Charles Bancroft

“Athenaeum, or Jonathan Edwards at thirteen entering Yale College, and while yet of a tender age shining in the horizon of American literature; while the same age finds H. W. Longfellow writing for the Portland Gazette. At fourteen John Quincy Adams was private secretary to Francis H. Dana, American Minister to Russia; at fifteen Benjamin Franklin was writing for the New England Courant, and at an early age became a noted journalist. Benjamin West at sixteen had painted "The Death of Socrates," at seventeen George Bancroft had won a degree in history, Washington Irving had gained””

“Like Las Casas, Bancroft believed that Indians had existed in societies without change”

“The contemporary and friend of Raleigh, he adhered to schemes in America for almost half a century; and, long after he became convinced of their unproductiveness, was still bent on plans of colonization, at an age when other men are but preparing to die with decorum. Firmly attached to the monarchy, he never disobeyed his king, except that, as a churchman and a Protestant, he refused to serve against the Huguenots. When the wars in England broke out, the septuagenarian royalist buckled on his armor and gave his last strength to the defense of the unfortunate Charles.””