A

SCHOOL HISTORY

of the

UNITED STATES

By

WILLIAM H. MACE

Professor of History in Syracuse University. Author
of "Method in History," and "A Working
Manual of American History"

E

THE PREFACE

LEMENTARY text-books on History should be so simple and transparent in style that the child can come into immediate possession of the meaning without overcoming obstacles in the shape of strange words and involved sentences.

It has been the aim of the writer to fulfill this condition. At the same time an attempt has been made to have the narrative vivid in order that the pupil may not escape the impression that American History is an interesting movement, and that, whether in coöperation or in collision, men are always struggling to attain great ends. This quality

seizes upon the human and dramatic feelings of the child and holds his interest in the subject. As a result the people who inhabit the world of history are made akin to those who are in action in the real world around him. To encourage this interest and to enable the pupil to enter more fully into the spirit of the past, important and typical events have been frequently made to stand out vividly by a somewhat full description. To impress great historical scenes upon the mind of the young is as important as to paint them on canvas. As a further stimulus to the sympathetic and constructive imagination, and as an appeal to the higher tastes, ten full-page illustrations in colors have been introduced. These illustrate ten of the most dramatic or important events in American History and serve as historical milestones to the pupil.

The grouping of events into series and of a number of series into periods, on the basis of the common movement of which they were a part, is one of the most important helps to a right understanding of History. Hence, although the chronological order has been followed in arranging events in natural series, no event foreign to a particular series has been permitted to break up the continuity because it happened

to occur between two events of a series.

Such events are,

Holding to this

in turn, placed in a series of their own.
natural connection not only stimulates the understanding but
strengthens the memory by the law of association. The
great majority of dates in the text are not even to be called
for in recitation, to say nothing of committing them to
memory. They are simply to be observed by the pupil in
order to help make the impression of an orderly succession
in history.

To enable the pupil to see more clearly that any event has
a meaning far beyond that which appears on the surface,
the period and sub-period headings have been so carefully
worked out, and so placed as page headings, that he will
carry in mind the central and subordinate ideas of entire
periods while studying particular events. This arrangement
encourages the pupil to read a larger meaning into events
than is possible by any other plan. The entire arrangement
and presentation of material is based, as far as practical, upon
the ideas suggested in the author's work on Method in History.

The Study Questions are not intended to take the place
of the teacher's questions. They may be used or omitted
altogether. Some pupils will use them because of ability or
interest in the subject, while others will have neither time
nor ability. The Collateral Reading may be treated in the
same way, but because most of the books are interesting to
children, and because exact references are given to page
and volume, it is believed that great interest can be created
and great profit derived by assigning topics to be read and
reported orally or in writing. In order to emphasize the
ideas of growth and continuity as applied to History, and in
order to present an uninterrupted story in the text, the Study
Questions and the Collateral Reading are placed, with the
other reference matter, in the Appendix.

The experience and scholarship of a number of public
school and college men have been freely drawn upon in the
preparation of this work. But the author must make special
and grateful acknowledgment to Professor Edwin P. Tanner,