INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT Ar the suggestion of Dr. Walther Wever, German Consul-General at Chicago, Mrs. Catherine Seipp of that city offered in March, 1904, cash prizes for the three best monographs upon the subject indicated by the title of this book. Competing works were submitted under assumed names on or before March 22, 1907, to the Germanic Department of the University of Chicago. The prize judges were Professors Hanno Deiler of Tulane, Frederick J. Turner of Wisconsin, and Karl Detlev Jessen of Bryn Mawr. In this contest Professor Faust was awarded the first prize of $3000. THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. STARR WILLARD CUTTING. PREFACE PA DURING the available hours of more than the last ten years, the writer had been studying and collecting materials on the German element in the United States, entertaining a vague hope of some day embodying the results of his labors in some useful form. The prominence of the Germans as a formative element of the American people, their continuous participation in the labors of peace and the burdens of war, suggested the need of a record of the essential facts in their history, from the earliest period of their settlements in this country to the present time. Such an historical survey has never existed in the English language, nor has one been attempted in German since the publications of Löher (Geschichte und Zustände der Deutschen in Amerika, 1847) and Eickhoff (In der neuen Heimath, 1884). The question whether the time had come for the preparation of such a work, scholars commonly decided in the negative, in view of the large amount of investigation still necessary, before a complete history of the Germans in this country can be written. This attitude of cautious reserve, however, will not encourage research as much as can be hoped from an exposition of the rich stores of information already at hand. A mere hoarding of materials, without an intelligent use of them, destroys opportunity, and leaves a responsibility undischarged. In the past past few years an increasing interest in the formative elements of the population of the United States has become manifest. The subject has been admitted into lec ture courses at our universities, and has been given space in the pages of our popular magazines. Moreover the subject of foreign immigration, involving the question of restriction or discrimination, has become one of the great problems of the present day. The serious consideration, therefore, of any one of the leading foreign immigrations to this country assumes a present and practical value. The call for a comprehensive essay on the German element in the United States, by the founders of the Conrad Seipp Memorial Prizes, furnished an opportunity and incentive for the elaboration and completion of the writer's work. The prescribed title, reproduced verbatim on the foregoing title-page, presented a twofold problem; first, an outline of the history of the Germans in the United States, and secondly, a discussion of their political, moral, social, and educational influence. The first part, contained in Volume 1, tells the story of the German settlers in the thirteen colonies before the Revolutionary War, continues the narrative through the nineteenth century, and calls attention to their leading traits, their activities in peace and war, their coöperation in the building of the nation. Their record is a noble one, and should animate their descendants with the will to keep sacred such names as Weiser, Post, Herkimer, Ludwig, Treutlen, Helm, Bowman, Münch, Follen, Sutro, Sutter, Röbling, and a host of others, while Mühlenberg, Steuben, Kalb, Lieber, and Schurz should convey to them the inspiration of lasting achievement. The second part, the discussion of German influences, contained in Volume II, seemed possible only after an historical basis had been laid, such as has been attempted in Volume I. The method followed was that of summing up instances in order to establish principles. For example, |