Quotations, however, in foreign languages are always inserted in the marginal notes. There also are placed those passages in English, which are obsolete, either in their orthography, or their style. To some persons they may, even there, be offensive; but they may gratify the historian and the antiquary. The one may be pleased with such marks of authentic documents; the other, with such vestiges of antiquity. The numerous references may have the appearance of superfluity, perhaps of ostentation. The reason for inserting so many authorities was, that the reader, when desirous of obtaining more particular information than it was consistent with the plan of these Annals to give, might have the advantage of consulting the more copious histories for himself. Should these volumes serve as an Index to the principal sources of American history, they may render a useful though humble service to the student, who wishes to obtain a thorough knowledge of the history of his country. Professions of impartiality are of little significance. Although not conscious of having recorded one fact, without such evidence as was satisfactory to my own mind, or of having suppressed one, which appeared to come within the limits of my design; yet I do not flatter myself with the hope of exemption from error. It is but just, however, to observe, that, had I possessed the requisite intelligence, more names of eminence would have been introduced; more ancient settlements noticed; and the States in the Federal Union more proportionally respected. For any omissions, or other faults, which have not this apology, the extent of the undertaking may obtain some indulgence. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 10 October, 1805. THE favourable reception of this work in the United States, and its republication in London, encouraged me to extend my researches in order to render it more full and exact. Opportunely for my purpose, the additions that have been made to the Libraries in Cambridge and Boston, within the last twenty years, have furnished me with new sources of historical information, and with facilities for making use of them. In the Ebeling Library and the Warden Collection, presented to the University in Cambridge, and in the Prince Collection, deposited in the Library of the Massachusetts Historical Society, there have been found many scarce and valuable books and manuscripts, illustrative of American history. During the convulsions of Europe, our libraries becoming enriched with books of rare importation, I obtained several Spanish American historians, and among them Herrera, whom I was no longer obliged to cite from a very exceptionable translation. To literary gentlemen and correspondents I have been indebted for answers to historical inquiries, and for the use of rare books. My particular acknowledgments are due to the late president JEFFERSON, who, approving the plan of the work, sent me from his own library several books, of which I have never seen any other copies. Among these were Memoires de l'Amérique—an invaluable collection of official Papers and Documents, which, though received too late for the first, are used in the present edition. The period of Spanish and French discoveries and settlements was closed before the permanent settlement of Virginia. Occurrences, therefore, in the colonies of those nations, after this epoch, which commences the era of the British American colonies, are not inserted in this edition, excepting such as, either from local circumstances, or wars, commercial or other connexions or interests, were thought pertinent to the design. The advantages gained, by preserving the unity of the subject and giving it a fuller illustration, will compensate for the omission of the few foreign articles which, in the first edition, were inserted at a later period of our history. The First Part, which is little more than an Introduction to the succeeding Periods, has a new claim to our notice, on account of the late additions to the territory and jurisdiction of the United States from what had previously belonged to France and Spain; the proximity of Louisiana and Florida to Mexico; and the revolutions in the Spanish American colonies. It will be remembered, however, that it is still my principal design to give a chronological history of the British American Colonies, and of the United States. It is delightful to perceive an increasing liberality of sentiment and feeling between the literati of Great Britain and America. There ought, assuredly, to be no party in the Republic of Letters. The concluding remarks of the English Quarterly Review of the American edition of this work, prefixed by the Editor to the London edition, are cordially adopted ::-"There is a sacred bond between us of blood and of language, which no circumstances can break. Our literature must always continue to be theirs; and though their laws are no longer the same as ours, we have the same Bible, and we address our common Father in the same prayer. Nations are too ready to admit that they have natural enemies; why should they be less willing to believe that they have natural friends?" CAMBRIDGE, 24 December, 1828. DIVISION OF THE ANNALS. VOL. I. PART I.-EUROPEAN DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENTS. PERIOD 1. PERIOD II. PERIOD 1. PERIOD II. PERIOD III. PERIOD IV. PERIOD V. PERIOD VI. PERIOD I. PERIOD II. From the Discovery of America, in 1492, to the Conquest of From the Conquest of Mexico, in 1521, to the First permanent PART II.-BRITISH AMERICAN COLONIES. From the First permanent Settlement of Virginia, in 1607, From the Settlement of Plymouth, in 1620, to the Union of the From the Union of the New England Colonies, in 1643, From the Revolution of William and Mary, in 1689, to the Settlement of Georgia, in 1732. VOL. II. From the Settlement of Georgia, in 1732, to the Peace of Paris, in 1763. From the Peace of Paris, in 1763, to the Declaration of Independence, in 1776. PART III.-THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. From the Declaration of Independence, in 1776, to the Federal From the Commencement of the Federal Government, in 1789, |