PREFACE In "Our Beginnings in Europe and America," a European background book for the sixth grade in harmony with the report of the Committee of Eight upon the Study of History in the Elementary Schools and with the newer courses of study in our best public schools, the author briefly showed how the elements of our civilization grew from simple beginnings in the Old World and how in the fullness of time they were planted in America. In the present book for Grammar Schools and Junior High Schools, after a brief recapitulation of the story of discovery and early settlement in America, he continues to trace the development of civilization in our own country and to relate and explain the more important facts, movements, and problems in the origin and growth of the United States. It is believed that this book, like the earlier one, is in keeping with the suggestions of the Committee of Eight and that it meets the requirements of the more recent courses of study. In attempting to write a new school history of the United States the author has been guided by certain convictions which are the outgrowth of an experience of many years in the class room. The first and most fundamental of these convictions is that textbook writer and teacher alike must constantly keep in mind the stage of mental development of the pupils when they select and prepare the material of instruction. It is believed, however, that almost any topic in our history can be understood by children of Junior High School age if it is described concretely in clear and simple language. Such language the author has tried to use in this book. In the choice of material many unimportant facts and names, often found in textbooks, have been omitted in order to make it possible to give more attention to the men and the events that have played a vital part in the making of our country. These men and events have been presented in logical groups rather than in chronological order, because the fundamental ideas of growth and progress can be more clearly brought home to the pupils by this method of treatment. In the belief that history deals with past life in all of its phases the industrial, social, political, and intellectual sides of that life have each received due atten tion. It has also been remembered that all sections of the land, the older East and the newest West, the wheat fields of the North and the cotton fields of the South, the populous cities. and the sparsely settled plains, are parts of our country and that the story of the development of each of them is a part of our history. A special effort has been made to treat adequately the last fifty years of American life, the most important period in our history and yet the one most neglected in school work. The important part which the physical features of each section. have played in determining the nature of its growth has not been overlooked. The winning of a vast, untamed continent for civilization, the most important and at the same time the most dramatic movement in our past, and the growth and meaning of democracy, the most momentous question affecting the present and the future of our country, are the main themes of this book. The purpose of every textbook is to help the pupils who study it to learn and to love the subject which it treats. The success of any textbook depends in large measure upon the teachers and the pupils who use it. May the author of this book venture a few suggestions to the teachers who may teach it? First of all it is not a book to be memorized by the pupils. No textbook in history should be that. It is a book to be read, supplemented, thought about, and remembered. In teaching pupils to study any book the first step is to make sure that they read it in the sense of getting the author's thought from the printed page. The teacher can help at this point by anticipating and clearing up possible difficulties when assigning the lessons. The author has tried to help by a special effort to explain the more difficult topics in clear and simple language. The teacher ought to supplement any textbook in history by ample illustration and explanation drawn from her own reading and experience. The pupils ought to be given opportunities to supplement it by topical readings in other books. Teachers and pupils working together ought to do a great deal of thinking about the subject matter of the textbook. There is room here for much analysis, discrimination, comparison, judgment, and decision. When as a result of such study the class has decided that certain facts are important those facts ought to be remembered. Finally, every member of the class ought to be given every possible opportunity to talk and to write about what he has studied. All these steps ought to be taken because the purpose of teaching history in school is not merely to instruct boys and girls about the past but to lead them to think, to feel, and to act in the present, and to help them to become better citizens and finer men and women in the future. Every effort has been made in this book to provide teachers and pupils with the aids they need in order to study the history of our country according to the plan outlined in the last paragraph. References, lists of topical readings, classified illustrative literature, and questions and suggestions will be found at the end of each chapter. The References, which are primarily for the teacher, contain the names of a few of the best books upon the subject treated in that chapter. The Topical Readings are short, specific references to standard books that amplify or illustrate certain topics in the chapter in question. These readings vary greatly in length and in difficulty, a fact that the wise teacher will take into account in assigning them to individual pupils. It is not expected that every school will possess all the books named in these references and readings. Fortunate, indeed, is the school that has a quarter of them. But it is hoped that the Topical Readings will suggest to teachers the possibility of making and using similar lists from any material that may be available in their schools. The Illustrative Literature lists will introduce teachers and pupils alike to a host of poets, novelists, and biographers, many of whom are the best interpreters of the life and of the spirit of the time about which they write. The Questions and Suggestions are of such a nature as to stimulate thought or encourage a little historical investigation by the pupils. The author is indebted to many friends for encouragement and for helpful suggestions during the preparation of this book. He desires to acknowledge with gratitude his special obligation to Dr. W. D. Lewis, Deputy Superintendent, Department of Public Instruction of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and to Dr. J. L. Barnard of the Philadelphia Normal School for their thoughtful criticism of his work. Kalamazoo, Michigan, August 1, 1920. SMITH BURNHAM |