by Hugh Brogan
of Second World War, 588
Veterans Administration, 499, 588
Vice–admiralty courts, 94, 130, 143, 155
Vice–President of the United States, 145n, 261, 274, 311
Vicksburg, seige of, 333, 336, 337
Victoria, Queen, 247, 324
‘Viet Cong’ (National Liberation Front), 653–6, 659, 661
Vietnam (see also Indo-China; War, Vietnamese), 647, 648, 650, 665
North, 653
South, 649, 650, 652, 653, 654–62 passim, 666, 671
Vikings, 4, 5
Villa, Pancho, 468
Villard, Henry, 423
Vinland, 4, 395, 397
V. Sagas, 2
Virginia, Commonwealth of
colony, 7, 9, 13, 14–17, 19–29, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41n, 51, 52, 64, 79, 84, 101, 103–8, 109n; in A. Revolution, 121, 150, 162, 165, 174, 182, 184–5
state, 189, 191, 195, 199, 224, 226, 229, 257, 259, 276, 309, 370, 460, 504; and making of Constitution, 194, 195, 197, 199; ratification, 201, 203, 207–8; and slavery, 283, 284, 287, 289, 295; and secession, 313, 315–16, 317; in Civil War, 319, 325–6, 327, 335, 336, 340, 343–4
Virginia, University of, 286
Virginia Company of London, 18, 21, 23–6, 34, 36, 383
Virginia Company of Plymouth, 18
Volcker, Paul, 687
Volstead Act, 502, 525
Voters, 399, 401, 413, 442, 458, 482, 620
Voting groups, 272–3, 363, 371, 372, 406, 623, 625, 630, 632
Voting Rights Act (1965), 636, 642
Wade-Davis bill, 340, 350
Wages, 385, 390, 404, 416, 417, 417n, 443, 453, 464, 496, 505, 506, 511, 512, 531, 532, 541, 548, 567, 589, 618, 673–81
W.-earners, 616, 617
Wagner, Sen. Robert Ferdinand, 534
Wagner Act, 535, 546, 548
Wales, Welsh, 4, 14, 17, 76n, 95n, 394, 402
Walker, Mayor James (‘Jimmy’), 503n, 531
‘Walking’ Purchase, 61
Wall Street, New York, 385, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 429, 430, 462–4, 470, 477, 507–9, 510, 517, 525, 528, 543, 609
Wallace, George, 661, 662, 664
Wallace, Henry A., 537–8, 596
on baby pigs, 537
as Vice-Pres., 538, 582, 599
Wallowa valley, Oregon, 69
Walpole, Horace, junior, quoted, 141, 142, 180–81
Walpole, Horace, senior, quoted, 73
Walpole, Sir Robert, 74, 76, 79, 109, 113
Walsh, Sen. David Ignatius, 559
War, as a factor in history, 405, 435–6
War
Thirty Years, 12, 17
English Civil, 12, 14, 48
Second Dutch, 81
King Philip’s, 53, 57, 63
of the Austrian Succession (‘King George’s war’), 76, 119, 130
Seven Years (‘French and Indian’), 66, 76, 79, 80, 85–6, 93, 109, 110–11, 124, 150, 168, 180, 181–2, 192; Americans in, 130
Cherokee, 119, 221
of the A. Revolution (‘of A. Independence’), 112, 132, 135, 149, 165–6, 167–85, 188, 188–9n, 196, 250, 259, 378
Creek, 66
French revolutionary, 260
of 1812, 227, 253–5, 266, 269, 276, 319, 437
Mexican, 56n, 240, 240, 297, 316, 319, 436, 441
American Civil, 50, 68, 167, 204, 209, 212, 230, 236, 243, 244, 245, 268, 269, 273, 284, 288, 290, 293, 358, 362, 363, 365, 370, 377, 378, 406, 407, 425, 436, 438, 442, 468, 515, 615; causes of, 310; outbreak, 314; course, 315–45; names of battles in, 321n; casualties in, 345; and rise of capitalism, 383–6
Spanish-American, 436–41, 450, 468
Russo-Japanese, 442, 605
First World (see also War loans), 377, 438, 445, 450, 496, 512, 526, 544, 552, 561, 607; and blacks, 619; Bolshevik Revolution and, 478; US entry, 448, 558; immigration and, 406, 478–9; outbreak, 462, 464, 467; the South and, 616, 622; 1930s inquest on, 555
Second World, 212–13, 214, 361, 484n, 502, 513, 517n, 527, 529, 540, 553, 554, 586, 599, 637, 650, 657, 661–2, 663, 672; w. agencies, 569; Office of War Mobilisation, 569; and blacks, 621–5; causes of, 551–2; US entry, 566; home front, 566–70; and Indo-China, 647; and the South, 621
cold see Cold war
Korean, 590, 604–7, 609, 611, 623, 647–8, 651, 657, 658, 662
Vietnam, 608, 613, 642, 667, 669, 670, 672, 682, 691; Cambodia, invasion of, 661–2; casualties, 656, 663; ‘domino theory’ and, 651; My Lai massacre, 656; origins, 646–53; US participation, 653–64; Tet offensive, 659; Tonkin Gulf, incident and resolutions, 653
Gulf War (1991), 693
War debts, 498–9, 507, 512, 560
War Debts Commission, 499
War Department, 356
‘War Hawks’, 254, 266
War Industries Board (1917–19), 477, 531
War loans, 487
Warren, Chief Justice Earl, 213, 568, 626
Washington, Booker T., 371, 415, 420
Washington, DC (see also White House), city of, 210–11, 254, 255, 269, 276, 305, 316, 319, 321, 322, 326, 332, 336, 341, 345, 355, 378, 451, 479, 499, 516, 521, 525, 538, 550, 634, 638, 644
Capitol, 521
Capitol Hill, 461
Watergate building, 665
Washington, Gen. George (Pres. 1789–97), 67, 104, 105, 106, 156, 162, 221, 262, 267, 288, 321, 340, 378, 444, 461, 468, 485, 492, 544, 549, 597, 608, 684
character, 170–71 335
in Stamp Act crisis, 132n
takes command, 166
as Revolution general, 169, 170–71, 178, 179–80, 182–3, 184, 185
at Constitutional Convention, 195, 196–8
and ratification of Constitution, 200–201, 203
as President, 204, 209, 210, 249, 250, 252, 256–61
death, 264
quoted, on T. Paine, 173; ‘grey and blind’, 185; on raising a standard, 186; on postwar recovery, 188; on Shays’s rebellion, 190–91; on Georgia, 201; Farewell Address, 249, 252, 256; (mentioned, 437, 647); also quoted, 120, 150, 167, 171, 183, 196, 201
Washington, migration ship, 396
Washington Naval Conference, 495, 499, 562
treaty, 553
Washington Post, 666
Watergate affair, 665–8, 669, 671, 672, 691
Watson, Thomas Edward, 428
Watt, James, 689
Wayne, John, 657, 684
Weatherboarding, Essex, 48
Weaver, Gen. James Baird, 426–7, 428, 431
Webster, Daniel, 231, 266, 273, 277, 299
Second Reply to Hayne, quoted, 318
Weld, Theodore, 293
Welfare state, American, 540, 638, 642, 673, 690
Welles, Gideon, 319, 322, 354
on Emancipation Proclamation, 330
West, the American, 219–48, 270, 271, 272, 274, 301, 305, 393, 396, 397, 407, 417n, 421–5
in Civil War, 335–6, 340
and civil rights movement, 637
West Indies see Caribbean
West Point, NY (US Military Academy), 316, 325, 336, 656
West Side Story, 641n
Western lands, 120, 191–2
Western Trail, 379
Western Union Co., 565
Westmoreland, Gen. William, 655, 656, 658–9
Whaling see Fishing
Whately, Thomas, 114
Wheat, 305, 422, 423, 424, 443, 482, 513, 515, 537, 567
Wheeling, West Virginia, 598
Whig beliefs, 134, 144, 154, 164, 175, 177, 196
Whig Party (American), 236, 241, 275–9, 297–301 passim, 302, 303, 304, 308, 311, 357, 370, 409, 426
Conscience and Cotton Whigs, 300–301
Whigs, American see Patriots
Whigs, English, 77–8, 79, 111, 154, 164
and Parliament, 185
Whipple, Bishop Henry Benjamin, 64
Whisky rebellion, 259, 425
White, Walter, 620
White Citizens Councils, 627, 6
28
White House, 210, 228, 254, 273, 332, 408, 455, 489, 491, 517, 522, 523n, 535n, 553, 569, 664, 666, 667, 673, 690
‘that man in the W.H.’, 528, 555
White Pine Acts, 118
White primary, 371n, 620, 624
White supremacy, 360, 363, 366, 369, 371–2, 548, 622, 627, 629, 632, 635, 637
and class, 640
Whitefield, Rev. George, 91, 91n
Whites, Northern, 640–41
Whites, Southern, 287–8, 308, 339, 362–5, 371–2, 415, 625, 636
Whitman, Walt, 297
Whitney, Eli, 229, 286, 378
Wilderness, battle of the, 340, 437
Wilderness Road, 223–4
Wiley, Harvey, 454
Wilkes, Capt. Charles, USN, 324, 325
Wilkes, John, 136, 154, 155, 164, 211
Wilkes affair, 133
Wilkins, Roy, 634
William III, King, 78
William and Mary College, 104
Williams, Roger, 45, 49
Williamsburg, Virginia, 104, 162, 165, 170, 184
Willkie, Wendell, 558–9, 569
Wilmot, Cong. David, 298–9
Wilmot Proviso, 298–9
Wilson, Edmund, 285n
Wilson, James, 195, 200, 201, 206–8, 209
Wilson, Thomas Woodrow (Pres. 1913–21), 210, 433n, 448, 450, 452, 492, 493, 495, 498, 499, 501, 512, 522, 531, 546, 549, 550, 557, 569, 581. 603, 610, 635, 647, 680, 687
as reforming Pres., 459–65, 466
and Mexico, 468
in First World War, 469–82
Fourteen Points, 479–81, 482, 487, 576
and Versailles treaty, 481–8
illness of, 487–8
reputation in 1930s, 555
compared to F. D. Roosevelt, 575–6
Winthrop, John, 10, 42–6, 49, 50, 60, 87, 93
Wisconsin, 230, 290, 303, 385, 397, 402, 426, 456, 599, 608, 609
Witchcraft, 45, 91, 106
Withers, John, 81
Wolfe, Gen. James, 79
Women, 234, 243, 244–5, 292, 416
feminism, 678
minimum wage, 546
(white) and slavery, 285
women slaves, 101, 286
and the suffrage, 279, 410, 412, 427, 428, 458, 464—5, 466
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, 555
Women’s movement, 678, 694
Working class see Class, industrial and urban working
Works Progress
Administration (WPA), 540, 569
and Southern blacks, 618–19
Wright, Jonathan Jasper, 360
Wright, Orville and Wilbur, 447
Writs of assistance (or assistants), 123, 143, 154, 211, 213n
Wyoming, 241, 380, 568
XYZ affair, 252
Yadkin river, 221, 224
Yale College and University, 92
Yalta conference and agreements, 575, 581, 591, 597
Yalu river, 606, 607, 653
Yamamoto, Admiral, 564–6, 571
Yancey, Cong. William Lowndes, 307, 310, 319
Yates, Robert, 200
Yellowstone National Park, 69, 689
York river, 326
Yorktown, siege of, 184–5, 326
Young, Brigham, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236–45
Youngstown, Ohio, 514
Yugoslavia, 604
Yukon, 421
Zangwill, Israel, 405
Zimmermann telegram, 475–6, 555
1 From The Vinland Sagas, translated by Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Pálsson (Penguin Books, 1965), p. 98.
2 The Portuguese still know better than the English how to make cod palatable.
3 R. A. Billington, Westward Expansion (New York, 1949), p. 38. Billington does not give his authority for this striking passage.
4 Though some now think that the earliest Indians may have hunted many great species to extinction immediately after the Ice Age – for instance, the American horse.
1 Charles M. Andrews, The Colonial Period of American History (New Haven, Yale paperback edn, 1964), Vol. i, p. 49.
2 The first edition had appeared in 1589, directly after the defeat of the Armada.
3 Ignorance of the North American interior was still almost total. The existence of the Appalachian mountains was known, but their length was not; and the vast extent of the continent was quite unguessed. Knowledge of Caribbean and North American waters, on the other hand, was much improved, thanks to the sea-dogs.
4 In the interests of consistency and general readability I have reluctantly modernized the spelling in this and all other quotations.
5 £12 IOS was the price of a share in the Virginia Company. See below, p. 24.
6 Andrews, The Colonial Period, Vol. i, p. 57.
7 See Carl Bridenbaugh, Vexed and Troubled Englishmen (New York, 1968), passim, and especially Chapter XI, ‘The First Swarming of the English’. Professor Bridenbaugh estimates that ‘between 1620 and 1642, close to 80,000, or 2 per cent of all Englishmen’ emigrated. He makes the important point that about 20,000 of them went to the continent, not to America; and singles out economic conditions as the chief cause of restlessness.
8 Andrews, The Colonial Period, Vol. i, p. 55.
9 Probably giving Trinculo his idea for displaying Caliban at English fairs: ‘when they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian’ (The Tempest, II, 2).
10 For more about Pocahontas see below, p. 21. According to Rolfe, he married her ‘for the good of this plantation, for the honour of our country, for the glory of God, for my own salvation, and for the converting to the true knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, an unbelieving creature’. She is buried at Gravesend.
11 Except that it has been turned into an excellent historical museum.
1 Sassafras was ‘useful’ because it was thought to be a cure for venereal disease.
2 When the settlers’ ships arrived off Jamestown, they ‘moored to the trees in six fathom water’.
3 The name Virginia, originally given to a much vaster area, was soon monopolized by the Jamestown settlement, and the opening-up of New England began the long process of differentiating the various regions of North America by name.
4 Damper and less mild in the seventeenth century than it is today.
5 This was thought to be important, as it was feared that the Spanish might attempt to snuff out the colony before it could be a trouble to them. So they would have, but for the somewhat mysterious forbearance of Philip III. Perhaps he thought the colony was certain to fail. The Virginians themselves were less passive. An expedition was dispatched in 1613 to extinguish a French settlement in Nova Scotia, which it did without undue fuss, tenderness or cruelty.
6 That is, they had to catch the diseases and survive – a kill-or-cure, ‘natural’, indeed Darwinian process of immunization.
7 See below, p. 25.
8 When in 1861 Robert E. Lee agonized over the necessity of choosing between his country and his state and decided for the latter, he was acting in that state’s oldest, and most insurgent, tradition.
9 Robin Blackburn, The Making of New World Slavery (London, 1997), p. 240.
10 Jordan Goodman, Tobacco in History (London, 1993), pp. 60-61.
1 See above, pp. 5-6.
2 The successful Puritan insistence on a preaching ministry explains why in America, which has largely taken its religion from the Puritans, the term ‘preacher’ is so widely used as a synonym for priest, clergyman, parson or minister.
3 Epistle to the Romans viii, 30.
4 New England Puritanism, for various reasons, decided that conversion was a slow process, not a lightning flash; but in this, as in several other important respects, it differed sharply from the mainstream – from its English predecessors, and its American successors.
5 See also Ralegh’s lines written in prison under sentence of death:
Give me my scallop shell of quiet,
My staff of faith to walk upon,
My scrip of joy, immortal diet,
My bottle of salvation,
My gown of glory, hope’s true gage!
And thus I’ll take my pilgrimage.
6 Nor, in view of what was to happen after 1642, can this theory, that popular religion was necessarily subversive, be regarded as altogether mistaken.
7 Of Plymouth Plantation, by William Bradford, edited by Samuel Eliot Morison (New York, 1966), p. 10. Bradford (1590–1657) was to be for many years the Governor, and the historian, of the first Separatist settlement in New England. I quote him extensively.
8 The second edition of which (1622) contains interesting material describing the first days of the Plymouth settlement.
9 The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles, Book VI. This passage was not published until 1624, after the Pilgrims had settled in New England and sent back accounts of the cold winters and shortage of food. Smith had the true booster attitude to such faintheartedness. If all was not Paradise today, it would be tomorrow.
10 At this date the Company owed £75,000: a debt incurred in its attempt to settle its own lands itself.
11 James I asked how the settlers proposed to live. ‘By fishing,’ was the reply. ‘So God have my soul,’ said the King,’ ‘tis an honest trade, ‘twas the apostles’ own calling.’
12 Andrews, The Colonial Period, Vol. i, p. 269 fn. 1. The description is based on likelihoods: no plan or picture of Mayflower survives, but she was a typical merchant ship of the period.
13 Early in the eighteenth century a large rock was identified as the first bit of America touched by the Pilgrims’ feet. Being unconvincingly far up Plymouth beach, it had to be moved down to the water’s edge to satisfy visitors’ notions of how history ought to happen.
14 For example, that in the second edition of New England’s Trials.
15 Bradford himself.