The essential facts of American history

Introduction

This book represents the author's effort to make the" history of our country interesting to school children, and therefore easily learned and long remembered. The child has been kept in mind at every stage of the writing, for by the test of his ability to understand and his interest to learn will the usefulness of the book be measured.

The text, therefore, touches the history of the United States in its great epochs only. The author confesses, before his critics accuse, that many facts and figures have been omitted as unnecessary to the story of our national establishment. Those incidents that were not influential in the development of our country should be reserved for a larger text and a more mature inquiry. Herein the child need not be bewildered by that multiplicity of detail that often has perplexed his mind and confused his memory.

The author has purposely avoided an encyclopedic gathering of historical facts loosely connected by chronological sequence. Instead he has chosen a topical treatment of the great facts of our history, hoping that he may place an emphasis upon those things a child should know and can remember. To that end the chapters are in themselves units, and each represents some significant idea of value. That the author has made each chapter short and the treatment terse should commend itself to those who have to do with the daily routine of the schoolroom.

Since men are as important as measures, a number of chapters have been devoted to certain epochal characters iv Introduction

of whom a child should know much. It is better to know a few great men and a few great measures thoroughly than to surfeit the mind with multitudinous details.

We have passed the time when history should be written or taught from sectional pride or prejudice. Our country is too great and our traditions too noble for the youth to be reared with any motive except that of making them citizens of the entire country, proud of the deeds of their fathers, and forgetful of all past differences. The author has tried to be fair in all his statements, knowing that the child is far removed from prejudice and that his future relations will demand a generous and sympathetic feeling for all people from all parts of our country.

With grateful acknowledgments to the many friends whose advice has guided him in the preparation of this book, and with an earnest hope that those who study these pages may find in them an abiding respect for the great men of the past and a deep inspiration for their own conduct in the future, the author submits the text to the indulgent consideration of that noble profession of which he has been a

member for many years.

LAWTON B. EVANS.

Augusta, Ga.

LIST OF BOOKS

The teacher will find the following inexpensive books suitable for supplementary reading and for expanding the condensed story of the text. Explorers and Founders of America. (Foote and Skinner.) The American Book Co. The story of the Norsemen ; Columbus ; the Spanish

and French Explorers ; the English and Dutch Settlers ; Bacon ;

Braddock; Wolfe.

American Indians. (Frederick Starr.) D. C. Heath & Co. General

facts about the life, customs, manners, and traditions of the Indians ;

their division into tribes and the peculiarity of each. The Making of Virginia and the Middle Colonies. (Drake.) Chas.

Scribner's Sons. The Story of the English in Virginia ; the English

in Maryland; the great Iroquois League; the Dutch on Manhattan;

the Settlement of Delaware.

The Making of New England. (Drake.) Chas. Scribner's Sons. The

story of the exploring and settling of New England ; the Pilgrims ;

the Puritans; Colonies of Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut,

Rhode Island.

The Making of the Great West. (Drake.) Chas. Scribner's Sons.

The story of Joliet and Marquette ; La Salle ; Louisiana Purchase ;

Lewis and Clark ; the Oregon Trail ; Gold in California ; later history

of the West.

The Conquest of the Old Northwest. (Baldwin.) The American Book

Co. The country around the Great Lakes ; George Washington and

Braddock; George Rogers Clark ; subduing the wilderness. Colonial Children. (Hart.) The Macmillan Company. A story of the

home life of the people in colonial times.

When America was New. (Jenks.) Thos. Y. Crowell & Co. The

manners and customs, indoor life, books, education, women and

children, and the growth of the people. A general survey of the

colonial conditions.

Stories of American History. (Dodge.) Lothrop, Lee & Shepard.

Mainly stories of the Revolution ; Boston Tea Party ; Lexington ;

Bunker Hill ; Surrender of Burgoyne ; Andre ; Paul Jones ; Laurens,

etc.

v vi List of Books

Noble Deeds of our Fathers. (Watson.) Lothrop, Lee & Shepard.

Stories of the Revolution ; Brandy wine ; General Wayne ; Germantown ; General Prescott ; Massacre of Wyoming, etc.

Camps and Firesides of the Revolution. (Hart.) The Macmillan Company. Home Life ; highways and byways ; the Indians ; French and Indian wars ; preparing for the Revolution ; Revolutionary firesides ; in camp ; in the field.

Children's Stories of American Progress. (Wright.) Chas. Scribner's Sons. The Barbary Pirates ; Louisiana Purchase ; Lewis and Clark ; the Steamboat ; the Railroad ; the Telegraph ; the Mexican War.

Makers of American History. (Chandler and Chitwood.) Silver, Burdett & Co. A series of thirty-six interesting biographies covering the entire period of American history.

Romance of the Civil War. (Hart.) The Macmillan Company. Plantation life ; the condition of the slaves ; in and out the army ; boy soldiers and sailors ; in camp and on the march ; on deck ; women and the war.

The teacher will find the following books helpful in his own preparation for teaching American History.

Special Method in History. (McMurry.) The Macmillan Company. Source Book of American History. (Hart.) The Macmillan Company. A Book of American Explorers. (Higginson.) Longmans, Green & Co. Epochs of American History. (3 vols.) Longmans, Green & Co. Home Life in Colonial Days. (Earle.) The Macmillan Company. Four Great American Series. American Book Company. Pioneer History Stories. (McMurry.) The Macmillan Company. Poetry of the People. (Gayley and Flaherty.) Ginn and Company. MacCoun's Historical Geography of the United States. Silver, Burdett &Co.

The more extensive writings of Fiske, Parkman, Schouler, McMaster, Bancroft, and Ridpath are recommended to those who desire an exhaus tive study of the history of our country.

Table Of Contents

PERIOD OF EXPLORATION Lesson Pace

1. Four Hundred Years Ago .1

2. The Coming of the Norsemen . . 4