A Continet to Conquer

Here they found a vast and unknown continent in the possession of roving tribes of Indians; a wilderness of great forests, mighty rivers, and boundless prairies. Their's for the taking, if they possessed the ability and courage to conquer the all but insurmountable obstacles and dangers. Limited facilities. - Forced by lack of any other means than those contained in hand and brain; lacking all facilities of communication, transportation, or manufacture, other than such contrivances as the sailing vessel, the ax, spinning wheel, wooden plow, and flint-lock rifle, their progress in the first 150 years was necessarily slow and restricted. Chief pursuits, agriculture and seafaring. - The colonists labored under the burden of heavy restrictions imposed by the mother country which prevented the establishment of home industries. As their first occupation they engaged in tilling the soil that they might have food and clothing. During her first 150 years of existence, America grew to be a people of some 3,000,000 souls and was forced to confine her development to agriculture and seafaring pursuits. Building up a seafaring trade, she transported the raw material of the new land to England, France, Holland, and Spain, there to be exchanged for the necessities of life not produced by their own handicraft.