Taking a general view of the growth of the American nation, it is now easy to see that it was fortunate that Englishmen met in the Indian so formidable an antagonist: such fierce and untamed savages could never be held long as slaves; and thus were the American colonists of the North--the bone and sinew of the nation--saved from the temptations and the moral danger which come from contact with a numerous servile race. Again, every step of progress into the wilderness being stubbornly contested, the spirit of hardihood and bravery--so essential an element in nation-building--was fostered among the borderers; and as settlement moved westward slowly, only so fast as the pressure of population on the seaboard impelled it, the Americans were prevented from planting scattered colonies in the interior, and thus were able to present a solid front to the mother-country when, in due course of time, fostering care changed to a spirit of commercial control, and commercial control to jealous interference and menace. CHAPTER II. DISCOVERIES AND EARLY SETTLEMENTS. (1492-1606.) 6. References. Bibliographies.--Winsor, _Columbus_, and _Narrative and Critical History_, I. xix-xxxvii, 33-58, 76-132, 369-444, II. 153-179, 205, III. 7-58, 78-84, 97-104, 121, 126, 184-218; Larned, _Literature of American History_, 50-68, and _History for Ready Reference_, I. 54-79; Avery, _United States_, I. 376-403; Channing and Hart, _Guide_, §§ 81-96; also bibliographical chapters in Bourne, Cheney, and Tyler, below. Historical Maps.--No. 1, this volume (_Epoch Maps_, No. I); MacCoun; Winsor, _Narrative and Critical History_, I., II.; H. Harrisse, _Discovery of North America_, and _Découverte et Evolution Cartographique de Terre-Neuve_; E. L. Stevenson, _Maps illustrating Early Discovery and Exploration in America_; maps in _American Nation_ series (Bourne, Cheney, and Tyler). General Accounts.--On geographical knowledge of ancients, and pre-Columbian discoveries: Winsor, _Narrative and Critical_, I. chs. i., ii.,; W. Wilson, _American People_, I. ch. i.; Avery, I. chs. iii.-vi.; E. Cheney, _European Background of American History_, chs. i.-v.--On discovery and settlement, from Columbus to Jamestown: M. Creighton, _Age of Elizabeth_ (Epochs of Modern History); R. Hildreth, _United States_, I. chs. i., iii.; G. Bancroft, _United States_, I. chs. i.-v.; Winsor, _Narrative and Critical_, II. chs. i.-vii., III. chs. i.-iv., and _Columbus_; Avery, I. chs. vii.--xxi.; E. Channing, _United States_, I. chs. i.-v.; J. Doyle, _English Colonies in America_, I. ch. iv. Special Histories.--E. Bourne, _Spain in America_; Parkman, _Pioneers of France in the New World_, 28-233, 296-309; Winsor, _Cartier to Frontenac_, chs. i.-iii.; C. Baird, _Huguenot Emigration to America_; L. Tyler, _England in America_, chs. i., ii. For lives of explorers, consult bibliographies, above.