Readings in American Democracy

READINGS IN AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

PART I — FOUNDATIONS IN AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

CHAPTER I

THE BACKGROUND OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

1. Christopher Columbus discovers America 1 Of fascinating interest to students of American history is the pri- Columbus vate journal of Christopher Columbus. In this journal the daring sails to

the west. navigator recorded the daily happenings of his memorable first voyage. From what appears to be an abridgment of the original journal, we learn of the departure from Palos, Spain, on Friday, August 3, 1492, and of the anxious weeks spent in search of the Indies. Early in October, 1492, there is, among the weary mariners, a general expectation of finding land at any moment. The journal describes the latter part of the voyage in the following language:

Sunday, October 7. For some time all of the vessels had been The Niña striving to outsail one another, and thus to be in a better position to

believes she

has sighted gain the reward promised for discovering land. At sunrise, the land, but is Niña, leading the caravels by reason of her swiftness, hoisted mistaken. a flag at her mast head, and gave the signal that she had discovered land. All that day nothing was seen of land, but the voyagers observed flocks of birds making for the southwest, and from this it was thought that land lay in that direction. Knowing that the Portuguese had discovered most of the islands they possessed by attending to the flight of birds, we shifted the course from west to west by southwest. We sailed in the night nearly five leagues, and twenty-three in the day. ..

1 From Christopher Columbus, Journal. Abridged by Las Casas, and translated from the Spanish by Thames Ross Williamson.

The sailors Wednesday, Ociober 10. By day and night we made fifty-nine lose patience. leagues progress; as it was customary to conceal from the crew the

actual distance traversed, the men were told that the distance was but forty-four leagues. At this stage the men lost all patience, and complained of the length of the voyage. Columbus encouraged them as best he could, and added that it was to no purpose to complain, for having come so far they had nothing to do but to continue on to

the Indies, till with the help of God, they should arrive there... Signs of Thursday, October 11. The crew of the Pinta picked up a stick which land.

appeared to have been carved with an iron tool. Members of the same crew also picked up a piece of cane, (a plant which grows on land), and a board. The crew of the Niña saw other signs of land, including a stalk loaded with roseberries. These signs encouraged them, and all grew cheerful. We sailed till sunset, making for the entire day a total distance of twenty-seven leagues.

After sunset we steered the original course west and sailed twelve miles an hour until two hours after midnight, going about ninety

miles, which are twenty-two leagues and a half. ... Columbus

At ten o'clock that evening, whilst standing on the quarter-deck, sees a light the Admiral (Columbus] saw a light, though it was so small a body

that he could not be sure that it indicated land. He called to Pero Gutierrez, groom of the King's wardrobe. This man was informed of what the Admiral had seen, and was told to look. He did so, and saw the light. The Admiral made the same request of Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, whom the King and Queen had sent with the squadron as comptroller, but this person was unable to see the light. Later Columbus perceived the light once or twice again, appearing like the light of a wax candle moving up and down. He believed it to indicate land, and accordingly directed the seamen to keep a strict watch upon the fore-castle and to look diligently for land. To the man who should first see land Columbus promised a silken jacket,

besides the reward which the King and Queen had offered. Land! land! At two o'clock in the morning, [October 12], the land was dis

covered at two leagues distant, by a sailor named Rodrigo de Triana. We took in sail and remained under the square-sail lying to until day, which was Friday. Presently we perceived people, and these were naked. Accompanied by an armed guard, the Admiral landed in a boat, along with Martin Alonzo Pinzon, and Vicente Yanez. the latter being commander of the Niña. The Admiral bore the royal standard, while Pinzon and Yanez each carried a banner of the Green Cross, containing the initials of the names of the King and Queen.

Arrived on shore, Columbus called upon all present to bear witness The landing that he took possession of the land for the King and Queen of Spain, of Columbus. and thereupon he made the requisite declarations. Numbers of the people of the island straightway collected together. Columbus saw that the natives were very friendly, and perceived that they could be more easily converted to the Holy Faith by gentle means than by force. Accordingly, he presented them with some red caps, and with strings of beads and many other trifles of small value, whereupon the natives were delighted and became wonderfully attached to us.

2. Captain John Smith on conditions at Jamestown 1 The Spanish had not been in America long before the French turned Lack of their attention to the New World. The English, however, did not progress at

Jamestown. make serious attempts to colonize America until toward the end of the sixteenth century, and it was not until after 1600 that their efforts were attended by success. A promising English settlement was made at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, but for several years this was so unsuccessful that at length his Majesty's Commissioners in England asked Captain John Smith for an explanation of the colony's backwardness. The following passages illustrate the type of questions asked by the Commissioners, and the replies made by Smith: Question 1. Why has not the plantation prospered, although you The effect

of idleness left it in so good a condition?

and careAnswer. In six months idleness and carelessness brought all that lessness. I did in three years to nothing; and of five hundred I left, scarce threescore remained; and had Sir Thomas Gates not got supplies from the Bermudas, I think they had been all dead before they could be supplied.

Question 2. Why does nothing but tobacco come from this country, although the country is good?

1 From Captain John Smith, Works.

Why the Answer. Because the market price of corn is such, and the market country price of tobacco is such, that a man's labor at tobacco yields more yields only tobacco. than it does growing corn. Now make a man's labor in corn worth

threescore pound, and in tobacco but ten pound a man, and they shall have corn sufficient to entertain all comers, and shall keep their people in health to do anything; but till then, there will be little

or nothing to any purpose. Cause of Question 3. What do you believe was the cause of the massacre, the massacre. and had the savages had the use of firearms in your time, or when,

or by whom were they taught?

Answer. The cause of the massacre was the want of martial discipline; and because they would have all the English had by destroying those they found so carelessly secure, that they were not provided to defend themselves against; being so dispersed as they were. In my time, though Captain Newport furnished them with swords by truck, and many fugitives did the like, and some firearms they got accidentally: yet I got most of them again; and it was death to him

that should show a savage the use of firearms. The defects Question 6. What think you are the defects of government both of govern

here and there?

Answer. The multiplicity of opinions here, and officers there makes such delays by questions and formalities, that as much time is spent in complement as in action. Besides, some are so desirous to employ their ships, having six pounds for every passenger, and three pounds for every ton of goods, at which rate a thousand ships may now better be procured than one at the first, when the common stock defrayed all fraughts, wages, provisions and magazines, whereby the ships are so pestered, as occasions much sickness, disease and mortality. For though all the passengers die they are sure of their fraught; and then all must be sa isfied with orations, disputations, excuses and hopes.

But fewer adventurers here will adventure any more till they see the business better established, although there be some so wilfully improvident that they care for nothing but to get thither, and then if their friends be dead, or want themselves, they die or live but poorly for want of necessaries. To think that the old planters can relieve them were too much simplicity. For if in England it is difficult for

ment.

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