12 - History of the United States, Vol. I by Charles Austin Beard, Mary Ritter Beard

Charles Austin Beard stands as one of the most pivotal American historians of the early 20th century, having penned hundreds of influential monographs, textbooks, and interpretive studies in history and political science. A proud graduate of DePauw University in 1898, he met and later married Mary Ritter Beard, a trailblazer in womens rights and one of the founders of Kappa Alpha Theta. Many of their works were collaborative efforts, reflecting their shared passions for feminism and labor movements, as seen in her notable book, *Woman as a Force in History* (1946). In 1921, the Beards released their groundbreaking *History of the United States*, which was praised for its innovative approach, treating topics thematically rather than chronologically. This method allowed for an exploration of movements, background contexts, and the interconnectedness of social, economic, and political forces. Their goal was to empower students to grasp the essence of American society and its place within global civilization. The books clarity and engaging style have established it as a top-tier resource for both students and the general public.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. This reading by Kara Shallenberg. History
of the United States by Charles A. Beard and Mary Ritterbeard,
Part one, Chapter eleven. The effects of warfare on the colonies.

(00:26):
The various wars with the French and the Indians, trivial
in detail as they seem today, had a profound influence
on colonial life and on the destiny of America. Circumstances
beyond the control of popular assemblies, jealous of their individual powers,
compelled cooperation among them, grudging and stingy, no doubt, but

(00:48):
still cooperation. The American people, more eager to be busy
in their fields or at their trades, were simply forced
to raise and support armies, to learn the arts of war,
and to practice, if in a small theater, the science
of state craft. These forces, all cumulative drove the colonists

(01:09):
so tenaciously provincial in their habits in the direction of
nationalism the New England Confederation. It was in their efforts
to deal with the problems presented by the Indian and
French menace that the Americans took the first steps toward union.
Though there were many common ties among the settlers of

(01:30):
New England, it required a deadly fear of the Indians
to produce. In sixteen forty three, the New England Confederation
composed of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven. The colonies
so united were bound together in a firm and perpetual
league of friendship and amity, for offense and defense, mutual

(01:53):
service and succor upon all just occasions. They made provision
for distributing them burdens of wars among the members, and
provided for a congress of commissioners from each colony to
determine upon common policies. For some twenty years the Confederation
was active, and it continued to hold meetings until after

(02:14):
the extinction of the Indian peril on the immediate border. Virginia.
No less than Massachusetts was aware of the importance of
intercolonial co operation. In the middle of the seventeenth century,
the Old Dominion began treaties of commerce and amity with
New York and the colonies of New England. In sixteen

(02:35):
eighty four, delegates from Virginia met at Albany with the
agents of New York and Massachusetts to discuss problems of
mutual defense. A few years later, the Old Dominion co
operated loyally with the Carolinas in defending their borders against
Indian forays. The Albany Plan of Union, an attempt at

(02:59):
a general colonial union, was made in seventeen fifty four
on the suggestion of the Lords of trade in England.
A conference was held at Albany to consider Indian relations,
to devise measures of defense against the French, and to
enter into articles of union and confederation for the general
defense of His Majesty's subjects and interests in North America,

(03:22):
as well in time of peace as of war. New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut,
Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland were represented. After
a long discussion, a plan of Union, drafted mainly it
seems by Benjamin Franklin, was adopted and sent to the
colonies and the Crown for approval. The colonies, jealous of

(03:46):
their individual rights, refused to accept the scheme, and the
King disapproved it for the reason Franklin said that it
had too much weight in the democratic part of the constitution.
Though the Albany Union failed, the document is still worthy
of study because it forecast many of the perplexing problems
that were not solved until thirty three years afterward, when

(04:10):
another convention, of which also Franklin was a member, drafted
the Constitution of the United States. The military education of
the colonists, the same wars that showed the provincials the
meaning of union, likewise instructed them in the art of
defending their institutions. Particularly was this true of the last

(04:33):
French and Indian conflict, which stretched all the way from
Maine to the Carolinas and made heavy calls upon them
all for troops. The answer, it is admitted, was far
from satisfactory to the British government, and the conduct of
the militiamen was far from professional. But thousands of Americans
got a taste, a strong taste of actual fighting in

(04:57):
the field. Men like George Washington and Aniel Morgan learned
lessons that were not forgotten in after years. They saw
what American militiamen could do under favorable circumstances, and they
watched British regulars operating on American soil. This whole transaction shrewdly,
remarked Franklin of Braddock's campaign gave us Americans the first

(05:21):
suspicion that our exalted ideas of the prowess of British
regular troops had not been well founded. It was no
mere accident that the Virginia colonel who drew his sword
under the elm at Cambridge and took command of the
Army of the Revolution was the brave officer who had
spurned the whistle of bullets at the memorable battle in

(05:43):
Western Pennsylvania. Financial burdens and commercial disorder. While the provincials
were learning lessons in warfare, they were also paying the bills.
All the conflicts were costly in treasure as in blood.
King Philip's War left New England weak and almost bankrupt.

(06:06):
The French and Indian struggle was especially expensive. The twenty
five thousand men put in the field by the colonies
were sustained only by huge outlays of money. Paper currency
streamed from the press, and debts were accumulated. Commerce was
driven from its usual channels and prices were enhanced. When

(06:28):
the end came, both England and America were staggering under
heavy liabilities, and to make matters worse, there was a
fall of prices accompanied by a commercial depression, which extended
over a period of ten years. It was in the
midst of this crisis that measures of taxation had to
be devised to pay the cost of the war, precipitating

(06:51):
the quarrel which led to American independence the expulsion of
French power from North America. The effects of the defeat
administered to France, as time proved, were difficult to estimate.
Some British statesmen regarded it as a happy circumstance that

(07:11):
the colonists, already restive under their administration, had no foreign
power at hand to aid them in case they were
struck for independence. American leaders, on the other hand, now
that the soldiers of King Louis were driven from the continent,
thought that they had no other country to fear if
they cast off British sovereignty. At all events, France, though defeated,

(07:37):
was not out of the sphere of American influence, for
as events proved, it was the fortunate French alliance negotiated
by Franklin that assured the triumph of American arms in
the War of the Revolution. End of Chapter eleven, read
by Kara Shallenberg www. Dot Kray dot org on May third,

(08:01):
two thousand seven in Oceanside, California.