ARVARD COLLEGE June 15,1938 LIBRARY Miss H. Elizabeth Coolidge Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. STEREOTYPED AT THE PREFACE. SINCE SO much has been said and done for the diffusion of knowledge among the people of this country, and so generally and generously has each of the states provided the means for imparting public instruction, we are safe in presuming that every child, between the ages of five and fifteen years, either goes to school or may go. If this be so, then we affirm that every child in the United States should learn something of the history of his own country before leaving school. He should have imprinted on his mind a vivid outline of the story of his native land. The history of America is fruitful in interesting incident; and "Young America" should be familiar with his own pedigree, and hold in hallowed remembrance the "times that tried men's souls," the souls of his fathers, if he would be honored and respected at home and abroad, and secure for himself a virtuous, happy, and "green old age." Improvement in individual and national virtue is not the least among the advantages to result from the study of history; and no country, ancient or modern, affords examples better adapted to excite indignation against the oppressor, and to cause the heart to glow with the admiration of suffering virtue, than America, both in its early settlement and in its struggles for independence. (3) To facilitate the attainment of this knowledge by the young is the design of the present compilation, in which the leading facts of our history are placed before the learner in familiar language, and in a concise form. The series of questions may be used by the teacher in conducting examinations, or by the learner to ascertain whether he has mastered his lesson. The Chronological Table has been prepared with great care, and contains, besides the topics treated in this book, many others of interest and importance connected with American History. BOSTON, January, 1856. |