The Colonization of North America

by Herbert Eugene Bolton, Thomas Maitland Marshall

This book represents an attempt to bring into one account the story of European expansion in North America down to 1783. The authors wrote this book in response to a clear demand for a text written from the standpoint of North America as a whole, and giving a more adequate treatment of the colonies of nations other than England and of the English colonies other than the thirteen which revolted. The book is divided into three main parts: I. The founding of the colonies; II. Expansion and international conflict; and III. The revolt of the English colonies.
Table of Contents:
The Founding of the Colonies
The Background and the Discovery
The Founding of New Spain (1492-1543)
The Expansion of New Spain (1543-1609)
The Establishment of the French Colonies (1500-1700)
The Beginnings of English Expansion (1485-1603)
The Chesapeake Bay and Insular Colonies (1603-1640)
The Beginnings of New England (1606-1640)
The English Colonies During the Revolutionary Period (1640-1660)
The Dutch and Swedish Colonies (1609-1664)
The Old English Colonies Under the Later Stuarts (1660-1689)
Expansion Under the Later Stuarts (1660-1689)
The English Mainland Colonies at the Close of the Seventeenth Century
Expansion and International Conflict
The Spanish Advance in the Seventeenth Century
The Wars of the English and Spanish Successions (1684-1713)
The French in Louisiana and the Far Northwest (1699-1762)
Texas, Pimería Alta, and the Franco-spanish Border Conflict (1687-1763)
The English Advance Into the Piedmont (1715-1750)
English Colonial Society in the Middle Eighteenth Century
a Quarter-century of Conflict: the Expulsion of the French (1715-1763)
The Russian Advance: the Occupation of Alta California and
Louisiana by Spain (1763-1783)
The Revolt of the English Colonies
The Controversy of the English Colonies With the Home Government (1763-1775)
From Lexington to Independence (1775-1776)
The War as an International Contest (1778-1781)
Governmental Development During the Revolution

Genres: History, Reference, Nonfiction, American History

449 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 3, 2018

About the author

an American historian who pioneered the study of the Spanish-American borderlands and was a prominent authority on Spanish American history. He originated what became known as the Bolton Theory of the history of the Americas which holds that it is impossible to study the history of the United States in isolation from the histories of other American nations, and wrote or co-authored 94 works. Bolton was born on a farm between Wilton and Tomah, Wisconsin in 1870 to Edwin Latham and Rosaline (Cady) Bolton. He attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he was a brother of Theta Delta Chi, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1895. That same year he married Gertrude Janes, with whom he eventually had seven children.

Bolton studied under Frederick Jackson Turner from 1896 to 1897. Starting in 1897, Bolton was a Harrison Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and studied American history under John Bach McMaster. In 1899, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and then taught at Milwaukee State Normal School until 1900.

Reviews

[Michael K. Laney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding Overview

I have always know the story of the founding of America based on what I was taught in school. But, I never knew what I didn't know. I knew that other powers beyond the English had colonies in North America but I never realized how that all played together until I read this book.

If you are interested in the history of America beyond what you have always been taught then this book is for you.

It provides a view of what all the countries were doing throughout the colonization efforts in North America and how that worked through the conflicts to shape what the continent became to be by 1783. It gives that 10,000 foot view of all the players without too much detail and getting bogged down in the minutia. It is a very readable book. It flows through the centuries and shows what everyone was doing and how that affected each other's colonies.

It was interesting and important to learn how France interacted with Spain and Spain with England and England with France and the Dutch were in there too. And how the politics and conflicts framed the interactions in the colonies. And how a backwater conflict between France and England in America triggered a world war (The Seven Years War).

If you love colonial history, then you have to read this.

[Richard Brylczyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to learn what was happening in the world at the time of the American Revolution and how those events affected the Americans. This book did a very good job of setting the picture for me. It also provided a good idea of the introduction of the European colonists on the native indigenous tribes. It tended to bog down a bit, especially when describing actions of the Spanish colonials in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. However, I prefer a little too much information over too little.
In summary: this book provided tons of information. Sometimes it was a bit difficult to plow through the details, but it enhanced my understanding of the events leading up to the American Revolution. well worth the read.

[Thomas Kermes · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a book,

There is so much detail in this book. So much than even what I learned in college. Among other things, it seems that from 1500 - 1783 there was some sort of war going on in the new world. Spain did so much more than search for gold and kill off the native peoples. A must read.

[Vince Pillig · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many conflicts over the Americas!

Did not realize so many countries fought territories in North America . Also didn't realize that our Navy was involved in many conflicts with the British in the islands . Great book history classes and schools should read it .

[shari lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A detailed and informative study of the coming of a nation

This descriptive and quite though recounting the formation of our nation was didactic in nature but extremely educational to those who have not studied the history in any detail.