allied
31.1 Growth of the Sunbelt, 1970–1990 844
Counteroffensive, 1943–1945 723
32.1 Crises in the Middle East 873
27.1 Divided Europe after World War II 739
27.2 The Korean War, 1950–1953 747
28.1 Chicago’s Annexations and the Suburban
Noose 776
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are grateful to the many advisers and reviewers who gen- Derrick McKisick, Fairfield University
erously offered comments, suggestions, and ideas at various Rachel Mitchell, Itawamba Community College
stages in the development of this project. Michael Namorato, University of Mississippi
Jessica Patton, Tarrant County College
Academic Reviewers Justin Pettegrew, Shorter University
Eirlys Barker, Thomas Nelson Community College Susan Richards, Central New Mexico Community College
Diane Boldt, Maple Woods Community College Esther Robinson, Lone Star College—Cyfair
Cathy Briggs, Northwest Vista College Horatio Salinas, Laredo Community College
Jeff Carlisle, Oklahoma City Community College Erik Schmeller, Tennessee State University
Annette Chamberlin, Virginia Western Community College Manfred Silva, El Paso Community College
Amy Colon, SUNY Sullivan David Snead, Liberty University
Hugh Donahue, Rowan College Lori Strader, Vernon College
Mike Downs, University of Texas—Arlington Armando Villarreal, Tarrant County College South
John Ehrhardt, Oklahoma City Community College Roger Ward, Collin County Community College
Mary Farmer-Kaiser, University of Louisiana at Lafayette Eddie Weller, San Jacinto College, South
Linda Foutch, Walters State Community College Geoffrey Willbanks, Tyler Junior College
Brandon Franke, Blinn College Bill Zeman, Citrus Community College
Keith Freese, Itawamba Community College
Wendy Gunderson, Collin County Community College Digiposium Attendees
Susan Haber, Cuyamaca College Shelly Bailess, Liberty University
Michael Harkins, William Rainey Harper College Patrice Carter, Wharton County Junior College
Timothy Holder, Walters State Community College Tonia Compton, Columbia College of Missouri
Kelly Hopkins, University of Houston Jane England, North Central Texas College
Bruce Ingram, Itawamba Community College Yvonne Davis Frear, San Jacinto College
Greg Kelm, Dallas Baptist University Traci Hodgson, Chemeketa Community College
Wendy Kline, University of Cincinnati Joy Ingram, Pellissippi State Community College
Donna Kumler, Grayson County College Alan Lehmann, Blinn College
Jennifer Lawrence, Tarrant County College Sandy Norman, Florida Atlantic University
Pat Ledbetter, North Central Texas College Andrea Oliver, Tallahassee Community College
John W. Meador, Central New Mexico Community College Richard Verrone, Texas Tech University
Marc McClure, Walters State Community College
Darrel McGhee, Walters State Community College

xxiv •
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
"Captain Fortescue, I have come to bring you that. It is
something which I think—I hope—you will be very glad to
get."

He took the box in his hand but did not open it.

"What is it?" he asked. "Do sit down, Miss Douglas."

He noticed how agitated she was, and he wondered


what had caused her to be so.

"Have you not lost something?" she asked.

"Only an umbrella," he said, laughing. "I lost one last


week; but that can't be in here."

"No," she said, "it was much longer ago. Think, Captain
Fortescue; did you never lose a letter that you wanted very
much to find? Was a letter never stolen from you by some
one? And have you not tried in all ways to find that letter,
but in vain?"

He understood now: all the colour had faded from his


face. Was it possible, could it be that his father's letter had
been found—and by her?

"Is it in this box?" he asked.

"Yes; I do hope it is the right one. Will you open it and


see?"

He cut the string which she had knotted tightly round it:
he drew out the paper; he saw his father's well-known
irregular handwriting.

Yes, it was evidently the letter which he ought to have


found in that envelope in the safe, the envelope of which
was still in his possession, and which was addressed, "For
my son, To be opened after my death."

"Is it the right one?"

"Yes, it is, Miss Douglas. How can I thank you?"

"May I tell you how I found it? And then I must go."

She knew how he was longing to read the letter, and


she thought that he would want to read it alone. Her one
desire was to tell him how it had come into her possession,
and then to leave him. But he would not hear of her doing
this; he made her sit down again, and, before she could
stop him, he rang the bell for Mrs. Hall, and told her to
bring another cup, that she might have some tea before she
left.

Then Marjorie told him her story as shortly as she


could. She spoke of old Mrs. Hotchkiss's unhappiness during
her illness; she told him of her midnight call to the old
house, and of the secret that had then been told her. She
described the place in which she had discovered the box;
she confessed that she had broken the seals and opened it,
that she might see the name at the end of the letter, and
might know whether Mr. Forty Screws and Mr. Fortescue
were the same. And now she said, as she got up from her
chair again, she was thankful, very glad and thankful that it
was safely in his hands, and she must go; she really must
go. She knew how he was longing to read it, and she would
not keep him another moment.

"Miss Douglas," said Captain Fortescue, "I am not going


to allow you to leave until you've had some tea, and then I
am going with you to the station. But if you are sure you do
not mind, I will just read the letter, and then I shall be able
to tell you what it is about, and for what I have to thank
you."

When she saw that it was of no use to protest any


further, she sat down again by the fire, and he took a chair
to the table, and by the dim light of the solitary gas-burner
sat down to read the letter. She glanced at him from time to
time as he bent over it, wondering as she did so what its
contents might be, looking anxiously to see the effect upon
him as he read. Every vestige of colour had faded out of his
face, but he read on intently, and without once looking up.
Marjorie could hear the clock in the passage ticking loudly,
but no other sound disturbed the stillness of the room. He
did not speak a word, nor utter a sound, till he turned to
the last page, and then he gave a loud exclamation of
dismay.

"Is it bad news?" she asked fearfully.

"No, not bad news; it is good news, very good news,"


he said, "but those rascals have tampered with the letter."

He held it up to her, and she saw that one word, a long


word too, had been completely blotted out.

"It has evidently been done on purpose," he said, "lest


this letter should by any means fall into my hands."

"Is the word of much importance?"

"Of every importance; in fact, it is the most important


word in the whole letter. Miss Douglas, we will have some
tea, and then I want you, if you do not mind, to read the
letter you have brought."

"May I? But are you sure you would like me to read it?"
"I am quite sure; indeed, so far from minding it, I am
most anxious that you should read it."

He put the armchair near the table for her, and began to
pour out the tea, but his hand trembled so much with
strong emotion that she asked him if she might do it for
him. He told her that, if she did not mind doing it, he should
like to remember it, after she had gone; it would be
something to think of when he was alone.

"It's rather different to the last tea we had together," he


said; "that cosy tea in Fernbank. If I had known you were
coming, I would have had some cake!"

But at that moment Mrs. Hall came into the room with a
hot tea-cake in her hand.

"I've just baked 'em, sir, and they're nice and light, and
I thought, as the lady was here, perhaps you would accept
of one."

"Thank you, Mrs. Hall; it looks delicious!" They did not


talk much during tea; his mind was on the letter he had just
read, and he asked her from time to time to give him
further details of the history which she had heard from Mrs.
Hotchkiss. He had no doubt whatever that Makepeace was
the man who had married Carrie Hotchkiss, and he
remembered hearing that Watson had a half-brother living
in Sheffield. Evidently, then, he had been right in his former
suspicion; Watson had undoubtedly been the thief. She
must have been listening at the bedroom door when his
father told him to look under the will in the safe for the
important letter which he wished him to receive.

Then, when she found herself alone with the old man
for the night, she must have taken the keys from the table
whilst he was asleep, unlocked the safe, and taken out the
letter, replacing it, either then or afterwards, by a blank
sheet of foolscap paper. Then, when she had satisfied her
curiosity, and had also discovered the importance of its
contents, she had evidently carried the letter to Makepeace,
and the brother and sister must have plotted together that
they would keep it back, in the hope that they might be
able to make it a kind of gold mine, were they fortunate
enough to discover the father who had deserted his infant
child.

They could not help being aware that the information in


the letter was of such a nature that it would be of the
utmost importance to that man to have it suppressed.

Then, after that, Watson must have found that other


letter, the one Makepeace had brought him, lying unposted
on the table, and then either she or her brother must have
invented the plausible story which Makepeace had told him,
in order to prevent any suspicion from falling upon Watson.

All this probable explanation of the strange mystery


flashed through Kenneth Fortescue's mind more quickly
than it can be told here, and Marjorie could see that from
time to time his thoughts were far away, although he
always seemed to notice in a moment if she wanted
anything, and he was not content until she had done justice
to Mrs. Hall's tea-cake. He ate very little himself, and, as
soon as she had finished, he drew her chair nearer to the
fire and handed her the letter.

"Are you quite sure you want me to read it?" she asked
again. "Do say if you would rather I did not."

"It will be a comfort to me if you do not mind reading it,


Miss Douglas."
She could not refuse after that. She unfolded the large
sheet and began to read.

CHAPTER XVII
A STRANGE LETTER

THE letter which Marjorie held in her hand was badly


written and spelt, but she was able to decipher most of it.
And this is what she read—

"MY DEAR KEN,

"I feel as if I might not live for many years


longer, so I am writing this, that you may be
able to read it when I am dead and gone. I feel
as if I ought to let you know; and yet I
promised him to keep his secret as long as I
lived, all the days of my life, them was the
words as he made me say. But I didn't promise
not to tell when the days of my life was over,
Ken, and they will be over when you get this
'ere letter.

"Well, Ken, I'm a-going to tell you something


that happened to me about twenty-five years
ago. I heard as there was good luck to be had
out in South Africa; so me and your ma talked
it over, and we settled we would go out there
and make our fortunes. We had saved a bit of
money, and we paid our passage, and we went
out, and we got on pretty fair. The work was
good, and so was the pay, but things was a lot
dearer out there than at home.

"I worked on, Ken, first in one place and then


in another, and at last we settled down near
some mines not far from Kimberley. There were
a lot of miners there, a rough set most of them,
and the life was a pretty hard one. I made good
money there, though I spent it pretty nigh as
fast as I made it. We got a decent sort of a
house, and your ma took a pride in it, and I
bought some furniture of a man who was going
to England, and we fed on the fat of the land. It
was when we was there that I got a man, who
had been a painter afore he left England, to
paint a big picture of my missus, and I paid him
well for doing it. That's it as hangs in the
library, Ken. Well, it was while we was living
there in a ramshackle sort of town, that one
night, after dark, Jack McDougall, him as kept
the Inn there, came to our house.

"'Joe,' he says, 'here's a nice job we're in for


at our house. Here's a gent, as is travelling on
to Kimberley, and he came to our house with a
lady last night, and now there's the lady ill in
bed, and a little baby born in the night. And
doctor, him from over yonder, has just been
here, and he says she's very bad and going to
die.'

"'That's a bad job, Jack!' I says.


"'Yes, Joe,' he says, 'and my missus is that
scared she don't know what to do, and there's
nobody else about but old Nurse Grindle, and
she's half drunk. So I came across to see if your
missus would come over and help us a bit.'

"Well, your ma went; she were that handy


when folks were ill, and she did what she could
for the poor lady; but it weren't of no use, and
the next day she died. My missus was fair cut
up when she had passed away; she said she
had the prettiest face and the loveliest hair she
had ever seen, and she looked so young too!
Your ma brought the baby over to our house,
such a poor little thing it was! Doctor said he
didn't think it had a chance to live. Well, we
said we would keep it till after the funeral, but
that night, when I was just a-going to bed, I
heard some one at the door.

"I went down, and there was a fine-looking


gentleman, the handsomest man I've ever seen
excepting one, and that's yourself, Ken! I
guessed it was the baby's father, and I asked
him if he would come in. I thought he had come
to fetch his child, and I told him my missus had
taken it up to bed, but I would tell her he had
come for it. He said, 'No, he hadn't come for the
baby; but he had come to talk to me.' So I
asked him in, and we sat over the fire together.

"He did not speak at first, and then he said,


'How would I like to be a very rich man?' I said
as how I would like it very much, nothing
better. And then he said he could put me in the
way of being one if I liked; he could make a
gentleman of me, and I would never have to
work any more. You can think I opened my ears
then, Ken, and I asked him how he was going
to manage it, and what he wanted me to do. He
didn't answer for a bit, and then he said he
would tell me. He wanted me and my missus to
take charge of the baby.

"'For how long?' I asked.

"'For always,' he said. 'I want it to stop with


you altogether, if so be that it lives, which it
won't do; the doctor gives it three months at
most. Still, there's just the chance it may! So I
want you to adopt it, in fact,' he says.

"I thought it was awfully queer of him, Ken,


to want to get rid of his own child; it seemed to
me unnatural-like, so I asked him why he did it.
He told me he was in a bit of a difficulty, and
this would help him out of it. I said I wouldn't
do it unless he told me what the bother was. So
then he went so far as to say his father had
written him a letter, and that letter obliged him
to do it. But I wasn't satisfied, Ken; I said I
must know what the letter was about, and then
it all came out.

"'His father, he said, was a very wealthy man


in England, who had married an American lady
with a big fortune of her own. His father had a
grand estate somewhere, and of course he was
the heir to it; his mother was dead, and all her
money, having been settled on herself, had
come to him; but of course it was nothing to
what he would get when his father died.
However, his father had married again about a
year ago, and this second wife had a child, also
a boy.

"Then he went on to tell me that his father


had for a long time set his heart on his
marrying a lady who owned the next estate.
She had one of the biggest rent-rolls in
England, and if he married her, they would own
the whole county between them. She was older
than he was, but he had no objection to
marrying her now, in fact, he thought it was the
best thing he could do; but of course she would
never dream of having him, if she had any idea
that he had been married before, or had a child
living who would be heir to his title and estates.
I asked him why he had objected to marrying
this lady before, and he said it was because he
liked some one else better,—this wife of his who
had just died.

"He had been married abroad, and his father


knew nothing about her. She was the daughter
of a Chaplain at one of the places he had
stopped at. I told him if he was so fond of his
wife, he ought to be fond of her child; but he
said the child had cost her her life, and how
could he bear to look at it? He felt as if he never
wanted to see it again. Besides, it was no use
talking about the child. If he was to take it back
to England (and how could he possibly travel
with so young a baby?) what would his father
say? He had had a letter from his father, in
which he told him that, if he didn't do as he
wanted him about marrying this girl (or this
woman, whatever she was) that lived near
)
them, he would leave all his money to the little
boy—the child of his second wife. He couldn't
leave him the title or the estate; they had to go
to the eldest son; but he could leave his money
to whoever he liked.

"Well, Ken, he talked and he argued half the


night, and at last I called my missus, and told
her to get up and come downstairs. She didn't
like the thought of it at first; it seemed like
cheating the poor child, she said, and keeping
him out of his rights. But he offered us a big
sum of money, a fortune, Ken, half of what he'd
got from his mother, that rich American lady, if I
would only say I would keep the child, and at
last me and my missus came round. She told
him he was a heartless man, and she didn't like
doing it; but you see the money was a big
temptation, Ken. Never to have to work any
more and to live like grand folks, seemed
almost more than we could put aside. And then
we had no children of our own, and the missus
had always wanted one, and she were kind of
wrapped up in this little baby.

"Well, the end of the matter was, that we said


we would consent, and then he made me take a
solemn promise that I wouldn't ever tell
anybody that it wasn't my own child, but that I
would keep his secret all the days of my life.

"He asked me then what my name was, and I


said Tomkins, and he laughed and said, 'Give
the poor little beggar a better-sounding name
than that. Change your name, Tomkins,' he
says, 'to something that sounds a bit more
y g
aristocratic than that.'

"'What shall it be, sir?' I says. 'I'm not going


to tell you, Tomkins, nor do I want to know,' he
says. 'Get a pen and I'll write you out a cheque;
but no, that won't do!' he says. Then he sits
and thinks a bit. You see, Ken, he didn't want
me to know his name nor who he was, and the
cheque would have told me. 'I know,' he says at
last, 'I'll cash the cheque myself, and bring you
the money; they can easily wire to my English
bankers from the Kimberley Bank, and they'll
find it's all right.'

"So a day or two after that he brings the


money, Ken,—a great roll of notes it was, and
each note was for £100. He counted it all out,
what he'd agreed to give me; and then he said
he was going to give me £5000 extra, for the
poor little beggar, in case he lived. He would
like him to be educated as a gentleman, he
said. I think his conscience had smote him,
Ken.

"Well, I promised that I would do the best I


could for the baby, and then my missus said
should she fetch it, that he might give it a kiss,
but he said No, he thought he had rather not
see it. He was a heartless man,—very.

"Then I asked him, Ken, if I might know his


name and address, in case I had anything to
tell him about the baby. How could I let him
know if it died or anything happened to it? But
he said there was no need to let him know, and
he did not intend to tell me his name. I had got
g
my money, and what more did I want?

"Well, he got up to go, and I helped him to


put on his coat, for it was raining when he
came, and then I noticed for the first time that
he had something the matter with his hand; the
last joint of the little finger of the right hand
was gone. After that he went away, and I've
never seen him, Ken, from that day to this. I
went to the Inn, and I found that there he had
given the name of Vavasour, but I feel sure that
was not his right name; he was far too clever
for that.

"However, some time after, I came across a


man who had travelled out with him from
England—at least I think it must have been the
same, from this man's description of him and
his wife. He told me that these people he had
met were going out to South Africa, and he
wondered whether they had ever come to
Kimberley. He told me that the man was a lord,
and that some one on board ship, who had seen
him before, said that he was the son of—"

Here came the word or words which had been so


carefully blotted out.

"Now, Ken, what I've got to tell you is this.


That man was your father, and you are that
poor little deserted boy. I've done my best for
you, Ken; you know as I have. I had a hard
time with you at first, for we started off for
England when you was about two months old,
and before we got halfway home, my poor
missus died, your ma as you have always called
her; and there was I on board ship, left with a
tiny weakly baby.

"But I reared you, Ken, and you lived and


grew strong, in spite of yon old doctor at
Kimberley, and now you're a fine handsome
young man, and I love you as if you was my
own son. But I would like for you to have your
rights, Ken. Find that man if you can, and tell
him he's your father. If he has any conscience,
(he hasn't much, I'm afraid), he'll be obliged to
own you, when you show him this letter, and
tell him how you got it. And mark this, Ken,
you're as like your father as two peas are like. I
mean to say you're like what your father was
when I saw him. Now he will be a man over
fifty, I should say.

"Follow this up, Ken, and don't rest till you're


got your rights.

"Your loving father,

"JOSEPH
FORTESCUE.

"P.S.—I chose Fortescue because I thought as


it sounded like the name of a gentleman."
CHAPTER XVIII
WORDS TO BE REMEMBERED

MARJORIE did not speak whilst she was reading the


whole of that long letter, and Kenneth Fortescue sat and
watched her, just as before she had sat and watched him.
He saw her face flush as she read on, and once he felt sure
that he saw a tear drop on the page. When at last she
handed him the letter, she said—

"How could he be so cruel? It was awfully heartless,


wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was most unnatural; but such things have been


done before. Even a mother has been known to desert her
own child."

"I wonder if he is alive."

"So do I. If only that word had been there!"

"Let us look at it carefully," Marjorie said; "perhaps we


can make it out."

They bent together over the paper, as they held it in the


light of the lamp.

"It must be a very long name," she said. "Can it all be


one word? I think Lord is the first part of it. That looks to
me like part of the loop of the L left above the blot."

"Yes, I think you are right. Even so, I think it is a long


name—ten or twelve letters, I should say."
"Oh, I wish we knew!" said Marjorie.

"I wish it very much for one reason, Miss Douglas."

"What is that?"

"If I were to find my father, and if he were prepared to


own me, or were compelled to do so, I could repay Mrs.
Douglas in full."

"Oh, why are you always thinking of that? You must not
do so," she said. "You are stinting yourself and making your
life miserable, just for us. And it isn't right. Oh, it isn't
right!"

She was crying now; she could not help it. The thought
of his constant self-denial, the remembrance of the
hardships that he was bearing for their sakes, even though
the debt had never been his; the recollection of all this
touched her so deeply that she found it impossible to keep
back her tears.

"This letter alters everything," she said; "do think of


that. Even if you felt yourself bound to repay us when you
thought you were Mr. Fortescue's son, you cannot feel so
now. He was never your father except in name. Do
remember that, and do give up, once for all, the idea of
giving us that money back. The loss of it had nothing to do
with you, nor with any one at all belonging to you."

"I cannot look at it in that light, Miss Douglas," he said.


"If he was merely my father in name, still he was, at the
same time, the only father I have ever known. God helping
me, that debt shall be paid."

"Captain Fortescue."
"Yes, Miss Douglas."

"I'm afraid that letter is not of much use, after all."

"It may be," he said. "Who can tell?"

She sat looking into the fire for some minutes without
speaking, and then she said—

"I rather hope—" and then stopped.

"You rather hope what, Miss Douglas?"

"Oh, never mind. I did not mean to say it aloud. It was


only a foolish thought which had no business to come into
my mind."

"What was it?"

"Oh!" she said, laughing through her tears. "Such a silly


thing! I was going to say that I rather hoped you were not a
lord."

"Why not?"

"Oh, I don't know. I only thought we should not feel


that you were quite so much our friend. It was very foolish,
I know. Only you would seem so different to us then."

"Should I? I hope not," he said, gravely.

"And now I really must be going. What time is it,


Captain Fortescue?"

He looked at, his watch, and they found it was getting


late, so he got her coat, and she said good-bye to the old
landlady, and they set out for New Street. Then he went for
her ticket, and put her into the train, and just before it
started, he stepped into the carriage and sat down beside
her.

"Won't the train be off soon?" she asked. "Yes. I am


coming with you."

"Coming with me? Why?"

"I'm not going to allow you to walk alone along that


dark road from Deepfields Station at this time of night," he
said.

"Oh, I shall be quite all right; you really mustn't come.


You will be so tired, and it is not at all necessary. Please
don't come."

But he would take no refusal. There would be plenty of


time for him to catch the last train, he said, and Marjorie
felt sure that, when he had once made up his mind about
anything, there would be no possibility of moving him from
it.

They talked of the letter most of the way from the


station, and as they went through Daisy Bank she pointed
out the dark cottage where the still form of the old woman
was lying on the bed upstairs.

"How strange to think that my letter has been near you


all this time!" he said.

Then they got to Colwyn House, and at the gate, he


said good-bye. But before he left her he took her hand
between both his own, and said in a whisper, as he held it
for a moment—

"Thank you for all you have done for me to-day."


The next instant he was gone, and Marjorie let herself
in with her latchkey. She found that Mr. and Mrs. Holtby
were having supper. They wanted her to join them, but she
said she was tired, and would rather go to bed.

She fell asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow,


and she dreamt that his hands were still holding her own,
and she thought that she could still feel their pressure as he
said those words, which would ever remain in her memory
as long as life should last.

"Thank you for all you have done for me to-day."

CHAPTER XIX
GRANTLEY CASTLE

Two months after her visit to Birmingham, Marjorie was


standing on the platform at Daisy Bank, waiting for the
Wolverhampton train. How impatient she was to start!

How full of happiness was her face on that December


morning! For she was going home for Christmas. She could
hardly believe that it was only a year since she had seen
the dear home faces, and to have a whole month with them
all seemed almost too good to be true. Patty had come with
her to the station, and was full of regret at her departure,
full of promises to take her place in the holidays, and to do
all she could to keep the house tidy and clean.
As Marjorie looked at her, she could not help feeling
that the last few months had made Patty quite a different
girl. The brusqueness of her manner was gone; she was
more happy and more contented, and, in leaving her in
charge of the children and her mother, Marjorie felt that she
was leaving one who would tread, as far as possible, in her
footsteps; and as Patty would not have to go to school
during the time of her absence, she would be able to keep
all things as Marjorie had left them, and to save her mother
from having any extra work. Thus Marjorie was going home
with a happy heart, prepared to thoroughly enjoy her well-
earned holiday.

Perhaps our thoughts are never more busily occupied


than when we are travelling. As our bodies are being rapidly
carried over miles of distance, our thoughts wander further
still. As our eyes gaze out of the carriage window upon the
various scenes through which we are passing, the eyes of
our mind are gazing at other scenes, it may be in far-
distant lands. We see the views around us as if we saw
them not, for the inner pictures are so vivid that they
eclipse the outward ones. As we glance at our fellow-
passengers, ensconced with newspaper or book in the
corners of the carriage, we are looking, it may be, at other
faces and hearing other voices, far away from us in bodily
presence, but very near and constantly present to our inner
sight.

Marjorie's thoughts were very busy that cold wintry day.


Not only was she full of anticipation, picturing out to herself
the joy of arriving at home and seeing again the friends
from whom she had so long been parted; but at times, as
she travelled on, her thoughts, instead of flying northwards
far ahead of the train, travelled southwards, and found their
way to a little back sitting-room in a dingy street in
Birmingham.

You might also like