Our old world background

Preface

This volume completes a series of books for the grade schools. The companion works are A First Book in American History and The History of the American People. Although each volume is independent in itself, a unity of purpose knits them into one organic whole. We have kept always before us the problem of giving our boys and girls the best possible civic and cultural equipment, and have endeavored to contribute something to the solution of that problem. On this point we need not add anything to what we have said in the prefaces to the companion volumes.

As to this particular work, the argument for the form and subject matter is to be found in the first chapter. We have placed it there because we believe that the pupils should know why they are called upon to take up any line of historical study.

The importance of European history for the understanding of America has long been recognized by our colleges and high schools. The increase in the number of courses and books on that subject bears witness to the fact. Nevertheless, few attempts have yet been made to carry the idea into our grade schools. It is true that we have several books bearing some such title vi PREFACE

as ^'A Background of American History," but all of them close European history virtually with the foundation of the American colonies.

How inadequate is such a treatment of our past ! In order to appreciate this inadequacy one has only to consider the streams of immigration that have flowed into the United States from all parts of Europe since the seventeenth century, the influence of European literature, especially English, upon our thought, the thousand and one relations of the United States to Europe since the Declaration of Independence, the participation of America in every general European war since 1701, and the commanding position won by our country in Europe and the Orient during our own time. To cut off European history at the opening of the seventeenth century is to depfive the great mass of our young citizens of all formal instruction in the modern world culture. Even the most superficial survey of the situation to-day shows how serious has been our neglect of duty in this respect.

In defense, of course, there may be urged the extreme difficulty of presenting the subject of world history to grade school pupils. It is far from our thought to minimize that difficulty. It has weighed heavily upon our minds all through the preparation of this text. Impressed, however, by the urgent necessity of the occasion, we have labored hard to surmount it. As in our other books, we have sought to grasp the striking and essential ideas and movements of mankind, and

PREFACE vii

to present them in clear and simple form. We believe that no pupils can go carefully through these pages without making important additions to their stock of ideas and without enlarging the horizon of their thought. We believe that they will all have a firmer grasp upon the history of our own country and a better understanding of their coming duties as citizens of this republic.

We confess also to having more than a practical purpose in mind. The charge is often made that Americans are provincial in their outlook. We shall not reply by saying that, in our opinion, Europeans are still more provincial, or by saying that the American people know far more about world history than the mass of Europeans know about the history of the other continents. Whatever may be the merits in this old dispute, we have deliberately aimed at helping to make Americans less provincial by introducing them early to two fundamental ideas : the unity of all history, and the importance of enriching our national life by the study of the best in all the past and in all nations.

We are not attempting, therefore, to add another course of history to the grade school curriculum, or merely to enlarge one already given. We are inviting the cooperation of teachers in the pressing task of preparing the American people, in spirit and in understanding, for the imposing world destiny to which they are called by their enterprise, their wealth, and their power. Textbooks alone can do little. They are at best frail instruments. The teachers who grasp the idea and viii PREFACE

transmute it into the living word are the masters of the field. If our book only aids them in their work of carrying American culture to new heights, our reward will be beyond measure. When they remember with Maeterlinck that ''there are no dead," let them remember also that all of us shall live forever. All the future is in the hands of the present.

C. A. B.

W. C. B.

Contents

PACK CHAPTER

I. America and the World: Ancient and Modern . i j America's Mixed Inheritance. The Changing Back-

/ ground of American History. The Foreground <)f His-

Chapter I America And The World: Ancient And Modern

There is no scene in all American history, there is no great name upon our roll of heroes, there is no book upon our shelves that does not awaken memories of Europe.

Is it Washington triumphant over the British army at Yorktown ? Lo ! we behold the French general, Lafayette, at his side. We know that the French fleet is riding in the harbor and we remember that our minister, Benjamin Franklin, has been pleading America's cause at the court of the French king.

Is it a humbler scene ; for example, a May-day picnic in Central Park in New York City ? There we see children of English, Irish, Italian, Jewish, German, Scandinavian, and other national origins — Americans all — playing about a high stone shaft, an

Egyptian obelisk, more than three thousand years old, brought all the way across the sea to adorn a city's

playground !

Is it a home scene with the family gathered around the lamp in the evening ? The books and magazines on the table may be in any one of a dozen languages and the news in the paper is gathered from the corners of the earth. The conversation may be about memories of the countries in the Old World from which the parents or grandparents came, or it may be about the latest events in London, Rome, Moscow, or Berlin.

Is it a mothers' meeting in a modern city school to discuss with the teacher the education of their children ? Many races are certain to be represented and the customs of many lands are sure to be compared.

Search high and low, far and wide, throughout the length and breadth of America, and you will see the truth in the saying : '' The history of America is the history of Europe in the New World."

Counesu of MtlruiJjlUan \Iu:,tuiH of Art, j\ew York

The Central Park Obelisk in Its Egyptian Home

Take the character of a great American, Abraham Lincoln, as another illustration. His parents were of English origin, his tongue was English, and his early religious training was that of a Christian denomination which was founded in England.

Consider his education. As a farmer's boy, he was accustomed, on winter nights, to lie upon the floor before the hearth and pore over his books in the light of the blazing fire.

In those quiet hours he was, without knowing it, preparing himself to teach and lead this nation in a

time of great trouble. In the little library from which he gathered wisdom and understanding, were eight books. Three of them were by American writers.

Five of them were from other lands. First among these was the Bible, one of the oldest books of the world. For hundreds and hundreds of years, the Bible had been read in many languages and had in-

A Monument to Lincoln in London fluenced the lives of countless millions of people. Another one of Lincoln's books was Aesop'^s Fables, a collection of stories said to have been made by a Greek writer five hundred years before the birth of Christ. The stories themselves were still older. Some of them have even been traced back to ancient Egypt. Lincoln also had The Arabian Nights, '' a thousand and one " marvelous tales that had come down from the earliest days of Persia, Arabia, and India. His other books were by English writers. One was Pilgrim's Progress, by the famous preacher, John Bunyan, who based it all upon the Bible. The other was Robinson Crusoe, written in 1719 by Daniel Defoe.

Lincoln was a true American ; but who can say from what ancient times and distant lands came the ideas that guided him and the hopes that inspired him t America gave him opportunity ; the Old World gave him an inheritance so great that the human mind can scarcely measure it. Of nearly all Americans, as of Lincoln, it may be said : " The Old World is their motherland and teacher."

America's Mixed Inheritance

The People. From the very beginning of American history, many races have played a part. With the passing years, the number of different peoples coming to our shores has increased. John Cabot, whose voyage gave the king of Enj^land a claim to North America, was an Italian {A First Book in American History, pp. 26-29) • O^^ o^ ^^^ American colonies, New Netherland (New York), was founded by the Dutch, and another, Delaware, by the Swedes. Even in those

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The Mayflower colonies founded by the English, there were also to be found Welsh, Germans, Irish, Scotch, French, and Jews. Although English became the language of the land, the nation was not to be wholly English in blood. In time, the descendants of the original English were outnumbered by other races. Moreover, the English blood itself had become mixed with that of many nationalities. Theodore Roosevelt, certainly an American of the first rank, boasted that among his ancestors were Dutch, English, Scotch, Irish, and Germans. Our Language. Although English is the language

of the American people, it is made up of and mixed with words from many tongues, especially Greek, Latin, and French. Of Latin origin are nearly all our words about government, such as president, senate, Sind' constitution.

From the Greek come a great number of terms used in the schools, such as geography and physiology. Most of our scientific words are of

Cicero, the Roman Orator

telegraph, for mstance, means in Greek simply **to write from a distance." Some people say that it is better to use short and simple words of English origin. Doubtless this is wise wherever possible, but even by the greatest effort one can hardly avoid using words taken from other languages. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address shows how many Latin words crept into the language of a man who was accustomed to use the purest English.

Our Government. We have learned much from Europe, especially England, about how to govern ourselves. When the English founded the thirteen colonies in America, they provided that each one should have a legislature to make the laws, a governor to enforce them, and judges to explain and apply them. When the colonies became independent states, they kept these three branches of government. This is the origin of our state government of to-day. Changes have been made, of course, but the Important parts remain. The idea of government by elected officers, instead of kings alone, came to America from England.

Our federal government, or union of the states, however, was created by the Americans themselves. It was planned by a convention of citizens who met at Philadelphia in 1787 {First Book, pp. 149-154). Among them were George Washington, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton.

In drawing up the plan of the federal government, these men thought a great deal about governments of other countries and other times. James Madison, for example, studied carefully the history of the ancient world, as well as of England, before he even went to the convention. His notebooks have been kept and can be read to-day. Other delegates were familiar with the history of Greece, Rome, and England. Again and again they spoke of the governments of these countries and tried to profit from the lessons of olden times.

For example, one member of the convention said that at the head of the American government there should be three officials, instead of one President. At once another member replied : '' One man will be more responsible than three. Three will contend among themselves until one becomes the master." He pointed out how this very thing had happened in ancient Rome when that country was governed by three men called a triumvirate. On other important points the lessons of Greece were cited. As the members of the convention were nearly all of English descent, they naturally spoke often of things to be learned from the history of England.

Our Civilization. Religion, The Christian religion, which is the faith of most of the American people, arose in Palestine on the distant shores of the Mediterranean Sea two thousand years ago. Of the many branches of the Christian Church in the United States, all except a few were founded in the Old World. The Jewish religion also came from Palestine.

Books. Of the books studied in our schools or read in our homes, very many are of foreign origin. The English poet, Shakespeare, and the English novelist, Dickens, are in most private libraries. In our high schools, pupils study the Latin language and learn to read the writings of the Romans, Caesar and Cicero. American writers often follow foreign models. Daniel Webster {First Book, pp. 284-288), perhaps our greatest orator, constantly studied the speeches of Greek and

Roman orators. Our first poets and novelists imitated European examples. They wrote of knights and ladies, kings and princes, as if there were nothing in America to write about. Very slowly did American writers venture to choose American people and scenes for their novels, poems, and dramas.

Schools. American schools and colleges, at first, were like those in Europe. The first teachers came from the Old World. The first textbooks were written and printed in Europe. It was a long time before school children had geographies, spellers, and histories printed in America. Thomas Jefferson, founder of the University of Virginia, got many of his ideas of education from France.

Science and Invention. Although Americans have themselves invented many wonderful machines, a great deal of our knowledge about such matters came from across the sea. Spinning and weaving are even older than the oldest nation on the earth.

A Monument to Shakespeare IN New York lO

The Egyptians mapped the heavens and began the science of astronomy. The compass was invented long before the day of Christopher Columbus. The first printing press was built almost two hundred years before the English landed at Jamestown. The steam

An Ancient Egyptian Map of the Stars

engine, as a working machine, came from England. Electricity was known to the Greeks. In fact, it was by using knowledge from the past that Americans were able to make astonishing progress and to give to the world the reaper, the telegraph, and the telephone. If you will read the lives of our inventors you will find that they began where other inventors left off.

The Changing Background of American History

The Expansion of Europe. In speaking of our inheritance from the Old World, we must remember that, through all the years of our history, Europe itself has been changing too. When Columbus set

AMERICA AND THE WORLD II

out upon his daring voyage, Europeans knew nothing of the Western Hemisphere and Httle of Asia. They had no colonies. Their trade was mainly among themselves.

During the four centuries that have passed since then, Europeans have spread to all parts of the earth. In some instances, they have swept away the natives and founded new states, as in the case of Canada and Australia. In other instances, they have mingled with the natives and mixed Old World ideas with theirs. This is what the Spanish did in Mexico, Central and South America, and many islands of the seas. In still other places, the Europeans made themselves rulers over natives. In this way, the British built up their vast empire in Asia and in Africa. So, too, the French, the Germans, the Belgians, and the Italians formed their empires In Africa, bringing millions of the natives under their flags. Thus it happened that, between 1492 and our day, all of North America and South America, nearly all of Africa, all of Australia, and huge portions of Asia fell under the sway of Europeans.

The Awakening of the Orient. Where the Europeans have not conquered, they have shaken other races out of their old ways of living. They have forced them or Induced them by example to adopt European Ideas of government, trade, and war. This Is what happened in the case of China and Japan. These countries are older in civilization by thousands of years than either England or France, but it was under the influence of Europeans and Americans that they adopted gunpowder, the steam engine, the railway, the factory, and many ideas of democratic government.

Under European influence, the Japanese created a parliament elected by voters and established daily newspapers. It was not until about 1855 that Japan opened her doors to the world, but within fifty years she had rapid-fire guns, railways, factories, and vast industrial cities of her own. Within fifty years she defied one of the most powerful nations of Europe, Russia, and defeated her on the field of battle. Having all the inventions of the West, from steam engines to battleships, she is now the first power in the Far East.

During the same period, the Chinese cut off their queues and put on trousers. They threw off the rule of their ancient imperial family and tried to found a republic. So the slumbering giants of the East have been stirred from their long sleep, and stand alert and ready for coming events. They are Europeanized.

The Trade of Europe. While conquering by the sword and arousing natives by their enterprise, the Europeans have spread their trade everywhere. There is not a nook or cranny of this old earth that they have not visited with their wares. They trade and bargain with the dusky Eskimo of the frozen North, the swarthy African of the tropics, the wandering Arab of the desert, as well as with the civilized people of every clime.

Whether It Is the port of Hongkong In distant China, La Paz twelve thousand feet high in the mountains of Bolivia, or Libreville under the blazing sky of Africa, the Europeans are there with their goods to sell. The Turks dozing away In Anatolia, the nomad tribesmen of Persia lolling in their tents, are aroused by the call of the European merchant who cries abroad his wares and offers to buy in exchange. The ships that dock at Liverpool, Boulogne, and Hamburg come from every country that borders on the sea and every climate under the shining sun.

In addition to trading with the peoples of every land and race, the Europeans lend them money to build railways, factories, and telegraph lines. England alone has lent five billion dollars to Asiatics and Africans. French bankers have lent billions to Egyptians, Turks, Brazilians, Africans, Chinese, and in fact all the other peoples of the earth.

Wherever we go on the broad surface of the globe, we meet Europeans and see the signs of their work. The geography of Europe remains the same. The same seas wash the coasts of France and Spain as in the days of Columbus. But the civilization of Europe has spread all over the world. There is no ocean that Is not plowed by European merchant vessels and battleships. There is no port that they have not visited. There Is no people that they have not stirred to new thought and action. The European background of American history has become a world background.

The Foreground of History — America to the

Front

American Influence on Europe. Great is the debt of Americans to the old yet ever changing Europe ; but we must not forget that there is another side to the story. From the day that Captain John Smith set foot on the shores of Virginia to the day that General John Pershing set foot on the shores of France, there was not an hour in which European statesmen did not have to reckon with America.

American Government. The American example of a people governing themselves without kings and nobles was always before the people of Europe. French soldiers, like Lafayette, who came over to aid Washington in the American Revolution (First Book, pp. 141-142), carried back with them American ideas about government. A few years later they helped to overthrow the French king in the great French Revolution which broke out in 1789. The state constitutions which the Americans drew up for themselves after 1776 were translated into French. They were spread broadcast and read in every European country.

Books about America. Able men and women from Europe visited America and studied our ways of living, working, and governing. They wrote books about the things they saw, and European people read these accounts. In 1744 Peter Kalm, a German, published the story of his travels in America for the

IS l6 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND

benefit of the German people. In 1786 a French nobleman published for his countrymen an interesting book about the new American republic. Years afterwards, in 1835, a still abler Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville, issued a work, entitled Democracy in America, which set all Europe thinking. A little later a thoughtful Englishwoman, Harriet Martineau, printed a volume on America for her fellow citizens to read. If we should give here a list of important European books about America it would fill ten or fifteen pages of this little volume.

Influence of Immigrants. It was not only the writers who carried back to the Old World American ideas. Thousands of immigrants from all parts of Europe, after living here for a while, returned home to visit or to stay. They told their neighbors how people lived and worked in America. The millions who did not go back to their native lands wrote letters to their families and friends across the sea. In this way they put American ideas into European heads. There are no scales in which to weigh the influence of all these things on European life ; but we know that Europe became a different Europe on account of America.

American Trade with the World. Since the early days of American history the well-being and prosperity of millions in Europe have depended upon the produce drawn from American fields and plantations. Owing to wheat and corn from America, Europeans had more bread to eat. The vast cotton spinning and weaving industry of England, employing millions of people, was for a long time almost entirely supplied with raw cotton from our Southern states. Whenever a war stopped the flow of raw materials to Europe, the people of Europe suffered, as well as American farmers and planters.

Within recent times, Americans have been sending large quantities of manufactured goods abroad. There are few distant countries that do not use our reapers, sewing machines, and typewriters. Our merchants are to be found in all the great cities of the world advertising and selling manufactured goods. European business men find them shrewd and energetic in the search for customers.

The Growth of American Territory. In addition to spreading their trade far and wide throughout the world, Americans have also carried their flag to distant lands. Alaska came under our control in 1867. The United States now holds Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands in the West Indies. It owns the canal strip, or zone, across the Isthmus of Panama. Cuba, Haiti, Santo Domingo, and Nicaragua are under American protection.

The American flag has been planted in the Pacific. It waves over the Hawaiian Islands, over a part of the Samoan group, over Guam, and over several other small islands. Since 1898 it has floated over the Philippine Islands near China and Japan. So the

United States has territory in the same regions as the English, French, and Dutch. Anything important that happens in Asia becomes a matter of interest to America. The United States has indeed become a '' world power."

America in the Wars of the Old World. Europe has had many wars in which nearly all the great nations have taken part. During the past two hundred years there has not been one of these " general " wars in which America has not joined in one way or another.

In colonial times, when England and France were struggling for the mastery in North America {First Book^ pp. 83-101), the American colonies were drawn into the quarrel.

Even after winning their independence, Americans could not keep out of European conflicts. The long war from 1793 ^o 1815, in which France and England took the lead, interfered with American trade. American citizens took sides and thus the quarrel in Europe stirred up a quarrel here {First Book, pp. 154-160). French and English warships captured our goods and ships at sea. The English stopped and searched our vessels for English-born sailors. If they found any, they took them off. For a long time our government did not know what to do. Finally, in 1812, it declared war upon England {First Book, pp. 1 81-194).

A hundred years later, when Europe was at war again, the United States was deeply stirred by the contest. At length, it threw its sword into the scale, helping to put an end to the German empire {First

Book, pp. 439-449). In other parts of the world the power of American armies had already been felt. Even an uprising in distant China, in 1900, led our government to join with the governments of Europe in putting down a native rebellion {First Book, pp. 380-384). So American ideas, American trade, and American arms are powerful factors in the affairs of the world.

American Relations with European Countries. In all the troublous times of our history, Americans have looked to Europe for counsel and aid. Within two years after the Declaration of Independence, the United States made an alliance with France {First Book, pp. 136-143). It even drew Holland and Spain, as well, into the contest against King George III.

When the Civil War burst upon our country. President Lincoln and President Davis both turned at once to the countries of Europe to see which side they would favor. The South even hoped that England and France would aid it against the North. Long afterward, in 1899 and 1907, the Czar of Russia, hoping to put an end to all war, called conferences at The Hague. The United States sent able delegates who played a leading part in those debates. In our time, after the defeat of Germany in 1918, President Wilson went to Paris to speak for our government in the conference that sought to settle the disputes between nations.

The Climax in American Power. From the World War, America emerged the richest and most powerful nation on the earth. Once it borrowed money and bought its manufactured goods in Europe. Now England, France, Russia, and Italy owe the United States billions of dollars. Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, and even European cities borrow American money to pay their bills.

American business and industrial concerns have established branches in every leading European and Asiatic city. In one of the public squares of Paris, where stands a great monument to the warrior. Napoleon, are to be found the offices of two of America's richest banking houses. Kingsbridge, a famous street in London, is almost lined with the displays of American merchandise. A former Chicago boy owns the largest department store in the capital of King George.

Once America depended mainly upon English ships to carry her goods over the seas. Now America has a splendid merchant marine of her own and American captains steam into the ports of Egypt for cargoes of cotton destined for the spinning mills of England. The sun that follows the British empire around the world finds everywhere signs of American energy and American power.

The grand climax came in 192 1 when, on the call of President Harding, the leading naval and military powers of the world sent delegates to a conference in Washington to consider ways of peace. What a sweep is this from the tiny colonies of Jamestown and Plymouth to the mighty nation that has now become the center of the world ! What a heritage we have ! What grave duties the possession of such power lays upon the people of this nation !

Conclusions

1. The background of American history is not the history of the Indians who inhabited this continent before the Europeans came.

2. It is not merely the history of Europe down to the founding of the English colonies in America.

3. The background of American history is in very truth the history of the world down to the landing of the last boatload of immigrants on our shores and the sailing of the last ship from an American port for some distant land.

4. The important events of every day in all parts of the world are matters of concern for American citizens. Busy in their fields, shops, and homes, they may not think so, but it is true. The United States has ties binding it to every section of the globe in peace and war. American trade is carried on in all markets. American business men vie with those of Europe in hunting for new oil lands, coal fields, and iron mines in far-off countries. There is always danger that war in Europe may summon American boys from farm and shop to fight and die on land or sea. In fact, the graves of American soldiers and seamen are already scattered among the battlefields of many lands.