The following ten chapters from the original book by Henry William Elson were transcribed by Kathy Leigh. Thanks to her efforts they are offered here in e-text form for your enjoyment. Note that the table of contents below does not include original pagination or chapters that are not available online. Scholars should reference the text at any major library.

E-Text Table of Contents

• PREFACE
• LIST OF MAPS
• AMERICAN CHRONOLOGY
  • Timeline for Discovery and Colonization (1000-1764)
  • Timeline for the Period of the Revolution (1765-1786)
  • Timeline from the Making of the Constitution to the Civil War (1787-1860)
  • Timeline for the Civil War and Our Own Times(1861-1904)
• COLONIZATION: THE SOUTHERN COLONIES(CHAPTER IV)
  • Virginia
  • Maryland
  • North Carolina
  • South Carolina
  • Georgia
  • Notes Added by Transcriber
• COLONIZATION: NEW ENGLAND (CHAPTER V)
  • The Pilgrim Fathers
  • Massachusetts Bay
  • Connecticut
  • Rhode Island and Providence Plantation
  • New Hampshire
• NEW ENGLAND AFFAIRS (CHAPTER VI)
  • The New England Confederation (1643-1684)
  • King Philip’s War
  • Edmund Andros
  • Puritan Laws and Character
• COLONIZATION: THE MIDDLE COLONIES(CHAPTER VII)
  • New Amsterdam
  • New York
  • New Jersey
  • Delaware
  • Pennsylvania
• COLONIAL WARS (CHAPTER VIII)
  • French Explorers
  • King William’s War
  • Queen Anne’s War
  • King George’s War
• THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR (CHAPTER IX)
  • A View of the Belligerents
  • Duquesne and Acadia
  • William Pitt
  • Fall of Quebec
  • Conspiracy of Pontiac
• COLONIAL LIFE (CHAPTER X)
  • Population and Social Rank
  • Occupations and Customs
  • Religion; Education; Medicine
  • Means of Travel; Mails; Newspapers
  • Colonial Government
  • The Navigation Acts
• THE REVOLUTION: OPENING EVENTS AND CAUSES (CHAPTER XI)
  • Otis and Henry
  • The Stamp Act and Other Acts
  • King George III
  • The Continental Congress; Lexington
  • Notes Added by Transcriber
• THE REVOLUTION: WAR AND INDEPENDENCE(CHAPTER XII)
  • Second Continental Congress
  • Bunker Hill
  • Washington and the Army
  • The Great Declaration
  • Fort Moultrie and Long Island
  • New Jersey and Trenton
  • Notes Added by Transcriber
• THE REVOLUTION: FROM SARATOGA TO MONMOUTH (CHAPTER XIII)
  • Struggle for the Hudson Valley
  • Foreign Aid
  • From Morristown to Germantown
  • Valley Forge and Monmouth
• THE REVOLUTION: THE FRONTIER, THE OCEAN, AND THE SOUTH (CHAPTER XIV)
  • Border War in the South and West
  • The Wyoming Valley and Other Valleys
  • War on the Sea
  • The Treason of Arnold
  • War in the South
  • Yorktown
  • Observations