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Volume 2 of History of the United States of America: From the Discovery of the Continent by George Bancroft. A major US history series in six volumes. “Author’s Last Revision” 1883 by D. Appleton and Company.

Bancroft as US Secretary of the Navy established the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. He was a senior American diplomat in Europe, leading diplomatic missions to Britain and Germany. His comprehensive study of the origins and development of the United States caused him to be referred to as the “Father of American history.”

From the Author’s Preface regarding the Last Revision to the series: … greater precision has been sought for; the fitter word that offered itself accepted; and, without the surrender of the right of history to pronounce its opinion, care has been taken never unduly to forestall the judgment of the reader, but to leave events as they sweep onward to speak their own condemnation or praise.

From a 2008 Review by Stephen W. Sawyer: For Bancroft, then, the historian brought the Revolution to life in the present in order that it might circulate within the country and throughout humanity. Bancroft was convinced that a poet-historian could uncover the democratic ideal that was unfolding in the American project. Dawes and Nichols argued that Bancroft was a sound historian in that he grounded his work in archival material. “George Bancroft was the first American historian who conscientiously endeavored to make no important statement without reference to an original document.”

“The author exercises powers of narration which enable the reader to watch the drama of man’s experience proceed like a splendid and inspiring pageant.” (Dawes and Nichols 280) These remarks still capture an essential element of Bancroft’s project. He saw his writing, literary or poetical as it may have been, as part of the “realization” of man’s experience with democracy. This was the Bancroft that was celebrated in the first half of the nineteenth century, pushed aside in the nationalist consensus of American historical professionalism in the 1890s, and then rediscovered in the inter-war period. He was not describing a democracy that already existed in flowery prose, but employing the poet’s pen to give life to a democratic project which he thought was in the making.

Editor’s Introduction Author’s Preface CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME HISTORY OF THE COLONIZATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PART III COLONIZATION OF THE WEST AND OF GEORGIA CHAPTER I. THE SOUTHERN STATES AFTER THE REVOLUTION CHAPTER II. THE MIDDLE STATES AFTER THE REVOLUTION CHAPTER III. NEW ENGLAND AFTER THE REVOLUTION CHAPTER IV. PARLIAMENT AND THE COLONIES CHAPTER V. THE RED MEN EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI CHAPTER VI. THE LANGUAGES AND MANNERS OF THE RED MEN CHAPTER VII. POLITY AND RELIGION OF THE RED MEN CHAPTER VIII. THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF THE RED MEN CHAPTER IX. PROGRESS OF FRANCE IN NORTH AMERICA CHAPTER X. FRANCE AND THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI CHAPTER XI. THE RIVALRY OF FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN IN AMERICA CHAPTER XII. THE WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION CHAPTER XIII. OF THE BOUNDARIES OF BRITISH, FRENCH, AND SPANISH COLONIES CHAPTER XIV. PROGRESS OF LOUISIANA CHAPTER XV. COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION UNDER THE HOUSE OF HANOVER CHAPTER XVI. THE BRITISH SLAVE-TRADE. COLONIZATION OF GEORGIA CHAPTER XVII. WAR BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND SPAIN, 1739–1748

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION IN FIVE EPOCHS I. BRITAIN OVERTHROWS THE EUROPEAN COLONIAL SYSTEM CHAPTER I. AMERICA CLAIMS LEGISLATIVE INDEPENDENCE OF ENGLAND. HENRY PELHAM’S ADMINISTRATION, 1748 CHAPTER II. THE ROYAL GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK APPEALS TO THE PARAMOUNT POWER OF BRITAIN. HENRY PELHAM’S ADMINISTRATION, 1748–1749 CHAPTER III. THE EXPLORATION OF OHIO. PELHAM’S ADMINISTRATION CONTINUED CHAPTER IV. AMERICA REFUSES TO BE RULED BY ARBITRARY INSTRUCTIONS. PELHAM’S ADMINISTRATION CONTINUED, 1751–1753 CHAPTER V. FRANKLIN PLANS UNION FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. PELHAM’S ADMINISTRATION CONTINUED, 1758–1754 CHAPTER VI. THE OLD THIRTEEN COLONIES. NEWCASTLE’S ADMINISTRATION CHAPTER VII. THE MINISTERS ARE ADVISED TO TAX AMERICA BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT NEWCASTLE’S ADMINISTRATION, 1754–1755 CHAPTER VIII. ENGLAND AND FRANCE CONTEND FOR THE OHIO VALLEY AND FOR ACADIA. NEWCASTLE’S ADMINISTRATION CONTINUED, 1755 CHAPTER IX. GREAT BRITAIN UNITES AMERICA UNDER MILITARY RULE. NEWCASTLE’S ADMINISTRATION CONTINUED, 1755–1756 CHAPTER X. THE ARISTOCRACY WITHOUT THE PEOPLE CANNOT GOVERN ENGLAND. NEWCASTLE’S ADMINISTRATION CONTINUED, 1756–1757 CHAPTER XI. THE WHIG ARISTOCRACY CANNOT CONQUER CANADA. ANARCHY IN THE ADMINISTRATION, 1757 CHAPTER XII. THE NEW PROTESTANT POWERS AGAINST THE CATHOLIC POWERS OF THE MIDDLE AGE. WILLIAM PITT’S MINISTRY CHAPTER XIII. CONQUEST OF THE VALLEY OF THE WEST. PITT’S MINISTRY, 1757–1758 CHAPTER XIV. THE CONQUEST OF CANADA. PITT’S MINISTRY CONTINUED, 1759 CHAPTER XV. INVASION OF THE VALLEY OF THE TENNESSEE. PITT’S MINISTRY, 1759–1760 CHAPTER XVI. POSSESSION TAKEN OF THE COUNTRY ON THE LAKES. PITT’S MINISTRY, 1760 CHAPTER XVII. THE KING AND THE ARISTOCRACY AGAINST THE GREAT COMMONER. GEORGE III DRIVES OUT PITT, 1760–1761 CHAPTER XVIII. THE ACTS OF TRADE PROVOKE REVOLUTION. THE REMODELING OF THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS, 1761–1762 CHAPTER XIX. THE KING DRIVES OUT THE NEWCASTLE WHIGS. THE DAWN OF THE NEW REPUBLIC, 1762–1768

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Release date

Audiobook: 25 April 2023