PREFACE Ir has been said that history, as generally written, is but an account of the wars and contentions by which dynasties have striven for the mastery of nations. It imparts little or no information in respect to the social condition or material progress of the people themselves. It is true that the means of preserving such information have never before existed in the shape of those printing facilities which at this day place every variety of intelligence within the reach of the poorest classes. These facilities are themselves among the wonders that have attended the progress of the American people during the past eighty years. In that period a nation has been born, and grown to unexampled power and place among the nations of the earth. Inasmuch, however, as that the nature, the institutions, and the administration of the American nation are different from all others, so must its history be in an entirely different style. If there are no regal intrigues to chronicle or military exploits to recount, there are more lasting triumphs in every useful science to record. If we have no Alexander, or Cæsar, or Bonaparte, or Wellington, to shine on the stormy pages of our history, we have such names as Franklin, Whitney, Morse, and a host of others, to shed a more beneficent lustre on the story of our rise. The means by which a few poor colonists have come to excel all nations in the arts of peace, and to astonish the people of Europe with their achievements through the development of their inventive genius, are true subjects for a history of the United States. Such a history is now for the first time presented to the American people. In its preparation no pains or expense has been spared in the view of making it perfectly reliable, and it is believed that a work has been produced which will be standard on the subject. When the War of Independence was finished, the American people, free on their own soil, turned their quick intellect and undivided attention to the great object of improvement, material and mental, and they have wrought out results that have become not only the admiration but the exemplar of all nations. The great genius of the people manifested itself in the invention of labor-saving machines, because labor was scarce and dear. The steam engine was adopted, improved, and applied to every branch of labor. It was applied to navigation, to locomotion, and to manufacturing in all its branches, great and small. Inventions were introduced in all possible branches of manufacturing by which labor was saved. It is probable that one man now produces as much by the aid of machines as one hundred did formerly. In other words, that inventive genius has increased manufacturing production a hundredfold. At the same time a vast continent has been settled; and here again has inventive genius supplied machinery as a substitute for farm laborers, and one man may, by their aid, harvest a large surplus above his family wants. These machines have become the models for Europe. This vigor of production has enabled the construction of as many miles of railroads as all Europe put together. The telegraph has been invented for transmission of intelligence, and more miles of it used than in all Europe. In ship-building, the American improvements have outstripped the boasted wooden walls of old England, and given the model to the world. Their active enterprise has won the foremost rank in foreign commerce, and covered the inland waters with more steam tonnage than all other nations possess. The cities of America have sprung up with magic growth, and increased with marvellous vigor. There is no example in history where so many large cities have been built in a similar period. In producing a carefully written history of all these events, a vast amount of labor and research has been gone through to collate reliable statistical matter. Every effort has been used to place the results in a clear and attractive view, so as to make the reader master of every branch of the subject, and enable him to speak understandingly of his country's triumphs. To this end a great expense has been incurred for engravings illustrative of the various industries: It is believed that the work now offered to the public is the most complete history of a nation's progress ever written. The reader should ever bear in mind that the work does not come down later than 1860, except in a few cases, it may cover a portion of 1861. There is also a brief description of the Iron-clads and Monitors of a later date. |