Stránka:roll 1911.djvu/346

Patriotism and Citizenship 3z5 Land Settlements The first permanent English settlements in America were made at Jamestown, Va., in x6o7, and at Plymouth, Ma?., in x62o; and from these two settlements we may trace in large part the growth, character, and development of our national life. The sWry of the "Pilgrim Fathers" in Mass?w. husetts has been Wld for generations in literature and in song, and can never cease to be of ronmntic and thrilling interest. The story of the settlement and dispersal of other nationali- ties in America -- the Swedes in Delawaxe, the Dutch in New York, the Spanish and French in Florida and along the b?nk? of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers- all this is summed up in what is known as "colonial history." In x763, at the dose of the French ?nd Indian wars, England had come into possession of practically all the territory east of the Mississippi- that territory which was ceded in x783 as the original territory of the United States. You will sometimes hear it said that th/rteen is an unlucky number. Indeed you may have known people so superstitious that they refuse to dt down at a table when the number is thirteen. Again you may know it to be a fact that some hotels do not have a room numbered thirteen, and that rrm.ny steam- boats l/kewise follow the same custom in state-room arranse- menL Strange superstition for Americansl It took thirteen states to make our Union; we have made thirteen additions to our territory; when George Washington was inaugamted as president, a salute of thirteen guns was fired; and, finally, the foundation of the flag of our country bears thirteen stripe? The American Revolution The story of the American Revolution (?775-x783) ? Dec- laration of Independence (x776), the adoption of the Articles of Confederation (x78Q, and, finally, the making and adoption of the Constitution oI the United States in ?789 -- all is summed up in a period of fourteen years, and may be told and written in the life of George Washington, who was indeed the "Father of His Country." The cause of the.American Revolution was England's op- presdou of her American colonists; and the injustice of taxstian without representation, with other injustices, finally brought about rebellion. The war began in Mas?chusetts with the batfi? of Lexington and Concord, April x9, x775, and ended at Yorktown, Va., October x9, x78L The treaty?,?j?e?'?)?,?