Footprints of the ages and the American citizen's treasury of facts

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Preface

Six thousand years of history ! What man in this busy age can find the time to wade through exhaustive histories of two hundred generations of men ? The first object of this book is to present a brief resume of Universal history, so that the reader may follow the march of time, and readily locate the great events of every century, and obtain a comprehensive view of all nations and all ages.

The second great aim is to put into the possession of Americans a world of information regarding their own country. The early history of the colonies is followed by a condensed but comprehensive record of the Revolution. The great events of the first hundred years of our national life are graphically sketched, including the lives of the presidents, political changes, our foreign wars, the Great Rebellion, and the Reconstruction that closes the century. Everything relating to our institutions which a citizen needs to know is presented with such an array of facts and statistics as bring in full review the marvelous progress and development of the country in population, wealth and enlightenment, and make this pre-eminently the American citizen's Centennial volume.

A third object of this work is to gather up the leading features and characteristics of the mighty men in various departments of human activity and present these for the study and guidance of the men of our times.

The world's history is really the history of its great men. Pounders and reformers in religion, princes in finance, war, politics and philosophy, including our own men of mark, and historical names of other ages and countries are sketched, and their careers held up for approbation or warning. Naturally and necessarily much of our country's glorious history is condensed into the biographies of those who have made her prosperous, or are now controlling her destiny. The Chief Magistrates, exponents and representatives of opinions and parties, have their portraiture here. The rise of States is traced, and their position in the political heavens mapped out. Such a collection of facts renders this

PREFACE.

volume as interesting as a story and as helpful as a Cyclopaedia. The substance of many volumes is concentrated in this, and in such space and form that one can gather into his mind, in brief hours of leisure, the results of years of research and composition.

In these days of the Press, books are multiplied until the attention is confused by their number and scope. It becomes a desideratum to find much matter compressed into a few pages, because time is money, and few can hunt through bushels of chaff for a few grains of wheat, or spend months over prolix histories and memoirs to glean what is needed for the actual necessities of information concerning questions of interest to the American, citizen and the man of affairs.

Every reasonable exertion has been made to procure the best sources of knowledge concerning each person and topic treated in this work, and to arrange the matter in a succinct and readable form. From the immense scope of subjects here surveyed and illustrated, every person who reads the work will be sure to find something of deep interest and peculiar value to himself, and its. treatment and range is such as to constitute it, not an ephemeral thing, to be glanced at and cast aside, but a volume for frequent reference and recurring perusal. It is with this idea in view that the publisher has striven to impart to the work that thoroughness and attractiveness which shall give it welcome in the family and library of the masres of our intelligent countrymen.

In the bulk of curious information concerning our political fabric, and the summaries of laws and enactments affecting individuals, classes, and communities, it is intended to make the work essential — a sine-qua-non — to the people.

In recognition of the universal love ot pictorial representation,, this volume is embellished with numerous illustrations, conveying,, through the eye, to the mind, just and vivid conceptions of many of the characters and objects described, and of monuments of human skill and power, which minister to the gratification or the necessities of mankind.

Our International Centennial Exhibition was a grand success- It delighted its friends and silenced its enemies by the beauty and grandeur of its proportions, and by its positive and overwhelming success. It was a success of which the American people have especial cause to be proud, for it was entirely their work. The great International Exhibitions of Europe were carefully fostered by Government aid. The Centennial Exhibition, on the contrary,, was viewed with disfavor at first by the American Government, which withheld its aid until the indignant remonstrances of the people forced it to come forward and do its share in the work. It was admitted to be superior in completeness and splendor to any of the European Exhibitions. The deep interest manifested by all classes of our people in the Great Exhibition, has constrained the publisher to add its history to Footprints of the Ages.

Introduction

Universal History is commonly divided into three portions : —

I. Ancient History, which, beginning with the creation of the world, 4004 b. c, terminates a. d. 476, in the destruction of the Roman empire.

II. The Middle Ages, which extend from the fall of Rome, a. d. 476, to the discovery of America, a. d. 1492.

III. Modern History, which commences at the latter epoch, and if we do not distinguish it from Contemporaneous History, is continued to the present time.

The events which mark the separation between the First and Second periods, are the Irruption of the Barbarians, the consequent fall of the Western Empire, and the foundation of the modern European states ; between the Second and the Third are the extension of learning by the invention of printing, the taking of Constantinople, the maritime discoveries of Spain and Portugal, with the more extensive use of fire-arms.

I. Ancient History may be subdivided into four periods : —

1. The Antediluvian, comprising the creation, the fall of man with its immediate train of consequences, and ending with the general deluge, 2348 b. c.

2. The Heroic, commencing with the establishment of the earliest empires and most ancient cities, and including the fabulous ages of Greece.

3. The Historic, which begins with the first Olympiad, 776 b. c, nearly synchronous with the foundation of Rome, 753 b. c, and comprises the legislative eras of Lycurgus and Solon, the rise and fall of the Persian monarchy, and the earlier part of Roman history to the end of Punic wars.

4. The Roman, from the fall of Carthage, 146 b. c, to that of Rome, a. d. 476.

II. The Middle Ages maybe conveniently arranged in the following six periods . —

1. The foundation of the modern states of Western Europe, a. d. 476-622, when the Saxons invaded Britain, 449 ; the Visigoths settled in Spain, 507 ; the Ostrogoths in Italy, 489, and the Franks began the formation of the French monarchy, a. d. 481.

INTRODUCTION.

2. The Second comprehends the age of Mohammed, with the propagation of his creed and the establishment of the states which embraced his religion, A. D. 622-800.

3. The Third embraces the period when the empire of the West was partially restored in the Franco-Germanic dominions of Charlemagne, 800-936.

4. The Fourth is the interesting period of the dark ages, 936- 1100, during which the monarchy of Charlemagne fell to ruin, the Capetian dynasty began to reign in France, Italy was parcelled out among a number of petty princes; while in Germany Otho commenced the long-continued struggle against feudalism.

5. The Fifth is the romantic or heroic period of the Crusades, 1096-1273, in which the Roman legal code, the foundation of great part of modern jurisprudence, began to be studied.

6. The Sixth beheld the revival of the Fine Arts in Italy, the taking of Constantinople and consequent diffusion of its learned men, the revival of letters, the discovery of America, 1492, and the passage round the Cape of Good Hope, 1497.

III. Modern History may be conveniently divided into six portions : —

1. The period of the Reformation, from its commencement by Luther, in 1517, till the termination of the long series of Italian wars, in 1559.

2. The period of the religious wars, particularly in France, from 1559 to the peace of Westphalia, in 1648, which produced many important changes in Europe.

3. The period from 1648 to the death of Louis XIV., in 1715, during which Russia entered into the European commonwealth, and Great Britain began to assume preponderating influence on the Continent.

4. The Fourth period terminates with the peace of Versailles; 1783, which established the independence of the United States, and during which Prussia became a first-rate power.

5. The French Revolution, from the meeting of the States-general, in 1789, to the restoration of the Bourbons, in 18 15.

6. The period from the battle of Waterloo, 18 15, to the present day.