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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 The Library of Congress 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/methodinhistoryfOOmace 
 
Method in History 
 
 FOR 
 
 TEACHERS AND STUDENTS 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM H. MACE 
 
 Professor of History in Syracuse University, and author of 
 " A Working Manual of American History" 
 
 "The Law in the Mind and the Thought 
 in the Thing determine the Method" 
 -Wm. A. Jones 
 
 
 t JAN 
 
 Boston, U.SA., and London 
 GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 
 
 1897 
 

 Copyright, 1897 
 By WILLIAM H. MACE 
 
 AJAj rights reserved 
 
PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 +36 
 
 This book was not made to order, but grew out of an 
 effort, extending over several years, to justify the study of 
 the Pedagogy of History in a University Normal School. 
 Out of almost daily conferences over the problems of 
 general and special method arose the germs of that 
 masterful work, The Philosophy of Teaching, by Prof. 
 Arnold Tompkins, University of Illinois, and the present 
 volume, "Method in History." It is particularly gratifying 
 to me that this work, in passing through the press, has 
 again had the benefit of Professor Tompkins' deep insight 
 into the problem of teaching. The general principles of 
 the book also had the great benefit of being reviewed 
 by Superintendent Lewis H. Jones, Cleveland, Ohio;, and 
 President E. Benjamin Andrews, Brown University. 
 
 I am deeply indebted to Prof. Cyrus W. Hodgin, Earlham 
 College, not only for friendly encouragement while devel- 
 oping the work, but particularly for generous and valuable 
 service in the criticism of both its form and content. I 
 desire, also, to express my obligation to Prof. Moses Coit 
 
iv PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 Tyler, Cornell University, for the exceptional privilege of 
 working out a portion of the book in his Historical Seminar, 
 and for his scholarly and sympathetic criticisms. Finally, 
 the work has profited by the careful proof-reading of Mr. 
 Herbert P. Gallinger, Fellow in History, Amherst College. 
 
 W. H. M. 
 Syracuse University, March 10, 1896. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 — -**-Sg-fr~ — 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 Essential Elements of History. 
 
 General Character of the Problem 1 
 
 Erroneous View of History 2 
 
 Ideas of Form and Content in History 3 
 
 Continuity and Differentiation 7 
 
 ^X^ Five Great Institutions in History 10 
 
 The Five Phases not always Coordinate 14 
 
 Organic Unity of Institutional Life 15 
 
 Processes Involved in Organizing History. 
 
 General Nature of Organization 19 
 
 Organizing Principle of History 20 
 
 Fundamental Processes in Organization 21 
 
 THE PROCESS OF INTERPRETATION. 
 
 Nature and Kinds. 
 
 Definition of Interpretation 21 
 
 Interpretation of Events 26 
 
 Forms of Thought and Sentiment as Discovered in Inter- 
 pretation. 
 
 Causes 27 
 
 Positive and Negative Causes 28 
 
 Fundamental and Particular Causes 29 
 
 Purpose and Means 34 
 
 Immediate and Remote Ends 39 
 
 Material Presented for Interpretation. 
 
 Second-hand Material 42 
 
 Original Material 43 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 Educational Value of Interpretation. page 
 
 Nature of the Question 46 
 
 Integration and Unification 46 
 
 The Mechanical Historical Whole... 47 
 
 The Organic Historical Whole 49 
 
 Comparison the Basis of Integration 50 
 
 Simplification of Historical Knowledge 52 
 
 Division and its Uses 52 
 
 Interpretation Develops Historical Judgment 56 
 
 Emotional Results of Interpretation 58 
 
 Ethical Value of Interpretation 60 
 
 THE PROCESS OF COORDINATION. 
 
 Nature of the Process. 
 
 Basis of Coordination 64 
 
 Theoretical and Practical Need 65 
 
 Principle Stated 67 
 
 Suggestions as to Application 68 
 
 Educational Value of Coordination. 
 
 Effects as to Knowledge 74 
 
 Power of Judging Contemporaneous Events 75 
 
 ORGANIZATION OF THE PERIODS OF AMERICAN 
 HISTORY. 
 
 Period of the Growth of Local Institutions. 
 
 the relation of discoveries and explorations to this 
 
 PERIOD. 
 
 Not a Coordinate Phase of Institutional Life 77 
 
 True Connection and Rank 78 
 
 Non-American History 81 
 
 THE PERIOD AS A WHOLE. 
 
 What Constitutes a Period. 82 
 
 Nature of this Period 82 
 
 Organizing Idea 84 
 
 Phases of the Period 85 
 
 DIFFUSION OF RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES. 
 
 Why the New Differentiation is Made 86 
 
 The Organizing Principle in the Concrete 87 
 
CONTENTS. Vli 
 
 Principle Governing New England's Conduct toward page 
 
 English Authority 91 
 
 CENTRALIZATION OP RIGHTS AND OPPORTUNITIES. 
 
 Nature of this Organizing Idea 93 
 
 General Causes of the Movement 94 
 
 Economical Aspects 94 
 
 Social and Educational Effects 96 
 
 How the Principle Worked in Politics and Religion... 98 
 
 Conclusion 100 
 
 Principle Governing Southern Colonists' Attitude 
 
 toward England 101 
 
 THE MIDDLE COLONIES. 
 
 Internal Institutional Growth 103 
 
 Attitude toward English Authority 104 
 
 Period of the Growth of Union, 
 the period as a whole. 
 
 Transition from Isolation to Union ' 105 
 
 Period Proper 107 
 
 Organization as a Whole 109 
 
 Phases of the Period Ill 
 
 UNION AGAINST ENGLAND. 
 
 Organizes Events from 1760 to 1783 112 
 
 Union on Basis of Rights of Englishmen 113 
 
 Union on Basis of Rights of Man 118 
 
 Organization of Military Events 120 
 
 UNION BETWEEN THE STATES AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Organizing Idea of Second Half of the Revolution 129 
 
 Union on Basis of Sovereignty of the State 132 
 
 Union on Basis of Sovereignty of the Nation 135 
 
 Process and Material of Organization 137 
 
 Limit to the Process of Organizing a Period 140 
 
 Result 142 
 
 Period op the Development op Nationality. 
 
 the period as a whole. 
 
 General Nature of the Period 145 
 
 Phases of the Period 148 
 
Vlli CONTENTS. 
 
 Nationality and Democracy. page 
 a period of conflict. 
 
 Germs of the Conflict 149 
 
 Unconscious Progress of National Sentiment 150 
 
 Struggle Originates over Domestic Questions.. 152 
 
 Progress of the Conflict over Foreign Relations 158 
 
 Rapid Development of Anti-Democratic Sentiment 
 
 among the Federalists 164 
 
 The Triumph of Democracy 166 
 
 THE MUTUAL APPROACH OF NATIONALITY AND DEMOCRACY. 
 
 General Features of this Phase 170 
 
 Purchase of Louisiana 172 
 
 English Aggressions 175 
 
 Democracy's Efforts at Redress 176 
 
 Effects on Progress of Nationality and Democracy 179 
 
 War of 1812 as a Product of the National Spirit 180 
 
 The War as a Factor in Nationalizing Democracy 185 
 
 Significance of the Era of Good Feeling 190 
 
 THE FUSION OF NATIONALITY AND DEMOCRACY WORKING 
 OUT ITS RESULTS. 
 
 General Significance of this Phase 191 
 
 Significance of Jackson's Election 192 
 
 Jackson's Rule Interpreted 196 
 
 Campaign of 1840 201 
 
 Era of National Pride 203 
 
 Nationality and Slavery. 
 
 development of the conflict. 
 
 Origin of the Struggle 206 
 
 Meaning of the Missouri Struggle 210 
 
 Slavery Nullifies the Tariff 211 
 
 Meaning of the Movement for Texas 215 
 
 THE GROWTH OF SECTIONALIZATION. 
 
 Process already Begun 216 
 
 Motive and Results of the Mexican War 219 
 
 How the Discovery of Gold in California Aided in Sec- 
 
 tionalizing the Nation 222 
 
 Compromise of 1850 224 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Kansas-Nebraska Bill 226 
 
 Dred Scott Decision 229 
 
 Lincoln-Douglas Debate 230 
 
 Other Symptoms of the Triumph of Sectionalization.... 231 
 
 Meaning of the Charleston Convention 233 
 
 Significance of Secession 236 
 
 THE DESTRUCTION OF SLAVERY AND THE TRIUMPH OF THE 
 NATION. 
 
 Significance of Slavery's Appeal to Arms 238 
 
 Revival of Nationality in the North 240 
 
 How the Slavery Question Forced its Way to the Front 241 
 
 Significance of the Proclamation of Emancipation 245 
 
 Leading Military Events Making Good the Proclama- 
 tion of Emancipation and the Restoration of the 
 
 Nation 247 
 
 Other Events from the Proclamation to the Close of 
 
 the War 250 
 
 Digging Slavery up by the Roots 252 
 
 THE ELEMENTARY PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 The Sense Phase of History, 
 the general problem. 
 
 Nature and Purpose of Sense History 256 
 
 the material for sense history. 
 The Representative Phase of History, 
 the general problem. 
 
 Nature and Immediate Purpose 267 
 
 Remote Purpose ! 271 
 
 MATERIAL FOR REPRESENTATIVE HISTORY. 
 
 How to find the Starting-point 273 
 
 FORMS IN WHICH REPRESENTATIVE MATERIAL MAY BE PRE- 
 SENTED. 
 
 Story of the Ideal Historical Person 278 
 
 Story of the Real Historical Person 285 
 
 Story Side of the Event 289 
 
 Illustrations of Material and Method of Work 293 
 
 History Books for Young People 304 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I well know the danger that argues against wrenching 
 a subject to make it support a preconceived theory. Efforts 
 have been made to avoid this, and thus escape error and 
 reaen the truth. To this end the Introduction is now 
 written after the body of the work is ready for the pub- 
 lisher. However, certain general principles of education 
 have been present from the beginning, and have been either 
 confirmed or modified by the investigation into the " Method 
 in History." It is now proposed to indicate the nature of 
 the problem attacked and explain the method of its solution. 
 
 To state the matter negatively, the aim has not been 
 to discuss devices and external manipulations in teaching 
 history ; the term " method " is not even intended to 
 suggest diagrams, chronological charts, or other expedients 
 of like nature. But something far more fundamental has 
 been the aim : the determining factors in method and not 
 the determined — the principal and not the accidental 
 — ones have been sought for and put to work at the 
 problem. Whether diagrams, outlines, maps, and so on are 
 to be used in teaching history cannot be decided by the 
 whim of the teacher or by some current fashion in teach- 
 ing this subject, but is to be decided, like a dozen other 
 
Xll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 questions about devices and expedients, by an appeal to 
 principles. 
 
 It has been held in mind that education is an organic 
 process carried on by the cooperation of two forces : mind, 
 with its powers, processes, and products ; subject, with its 
 real or possible system of principles and facts. No neces- 
 sity exists here for the discussion of the unsettled problem 
 concerning the identity or non-identity of mind and sub- 
 ject ; it is sufficient to know that in the educative process, 
 conscious or unconscious, there is such a correspondence 
 and cooperation between the two factors that changes are 
 wrought in one of the factors, — mind ; and we often speak 
 of the subject as being changed from crude facts into some 
 sort of system. In any event, the mind of the learner 
 becomes educated — its possibilities made realities — by 
 possessing the thought of the subject. 
 
 In the process of learning the mind is conscious of the 
 thing it thinks and not of its own subjective processes. 
 In the process of teaching the learning mind is led and 
 directed in its efforts to come into contact with the content 
 of things. The teaching act involves another act of cor- 
 respondence and cooperation ; the mind of the teacher and 
 the mind of the learner cooperate in this act, the learner, 
 as before stated, conscious only of his subject, while the 
 teacher is conscious of the learner's thinking of the subject. 
 The teacher either is or is not directing a mental process. 
 If he is, then his conscious attention must rest upon that 
 process. The subject presents the common ground where 
 the teaching mind and the learning mind meet. The sub- 
 
INTRODUCTION. Xlll 
 
 ject itself is the product of a series of mental processes ; 
 it is a sort of mental formula which expresses the experi- 
 ence of the minds that have wrought it out. In order, 
 therefore, to direct the student mind in its creation of the 
 subject, the teacher must first have analyzed it into its 
 mental processes and products. 
 
 The above are fundamental facts about method in teach- 
 ing. These are some of the principles upon which the 
 so-called " methods " of teaching rest. They control ; they 
 are determining factors. To these must appeal be made 
 in deciding what devices shall be used, questions asked, or 
 directions given. How may a teacher know, for a cer- 
 tainty, what general devices are usable in any subject, 
 without knowing the general forms of activity the subject 
 calls forth ? How may a teacher prepare for the work 
 of each day who cannot forecast the thinking and feeling 
 to be aroused ? 
 
 The above factors are valuable as correctors of experi- 
 ence; they are above experience, for they inhere in the 
 nature of the teaching act. Experience makes mistakes, 
 and therefore is not the only guide, but must itself be 
 guided. Following the experience of others may be mere 
 imitation and make one the slave of forms, while teaching 
 under the guidance of principles gives inspiration and 
 confers freedom. 
 
 The analysis of a subject into its mental process not 
 only forms the basis for any rational discussion of the 
 devices to be used in stimulating the learning mind, but 
 such an analysis also forms the true basis for a discussion 
 
XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of the subject's educational value. The platitudes on this 
 great pedagogical problem might well be exchanged for a 
 critical analysis of the processes and products stimulated 
 and created in the learning mind. Such an analysis is best 
 made by observing the mind in the actual and concrete 
 process of working its way through the subject, and the 
 most competent person to make this observation is the 
 competent teacher whose function it is to direct this proc- 
 ess. The well-equipped public school teacher ought to be 
 better able to make a helpful discussion of educational 
 values than the superintendent, for he tests products and 
 results, while she ought to consciously direct processes. 
 The specialist in a Normal School or University ought, 
 also, to be more of an authority on the problem of method 
 in his field than even the Professor of Methods or the 
 Chair Pedagogy. If specialists were to turn their atten- 
 tion to the problem of method and educational values in 
 this higher sense, we should ultimately bridge the chasm 
 between our theory and practice ; our theory would vitalize 
 our teaching and in return our teaching would exemplify 
 the principles of our theory. This chasm is due to the fact 
 that our educational doctrines are obtained from a general 
 study of mind alone, while they ought to be obtained 
 from reducing this general view to a concrete form, or, 
 perhaps better, the general view of mind ought to be ap- 
 proached through the medium of the subject which is mind 
 in its concrete form. In making his preparation for teach- 
 ing, the student has before him two subjects, apparently 
 very different in every way ; he sees little kinship between 
 
INTRODUCTION.. XV 
 
 psychology and grammar. He usually feels that psychology 
 is a professional subject — a subject which somehow pre- 
 pares him to teach, while the special subject is non-pro- 
 fessional. Normal Schools generally set aside a portion of 
 their work and dignify it by the term "professional," while 
 other work is cheapened by being called academic. In a 
 Normal School the study of language, history, or mathe- 
 matics ought to be, and can be, made as strictly profes- 
 sional as the study of psychology. In truth the latter, as 
 generally taught, is just as non-professional as Latin or 
 algebra ; the only way to render any subject professional 
 is to study its bearing on the process of learning and teach- 
 ing. Now, the essential nature of geography is just as 
 important a factor in determining the method of learning 
 and teaching geography as is psychology. 
 
 The result of this one-sided view — or at best this dual 
 view of professional preparation — is that we have a litera- 
 ture that speaks of applied psychology, as if it were a sub- 
 ject to be learned and then in some way forced upon the 
 subject, — the subject made to fit a scheme that has been 
 prepared beforehand without particularly consulting the 
 subject to be professionalized. The result is that teachers 
 "professionally trained" still continue unable to bridge 
 the chasm between theory and practice. 
 
 This imperfect conception of the nature and relations of 
 the factors which must cooperate to determine rational 
 methods of instruction is not confined to the graduates of 
 Normal Schools. In fact, this class of teachers promise 
 too much toward remedying this evil. The truth is that 
 
XVI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 it is the prevailing custom among teachers in secondary 
 and primary schools to look upon the subject they teach as 
 contributing very little to the method of its teaching. The 
 result is to lower the subject — and, worst of all, the work 
 of teaching — in the estimation of the teacher. The sub- 
 ject stands as so much simple and easy matter upon which 
 no special preparation for the recitation is needed. The 
 work ceases to be interesting and sinks into mere drudgery. 
 College graduates take the same low view of work in 
 these schools. They feel that the branches taught even in 
 the best secondary schools present no problem worthy of 
 their metal ! There is a problem here worthy of their best 
 endeavors and that challenges, in point of difficulty, their 
 strongest and keenest powers. They generally do not 
 know where to look for it; it is a pedagogical, and not an 
 academical, problem. This work is written with the con- 
 fident hope that such a problem will be perceived in the 
 domain of history teaching in the primary and secondary 
 schools. 
 
 The ideas briefly stated in the preceding pages have 
 given general direction to this work. The plan has been 
 to look into history and discover there the processes 
 and products that the mind must work out in organizing 
 its facts into a system. Accordingly, the first step analyzes 
 a number of historical facts to discover some of the essen- 
 tial concepts in history, and at the same time allows the 
 facts discovered to indicate something about the general 
 way in which the mind must move in the subject. This is 
 followed by a more detailed inquiry into the general proc- 
 
INTRODUCTION. XV11 
 
 esses involved in organizing the material of history into 
 the form of a system. In other words, the general proc- 
 esses of interpretation and coordination and subordination 
 are inquired into and illustrated. Under the head of the 
 educational value of interpretation and coordination and 
 subordination the specific intellectual processes and prod- 
 ucts are indicated and illustrated, and also the emotional 
 and ethical stimulus imparted is pointed out. Next follows 
 an attempt to make more definite the general principles of 
 historical organization, and to show more fully their educa- 
 tional value by looking into the various periods and sub- 
 periods of American history. The purpose here was not 
 to organize the periods in detail, but rather to demonstrate 
 the possibility of doing so. With the ideal of historical 
 organization in mind, as these steps aim to create it, the 
 next part of the discussion opens with those preliminary 
 steps that the immature mind of the Primary and Grammar 
 grades must take in order to prepare the way for the real- 
 ization of the ideal set forth above. History in its organ- 
 ized or scientific form is an ideal toward which all work 
 in the subject ought to be directed. The teacher in the 
 Primary and Intermediate grades ought to be under the 
 influence of this view of history, and should be consciously 
 influenced by the fact that their work is one step toward 
 that goal. 
 
METHOD IN" HISTOET. 
 
 +» 
 
 THE GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY 
 
 AND THE PROCESSES INVOLVED IN THE ORGANI- 
 ZATION OF HISTORICAL MATERIAL. 
 
 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF HISTORY. 
 
 The General Character of the Problem. — Two factors 
 unite to produce historical knowledge, — the transforming 
 agent, mind, and the material to be transformed, the facts 
 of history. The explanation of how historical facts become 
 mind, and how mind becomes history, is the explanation of 
 the process of learning history. The relation between 
 these factors is an organic one. Hence, they can be most 
 profitably discussed together. In fact it is mere specula- 
 tion about historical science to discuss them out of this 
 living relation, and leaves the ordinary teacher possessed 
 of a body of theory and a body of concrete facts which 
 have no power over each other. It is confidently believed 
 that no better way can be found to enable the teacher to 
 bridge the chasm between theory and practice than to 
 exhibit the mind in the concrete process of working its way 
 through history. 
 
2 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 There must necessarily be two phases to our investiga- 
 tion : the first will set forth the essential attributes of the 
 material out of which history is constructed and the form 
 which this science will take, thus exhibiting it as a system 
 of ideas, — history reduced to a form of thought ; the 
 second will investigate the mental forms and processes 
 that history calls forth, — mind transformed into history, 
 or at least transformed by history. 
 
 The first of these phases is the one in which we end with 
 a logical view of history, — the form the subject must 
 finally take in the mature mind. This final view is equally 
 valuable to the teacher in every grade from the primary 
 school to the university. This thought of the subject the 
 university professor must build into the mind of the stu- 
 dent, and the primary teacher must hold it in view as the 
 goal for which she is preparing her pupils $ it is the ideal, 
 on the side of the subject, that must inspire and beckon both. 
 The discussion of the first phase naturally falls into two 
 parts : one investigating the fundamental attributes of the 
 subject-matter of history, and the other examining the func- 
 tion of these attributes in the process of giving the subject 
 its scientific form. Although each of these sub-phases will 
 have its turn in the discussion, it is not intended to keep 
 them rigidly separate, but, for pedagogical reasons already 
 given, they will be interwoven. Whenever conclusions are 
 reached as to the nature of historical material, their peda- 
 gogical implications will generally be noted. 
 
 An Erroneous View of History. — One of the most com- 
 mon errors about the nature of history is to regard it as 
 
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF HISTORY. 3 
 
 a " record." It is not a record, at least not more so than 
 any other subject, for it does not deal with the record as 
 such. History is hardly the thing recorded, for it does 
 not deal with events for their own sake, but only so far as 
 they reveal the life of which they are the result. The 
 " record " idea of history is a conception both superficial 
 and harmful, — superficial because it gives the teacher and 
 student no clue to the real nature of the historical problem, 
 and harmful because it both leads to the belief that the 
 book is the subject, and suggests that the proper thing to 
 do is to transfer the record from the book to the pupil's 
 mind by means of verbal memory. 1 After making this 
 brief statement of what history is not, let us go in quest 
 of a conception that is more fundamental, and therefore 
 more helpful ; and one, too, that is drawn from a careful 
 analysis of the material of history itself. 
 
 The Ideas of Form and Content in History Developed. — 
 The Pilgrims landed in December, 1620; but, as far as we can 
 see, our institutions would not be different if the Pilgrims 
 had landed six months earlier or six months later. The 
 landing was made on Plymouth Eock ; but it is difficult to 
 show that this interesting incident has added to the sta- 
 bility of our institutions. They came over in the Mayflower. 
 What if it had been the Speedwell, a vessel of no mean 
 name ? Would this have given America a different destiny ? 
 This boatload of precious freight numbered one hundred 
 
 1 This view of the subject leads to assigning lessons in terms of 
 paragraphs and pages ; and, what is still worse, the recitation is con- 
 ducted in the same way. 
 
4 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 two souls. What if there had been one hundred or 
 one hundred twenty ? Would this difference in num- 
 bers have changed our political, religious, and social 
 life ? They signed the " Compact " in the cabin of the 
 Mayflower • but it could have been signed on land without 
 having had its significance altered. There is one thing in 
 the life of this hardy band, and in the life of the numerous 
 bands that came to New England and elsewhere, that could 
 not have been changed without changing our history. If 
 these early settlers had been animated by a different set of 
 political, religious, and social ideas, the whole character and 
 trend of our institutions would have been altered. 
 
 The Declaration of Independence was made in Indepen- 
 dence Hall, Philadelphia, on July 4, 1776, in the hand- 
 writing of Thomas Jefferson, and with the big signature of 
 John Hancock attached. This event is a fact of great sig- 
 nificance in the life of our people, but in what does its 
 significance really consist ? Is it found in any or all of 
 the incidents named ? Many of these, however interesting, 
 seem matters of accident. Could not the Declaration have 
 been made in Carpenters' Hall, on some other day, in the 
 handwriting of some clerk, and have been signed by some 
 other president of the Continental Congress ? Would 
 such a variation in these facts have materially affected the 
 course of the Revolution ? Could not all of these happenings 
 have been different, and yet the whole of our history have 
 been, in the main, what it has been ? But there is a some- 
 thing here without which the superstructure of our insti- 
 tutional life would be entirely different. This vital thing 
 
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF HISTORY. 5 
 
 is the thought expressed in the Declaration, — the political 
 doctrines of the American people, then and now, which 
 it sets forth. This is the historical content of the event 
 and the document we call the Declaration of Independence ; 
 this is its life ; for without these ideas back of it, the event 
 would not have occurred. 
 
 The battle of Gettysburg was seen, heard, and felt by its 
 participants. It had a time and a place; there were so 
 many soldiers in line on each side, and these were com- 
 manded by certain officers ; so many men were killed and 
 wounded. In short, a hundred interesting incidents con- 
 nect themselves with this gigantic contest. But did these 
 things constitute the real Gettysburg ? Could not most, if 
 not all, of these features have varied and yet the real his- 
 torical fact have occurred? The ideas and principles that 
 surged in the brains and hearts of the two armies and of 
 the two sections, and without which the physical struggle 
 would not have been, were the true Gettysburg. No ; the 
 student who does not see two sets of political, social, 
 and industrial ideas belch from the opposing cannon and 
 gleam from sword and saber or flash from deadly bayonet 
 misses the permanent and enduring Gettysburg ! 
 
 If the process of analysis were applied to other events 
 in our history, or to events connected with the life of any 
 people, it would confirm what is already apparent, namely, 
 that there are two sets of facts in history. From this 
 brief analysis, however, the following conclusions may 
 be drawn as to the nature of history and as to the method 
 of its study: 
 
6 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 1. That one set of historical facts is made up of a 
 people's acts and the other of their thoughts and feelings, 
 ideas and emotions, and that these two sets are parallel 
 in time and together in place. This suggests a more inti- 
 mate connection. 
 
 2. That deeds or events are the signs or expressions of 
 a people's thought and feelings. Man thinks and feels, 
 and acts because he thinks and feels. The act, therefore, 
 is adapted to give expression to his state of mind. Hence, 
 the student may read a nation's thought in its events. 1 
 
 3. It may be said that events constitute the outer form 
 of the subject-matter of history, while thoughts, emotions, 
 and so on, constitute the essence or content of history. It 
 follows, then, that the problem of history lies in the mas- 
 tery of the content, while the events perform the function 
 of means. 
 
 4. Events occur, but ideas continue. Events are tran- 
 sient while ideas are enduring. Only ideas recur. The 
 same idea or sentiment may express itself in numberless 
 events of very different characteristics. The event, there- 
 fore, is particular, while the idea or sentiment may be 
 viewed as general. It follows that connections and con- 
 
 1 Every subject of study presents these two phases, — form and 
 content. In mathematics we have signs, rules, and formulae; and 
 number, its processes and relations. In language are found words, 
 sentences, and paragraphs ; and also thoughts ; and so on with other 
 subjects. " The amount of bad teaching growing out of a failure to 
 clearly differentiate form and content is simply appalling." The 
 most common mistake is to exalt form into an end, and degrade con- 
 tent into a means, or permit it to disappear altogether. 
 
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF HISTORY. 7 
 
 tinuity in history must be sought in ideas rather than 
 among events. The full pedagogical significance of this 
 distinction will be seen further on. 
 
 5. Primarily, events are effects, while thoughts and feel- 
 ings are the causes. But a people in the process of acting 
 under the impulse of an idea may modify it very greatly, 
 may intensify or diminish its strength, or may catch new 
 glimpses of its advantage or its disadvantage. In a sec- 
 ondary sense, then, events are causes and ideas are effects. 
 The suggestion here is that the teacher must see to it that 
 students catch the change in public sentiment that comes 
 through action, as well as search for the true cause of 
 events in a preceding state of public sentiment. 
 
 Growth in History is under the Laws of Continuity 
 and Differentiation. — It must be apparent from the above 
 conclusions that the problem of how to study and how to 
 teach history can be illuminated by a closer study of what 
 is seen to be the real essence of history, rather than by a 
 study of its outer form. This essence or content is the 
 life of a people, its life of thought and feeling. Thoughts 
 and feelings are forces that tend to realize themselves by 
 growth. They grow in extent by passing from mind to 
 mind. This process may go on until they absorb the 
 attention of the whole people. But such growth is 
 marked by changes in the ideas themselves. The laws 
 under which the content of history develops will appear 
 from the illustrations below. 
 
 A long time ago, the English kings called around them 
 their richest nobles to see how much they would give to 
 
8 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 carry on government or to prosecute war. This was re- 
 peated until it became a right on the part of the lords to 
 grant or refuse aid. After a time, other classes sent repre- 
 sentatives to advise the king. The two sets of advisers 
 formed the two houses of parliament, and the people 
 through these representatives managed the government of 
 England. The English colonies carried the idea to Amer- 
 ica. In early colonial times there was but one set of 
 representatives for purposes of legislation, — men elected 
 to represent the town or county in the colonial legislatures. 
 But before the Revolution, nearly all of the colonies had 
 two sets of representatives. The Revolution called for a 
 third set of delegates to represent the colony in the Con- 
 tinental Congress. The idea of delegated authority has 
 made great strides since that time. Now the ward has its 
 representatives in the common council, the township has 
 its delegates to the commissioners' court, while the county 
 elects men to go to the state legislature, and the states 
 in turn elect two sets of representatives to the national 
 Congress. The idea goes further : it has penetrated reli- 
 gious, educational, and industrial organizations, and seems 
 to furnish a convenient method of conducting any affair 
 in a large way. The complexity of the system is in strik- 
 ing contrast with the simple method of the colonial days 
 or of the still simpler way- of early England. 
 
 Continuity and differentiation in the content of history 
 are also well illustrated by the development of the idea of 
 toleration in religion. Once Virginia persecuted Baptists 
 and Puritans, while Massachusetts banished Boger Williams 
 
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF HISTORY. 9 
 
 and hanged Quakers ; but even in colonial times, the laws 
 against Quakers were either repealed or not enforced, and 
 the penalties against heresy were greatly reduced. The 
 revolutionary struggle wore off the sharp edges of religious 
 prejudice, so that most of the states recognized religious 
 freedom in their new constitutions. The sentiment of 
 toleration won its way so completely that the Constitution 
 declared the national legal separation of church and state ; 
 but religious freedom has not ceased growing after winning 
 a formal and legal recognition of its right ; it is now taking 
 on the form of a moral and personal right. The large and 
 increasing number of religious sects at present, compared 
 with the number in colonial days, shows how rapidly differ- 
 entiation in religious belief has gone on. 
 
 Other illustrations of these laws may be found by tra- 
 cing the development of our public-school system from its 
 colonial germs to its present high degree of complexity, 
 and also by marking the evolution of the crude industrial 
 ways of our early settlers down to the highly developed 
 organism of our own times. 1 
 
 From the above analyses and illustrations the following 
 conclusions may be drawn : 
 
 1. That history deals with the life of a people in the 
 process of growth. The content of history is not a dead 
 or fixed thing, but it lives and moves ; it is dynamical and 
 not statical. 
 
 1 The importance of clearly understanding these laws justifies large 
 illustration. Each new illustration can be made more helpful by using 
 a different sort of idea from those found in preceding illustrations. 
 
10 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 2. A people's life of thought and feeling obeys the law 
 of continuity and of differentiation. The law of continuity 
 means that there are no breaks or leaps in the life of a 
 people. Development may hasten or may slacken, and 
 may seem to cease for a time, but it is always continuous ; 
 it always proceeds out of antecedent conditions, and if it 
 be arrested for a time, it begins again at the point where it 
 ended. The operation of continuity makes history a unit, 
 and is the basis of the organization of its facts into a system. 
 
 3. The law of differentiation means that the thoughts 
 and feelings of a people take- on new form in the process 
 of growth. The new idea or movement, under continuity, 
 bears resemblance to its former self, while under differen- 
 tiation it is becoming unlike its former self. Continuity 
 retains something of the old, while differentiation brings 
 to it something new. In adding to the content of history, 
 differentiation produces complexity and at the same time 
 gives, in the new difference, the basis for noting progress. 1 
 
 4. That the understanding of history requires the stu- 
 dent to take ideas as germs and trace them through all 
 phases of their growth, thus putting continuous and paral- 
 lel threads of thought through the entire subject. This is a 
 kind of organization, because it puts a similar, though not 
 identical, content into remote and very diversified events. 
 
 Five Lines of Growth and Five Great Institutions in 
 History. — Not only do certain lines of thought develop 
 in obedience to the laws of continuity and differentiation, 
 
 1 The constant recurrence, through their application, of the points 
 under " 2 " and " 3 " makes their further illustration unnecessary. 
 
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF HISTORY. 11 
 
 but the life of the race, as a whole, grows in the same 
 way. An examination of the life of any people will reveal 
 certain permanent features common to the history of all 
 civilized nations. There will be found five well-marked 
 phases, — a political, a religious, an educational, an indus- 
 trial, and a. social phase. These are further differentiated 
 by the fact that each has a great organization, called an 
 institution, around which it clusters, and whose purpose, 
 plan of work, and machinery are peculiar to itself. For 
 political ideas the center is the institution called govern- 
 ment ; for religious ideas, the church ; for educational and 
 culture influences, the school ; for industrial life, occupa- 
 tion ; and for social customs, the family. But there was a 
 time when these elements of life were not so fully differ- 
 entiated. The primitive history of all peoples shows that, 
 in the beginning, institutional life presented itself to 
 man's consciousness as a simple and undivided whole. 
 Abraham did not separate in thought his political from 
 his religious duties ; nor did he think of his business and 
 social interests as different and disconnected. In his day 
 there were only the germs of a government, a church, 
 and a school ; and these were so interwoven with other 
 interests that they constituted one great life. But between 
 then and now the principle of differentiation has done its 
 work so perfectly that we often think of the government 
 without the church coming into mind, and so with the 
 other institutions. These institutions have become great 
 crystallized centers of life around which the thoughts and 
 feelings of a people grow. 
 
12 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 Growth becomes permanent by being embodied, through 
 law or custom, in its appropriate institution. Growth in 
 political thought and feeling finds entrance into govern- 
 ment ; public sentiment, under the pressure of war, abol- 
 ished slavery in this country, and the result was written 
 in our constitution ; the rise of political parties has added 
 many new customs to our method of president-making. A 
 movement in religious sentiment may ultimately embody 
 itself in church, creed, or custom. The admission of women 
 to colleges on equal terms with men shows that the school 
 adjusts itself to the growth of- educational ideas ; the idea 
 of a practical education, so called, has spread till all classes 
 of schools — the public school, the college, and the uni- 
 versity — have felt its touch and have remodeled courses 
 of study so as to harmonize with the new idea. Similarly 
 this is true of social and industrial life. This crystalliza- 
 tion of institutional thought and feeling makes progress 
 possible, — a given generation profiting by the labor of the 
 one that is past, and building for the one that is to come. 
 
 But this is not all gain ; for an idea, after embodiment in 
 institutions through formal enactment or by well-established 
 custom, tends to cease growing ; it becomes very largely a 
 conservative force, and hinders to some extent further 
 progress. The established order in society sets itself up 
 in the minds of people as an ideal to be maintained, and 
 public sentiment moves away only after another and differ- 
 ent ideal wins the people to its support. 
 
 Unless public opinion is unanimous, it is impossible to 
 embody it completely in a rule of action. In most cases, 
 
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF HISTORY. 13 
 
 even after successful revolution, there is a form of the 
 dominant sentiment too radical to gain the support of a 
 majority. The unembodied sentiment may constitute the 
 germs of a new movement, and under appropriate condi- 
 tions may produce a conscious difference between what is 
 and what ought to be. When this difference becomes 
 marked, a conflict usually follows ; it may be only a 
 spirited controversy ; it may be a new revolution. In the 
 latter case, public sentiment is marked by a high degree 
 of consciousness, by great intensity of passion and the 
 destruction of old forms of thought and action, and by the 
 rapid development of new phases. 
 
 It often happens in movements attended by the display 
 of passion that many temporary and extraneous phases of 
 sentiment appear, catch the ear of a faction, then disappear 
 and cease to affect either of the great currents of thought 
 and feeling. 
 
 From this examination of the law of differentiation as 
 applied to the growth of institutional life as a whole, and 
 to the embodiment of growth in permanent forms, certain 
 inferences may be drawn : 
 
 1. That the phenomena of history may be grouped in 
 five different classes ; that history is not confined to the 
 study of politics, but includes the entire life of a people. 1 
 
 1 It is interesting to note the progress made on this point by our 
 school histories. The earlier texts gave large space to military ex- 
 ploits of all kinds, particularly those with the Indians. This class of 
 works was followed by another that gave less attention to war and 
 more to the study of political events, but ignoring, in the main, the 
 other four phases of life. Many of these texts are now in use in 
 
14 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 2. That there are five lines of growth that move on 
 down through the life of a people and give linear continuity 
 to the subject, and, therefore, a clue to the method of its 
 organization. 
 
 3. That each of these phases of a people's thought 
 clusters around and becomes embodied in a great and per- 
 manent institution. 
 
 4. That the more advanced phases of sentiment do not, 
 for the time, become embodied in either law or custom, and 
 thus they form germs that may produce a conflict between 
 what is and what ought to be. Hence the student must 
 take account of ideas and sentiments that fail to find accept- 
 ance with the majority. 
 
 The Five Phases not always of Coordinate Historical 
 Value. — While these great ganglia of humanity's life are 
 all structurally essential to its well-being, yet they are not, 
 at all times and in all movements of that life, of equal, his- 
 torical value. Movements, large or small, have been char- 
 acterized usually by the predominance of one of these 
 phases. Now it is the religious, again the political ; and at 
 another time the social and economic are so blended in the 
 movement that neither seems to dominate ; often, as will 
 be demonstrated below, the results may be profoundly felt 
 in every phase of institutional life, and yet very seldom 
 are found equally distributed among them. 
 
 Political institutions absorb public attention in our age 
 more than any others. This is partly an epochal tei 
 
 schools. But another kind of history text is beginning to find favor, 
 one that takes account of the whole life of the people. 
 
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF HISTORY. 15 
 
 for it was hardly true of the sixteenth and seventeenth 
 centuries. But it seems mainly true now because govern- 
 mental functions have been so extended as to have over- 
 sight of all other interests. At least, government undertakes 
 to adjust the interests of the various institutions so as to 
 promote the best life of the whole and of its parts. While 
 each institution reacts upon government, yet it effects this 
 indirectly, and more or less unconsciously. The state, 
 therefore, gives direction not only to political history, 
 but to some extent to all history. Since politics is not 
 political only, it seems proper that the political phase of 
 life should constitute a greater portion of history than any 
 other. 1 
 
 The Organic Unity of Institutional Life. — Although 
 the process of differentiation has given us five well-marked 
 sets of institutional ideas, yet the principle of continuity 
 teaches us to look for their organic unity. Some illustra- 
 tions will set forth this life-connection between the phases. 
 
 The French and Indian war was a great military event, 
 and, as such, belonged immediately to the domain of gov- 
 ernment. It produced, as we should expect, great political 
 results, but besides these there flowed from it religious 
 and industrial consequences of almost infinite importance. 
 This struggle decided that North America should become 
 a new home for English Protestantism, and that French 
 Catholicism must return to European soil. This result lifted 
 ; -load from the minds and hearts of the English 
 
 1 Whether this ought to be so may perhaps he a question, but that 
 it is so is not a question, whatever the explanation. 
 
16 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 colonists. Yet, even if victory had belonged to France, 
 the religious effect would have been just as great, and the 
 principle of historical growth would have been as fully 
 illustrated. Again, this war brought into personal contact 
 the Puritan, the Baptist, the Dutchman, and the Cavalier ; 
 they messed together, marched together, and fought to- 
 gether; they shared each other's joys and sorrows, victories 
 and defeats. Seven years of this and other forms of mu- 
 tual intercourse did much to tone down religious exclusive- 
 ness and prejudice. A series of military events thus pro- 
 duced profound religious effects. This war also decided 
 that free instead of parochial schools should bless America ; 
 and yet more, for it destroyed the possibility of French 
 family and social life. This long struggle also burdened 
 both England and the colonies with heavy debts. The 
 former tried to lighten her load by putting new burdens on 
 the trade of the latter. The colonies replied by refusing 
 to have commercial intercourse with England, and began 
 to develop their own resources, which led the way to com- 
 mercial as well as to political independence. So much for 
 the political, religious, educational, industrial, and social 
 effects of a series of military events. 
 
 The American Revolution was a mighty political upheaval 
 whose forces are not yet spent. The American people 
 came out of this struggle with greatly modified social, moral, 
 and religious ideas and feelings. 
 
 Let us push our examination further by looking at a 
 form of growth that did not have its origin in politics. 
 The planters at Jamestown took that first cargo of dusky 
 
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF HISTORY. 17 
 
 freight purely as a business venture ; they simply asked 
 how to raise tobacco in the easiest and cheapest way ; they 
 had no thought of its bearing on the other forms of insti- 
 tutional life. The venture proved successful and the 
 system of slave labor filled the South. But slavery gave 
 the master and his children wealth and leisure, while to 
 the non-slaveholding white, it brought poverty and toil ; 
 he could not win a competence for himself and family in 
 competition with slave labor ; whatever his ambition, the 
 poor white could hardly break over the industrial barrier 
 that slavery built between him and success. The children 
 of the planter could be educated, but this institution which 
 began as a business venture denied to the child of the non- 
 slaveholder an opportunity for an education ; poverty could 
 not educate its children, and slavery refused to build free 
 schools. These differences drew a sharp line through 
 Southern social life. There was little friendship between 
 the two classes of families, for this industrial venture had 
 given into the hands of one class all the social amenities 
 that wealth, leisure, and intelligence could bring, while to 
 the other class all of these were denied. All these influ- 
 ences made the slaveholder the politician of the South ; no 
 other class was so well fitted for statesmanship. He was 
 the most desirable man to send to the colonial legisla- 
 tures, and afterwards to the National Congress. This 
 industrial venture seemed to favor office-holding, for the 
 South, at all times, furnished a larger proportion of na- 
 tional officials, according to her population, than any other 
 section of the country. In the colonial legislatures, the 
 
18 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 slaveholder passed laws that favored the development of 
 this industrial system. In the nation at large, slavery- 
 organized and destroyed political parties, dictated the 
 nomination of candidates for the presidency, defeated can- 
 didates opposed to its interests, declared war, and made 
 treaties. Not only did this industrial system thus mold 
 the politics of our country, but it also colored the moral 
 and religious thought and feeling of the entire nation ; it 
 forced Southern pulpits to manipulate Holy Writ in its 
 defence ; it rent in twain religious organizations that were 
 hoary with age. Thus we see that negro slavery, an indus- 
 trial institution in its origin, affected most profoundly 
 every phase of our institutional life. 
 
 If this analysis be correct, the following conclusions 
 may be drawn : 
 
 1. That the life of a people is an organic whole ; that 
 this life is one mighty stream of five currents moving on 
 toward one goal ; that there is not one destiny for govern- 
 ment, another for the church, another still for the school, 
 and a different one for industrial and social interests, but 
 that all these constitute one life with one destiny. 
 
 2. That the student must trace transverse and intricate, 
 as well as parallel, lines of growth in the subject of his- 
 tory ; that he must take each great event and each great 
 series of events, and discover the extent to which many 
 or all of the institutions are affected, thus producing in 
 his own mind a body of organized knowledge which shall 
 be the subjective counterpart of that objective unity found 
 in the life of a people. 
 
PROCESSES INVOLVED IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 
 
 The General Nature of Organization. — The general 
 principles wrought out in the preceding pages throw some 
 light on the possibility of organizing historical material. 
 It is now proposed to ask how the mind takes what appears 
 at first view as disconnected and isolated facts of history 
 and organizes them into a consistent body of knowlege ; 
 to state and illustrate the particular processes through 
 which this material goes, and the final form it takes in 
 the mind of the student. This will make clear the trans- 
 formation of historical matter into a system of thought. 
 
 The analysis of the processes involved in organizing a 
 subject makes the student conscious of the so-called scien- 
 tific view of the subject. Science declares that every 
 subject of investigation presents two sets of facts for 
 organization, generals and individuals, — laws and princi- 
 ples on the one hand, and particular and specific phenomena 
 on the other. Neither set viewed alone constitutes the 
 subject, nor do both, taken merely in the aggregate ; it is 
 only when the mind grasps these two sets of facts in their 
 organic unity that we have a subject in the true scientific 
 sense. The relation is a vital one, for science declares that 
 principles x are originally discovered by the examination of 
 
 1 Principles in history resemble all others in being general in their 
 nature, and differ from some in being active forces moving to the 
 
20 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 individual facts, while the latter are to be looked upon as 
 the concrete embodiment of principles ; in other words, if 
 the mind begins with one it must pass to the other and back 
 again in order to realize the scientific ideal so far as organ- 
 ization is concerned. The problem of organization, there- 
 fore, is really the problem of constructing a science, that 
 is, of discovering, stating, and explaining the relations 
 between these two sets of facts. 
 
 Organization is, therefore, a mental process and not a 
 mechanical one. No subject, as many teachers unfortu- 
 nately think, can be organized in a notebook or on a black- 
 board. At best, such an arrangement of words and signs 
 can only suggest a few of the relations and processes 
 involved in organization. Too often systems of lines, 
 braces, and brackets delude the mind and become a sub- 
 stitute for that real organization which can only take 
 place in the thinking mind. 
 
 The Organizing Principle of History. — There is a 
 central principle in every subject which sets it off from 
 every other subject, and at the same time is the very core 
 of its every phase and fact. 1 In history we have found 
 this central principle to be the growth of institutional 
 
 production of the individual facts through which they express them- 
 selves. Like most principles, they inhere in content rather than in 
 form, and vary in degree of generality from those found in a few indi- 
 vidual facts to those sweeping in all the individuals of the subject. 
 
 1 A fact may be found in one or in many subjects according as 
 it contains the central idea of one or many subjects. The same fact 
 may appear in biology, geology, and history, but in each case it is 
 related to a different principle and exhibits a different content. 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 21 
 
 life, because this idea touches and is touched by all the 
 great events which mark the course of human destiny. 
 Some events have helped and some have hindered the 
 evolution of institutional life, but all have been related to 
 it. Not only is this principle fundamental to all events, 
 but also to all sub-phases of human thought and feeling, 
 whether they have characterized periods of calm or 
 periods of agitation, — periods of evolution or periods of 
 revolution. 1 
 
 The Fundamental Processes in Organization. — We 
 have already learned that organization names the proc- 
 esses by which the mind arranges the material of a sub- 
 ject according to its inherent relations. Based upon the 
 relations between the principles of history and its par- 
 ticular facts, historical organization has two fundamental 
 processes : 
 
 1. Interpretation, which gives the basis for integration 
 and division ; 
 
 2. Coordination and subordination, which results in 
 the proper selection and ranking of facts. 
 
 THE PROCESS OF INTERPRETATION. 
 
 Nature and Kinds. 
 
 Definition of Interpretation. — Interpretation is the 
 process by which the mind puts meaning or content into 
 
 1 Some excellent thinkers in history express the universal organiz- 
 ing principle of history in terms of rational freedom. Perhaps the 
 only practical ohjection to this statement of the principle is that it is 
 too abstract to permit a statement of subordinate phases. 
 
22 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 individual facts. This is a universal process and goes on 
 wherever mind, and object meet. In each individual fact 
 two phases of content are discovered by interpretation : 
 one phase is common to many other facts, while the other 
 is peculiar to the interpreted fact. When interpretation 
 reveals a content common to many individuals the basis 
 of integration is found, while the discovery of the particu- 
 larizing element furnishes the ground for division. 
 
 In history the process of interpretation is carried on by 
 discovering the growth of institutional life in particular 
 events or in some more individual phase of thought and 
 feeling. There are thus two kinds of interpretation in 
 history ; one puts content into events, and the other puts 
 content into subordinate phases of institutional life. 
 
 The Interpretation of Events. — Here external occur- 
 rences are viewed as the sign of some internal movement 
 of the, people's thought and feeling. To discover this 
 movement through its sign, the event, is to interpret the 
 latter. We have learned that just as a word is the sign 
 of an idea, so is the act of a people the sign of their ideas 
 and feelings. The event is the more easily interpreted 
 because a people in conscious action generally selects the 
 kind of event best adapted to give expression to its states 
 of thought and feeling. 
 
 The full meaning of an event is obtained by viewing it 
 under two relations : 1. As a product of a preceding 
 movement in thought and feeling. Here the event is 
 seen to emerge from the concrete life of a people and to 
 be a natural and normal result of surrounding conditions. 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 23 
 
 In other words, the event is viewed as a sort of receptacle 
 into which the preceding current of public sentiment flows, 
 and which it really created in the course of its develop- 
 ment. 2. The second step in the interpretation of an 
 event is to view it as a factor producing changes in the 
 movement out of which it grew. Here the event returns, 
 as it were, into the stream of institutional life, and works 
 there those changes which it is capable of producing as 
 cause. Both of these points of view of the content of an 
 event are necessary to its complete interpretation. If the 
 event to be interpreted is a great one or is long continued, 
 then a third step must be taken, namely, to see how public 
 opinion changes while the event is in the process of occur- 
 ring. The excitement of action intensifies thinking, and 
 produces changes in the minds of the persons involved. 
 These changes are often very great, as in the case of a 
 series of events, such as a war. Sometimes this is the 
 only means of accounting for the changes set on foot by 
 the event. In such instances, this intermediate step would 
 become second in the process of interpreting an event. 
 Some illustration of the interpretation of events will serve 
 to make the conception more accurate. 
 
 The founding of Jamestown was an external event, and 
 it remains such to the student until it is discovered to be 
 the product and the sign of England's desire to extend her 
 institutions and interests to the western continent. Further 
 content is given to this event when its success is seen to 
 stimulate the national desire for colonial empire. 
 
 The formation of societies for non-importation by the 
 
24 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 colonial merchants is an event to be interpreted. In gene- 
 ral, this is to be done by discovering in these organizations 
 an idea reaching further than they did, and which appears 
 as content in a wider range of events, and also by discover- 
 ing in them a form of sentiment peculiar to them. The 
 idea found as the content in these events is that of union 
 then (1765) growing up and beginning to control the acts of 
 the colonists from Maine to Georgia. We put union into 
 these organizations by discovering that they are caused by 
 the agitation for organized resistance to the Stamp Act. In 
 doing this the student views this series of events as the 
 natural outgrowth of the movement toward union begun 
 before 1765. But he must take another step, and trace the 
 immediate effect of these participations in organizations on 
 the further growth of the sentiment of union, and thus 
 gather their contribution to this great struggle. This is 
 done by watching how cooperation in their formation and 
 functions roused a stronger sentiment, — how it made 
 aggressive the society of the Sons of Liberty ; gave origin 
 to the Daughters of Liberty with their organizations for 
 the promotion of household production and the develop- 
 ment of an infectious enthusiasm for American liberty ; 
 and finally how it stimulated those lower passions of hate 
 and spite between the friends and foes of the new move- 
 ment, and made each firmer in the position taken. But 
 the student must go further in his interpretation, and trace 
 the effect of non-importation upon American thought and 
 feeling. He must see how the merchants gained greater 
 confidence in union and cooperation through these organi- 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 25 
 
 zations, since by them they entailed an immense industrial 
 loss upon the English merchant, manufacturer, and laborer. 
 Here the student ought to see the consternation of these 
 classes : of the merchant as no more orders for goods came 
 from America, of the manufacturer as he closed his estab- 
 lishment or discharged a portion of his laborers, of the 
 latter as they ceased to draw wages, and were unable to 
 pay debts and to buy food ; and the united action of all 
 these in storming parliament with petitions, and finally 
 the great speeches in that body which reveal changing 
 national sentiment in favor of repeal. In these facts he 
 will discover the true explanation of how fidelity to union 
 was exalted into a virtue, and how opposition was regarded 
 as a crime, how non-importation began to be looked upon 
 as an efficient means of commercial retaliation, which 
 lasted long after the revolution was over. 
 
 It may not be amiss to explain here how the process of 
 interpretation cannot be carried on. It is customary, when 
 explaining the non-importation societies, simply to say that 
 " they were caused by the Stamp Act." For the student, 
 this may or may not be true. In one sense it cannot be 
 true, for one external act has little if any direct historical 
 influence over another. The Stamp Act and the non-impor- 
 tation societies, as external facts pictured in imagination, 
 were three thousand miles apart and could not touch each 
 other. Let us suppose that physical contact is not meant. 
 Can the teacher be certain from the statement quoted what 
 is meant ? Ordinarily it would not mean that the relation 
 to public sentiment had been traced ; that these organiza- 
 
26 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 tions had been seen to grow out of, and back into, this sen- 
 timent. Perhaps the pnpil is left to the ingenuity of his 
 own imagination to discover the true relations between 
 these events. So long as that imagination passes directly 
 from one event to another, no possibility of interpretation 
 exists, for one individual fact has no interpretative power 
 over another of the same rank. 
 
 The Interpretation of Phases of Institutional Life. — 
 The fact that the principles of a subject vary in degree of 
 generality, and that the less general phases of institutional 
 growth are phases of some more general movement, makes 
 the process of interpretation possible for this class of his- 
 torical facts. This form of interpretation may be illus- 
 trated in a brief manner by the following example. The 
 dominant idea in forming the Confederation, the cause for 
 which the small states struggled in the convention of 1787, 
 the principle in the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions, the 
 recommendations of the Hartford convention, the doctrine 
 of nullification as set forth by Calhoun and South Carolina, 
 and the principle of secession, were only phases of the 
 same great idea, — the sovereignty of the state. For the 
 mind to discover the identity of this general institutional 
 idea with this large number of apparently isolated and 
 particular phases, is to interpret them. The meaning of 
 each particular phase is greatly enriched by discovering 
 in it the principle of state sovereignty. Other illustra- 
 tions on a large scale may be found in the phases of union 
 developed during the revolution, and also in the sentiment 
 of nationality from 1789 to 1860. 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 27 
 
 Forms of Thought and Sentiment as Discovered in 
 
 Interpretation. 
 
 Causes. — It must be apparent, already, that the process 
 of interpretation aims to put the student into close and inti- 
 mate contact with the people whose life he studies. How 
 to make events and other facts adequately reflect that life 
 is a vital question in teaching history. In order to do this, 
 at least all the important phases of thought and sentiment 
 in a given movement must be reached. All the various color- 
 ings that public opinion puts on in its process of growth 
 will serve to deepen and enrich impressions. To see the 
 way in which these various effects are produced in insti- 
 tutional life greatly aids their interpretation. In fact it is 
 absolutely essential to right interpretation that history be 
 conceived as a process. But it is difficult to view it as 
 such, although we have seen this to be a fundamental char- 
 acteristic of its content. The imagination is prone to pic- 
 ture scenes and situations and thus deceive the judgment 
 into thinking history statical. This false view is best 
 corrected by constantly tracing the influences and forces 
 that produce the historical process. Such factors are 
 denominated causes, but they are such to the student only 
 when traced into the current of institutional life. It is 
 quite fashionable now to go outside the historical field into 
 the domain of geology, geography, and so on, to find the 
 causes of the historical process. This is entirely proper 
 and necessary, provided the student can trace these extra- 
 
28 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 historical causes into the current of human thought and 
 feeling and note there the changes made. Only in this 
 way can other subjects contribute to the interpretation of' 
 history. 
 
 We have already seen that in the general process of in- 
 terpretation the student must put into the event the public 
 sentiment that precedes and succeeds it. In doing this 
 the mind looks upon the movement of this sentiment as 
 a cause producing the event; and as an effect partly pro- 
 duced by the event. We thus see that the content of 
 events may be viewed as both cause and effect. It will 
 make interpretation clearer if we look at the nature of 
 historical causes. 
 
 Positive and Negative Causes. — On the basis of their 
 essential nature we may class causes as positive or negative. 
 Public sentiment^ or any force which molds public senti- 
 ment, is positive when by virtue of its essential nature it 
 tends to progress, tends to promote civilization. A posi- 
 tive cause is constructive in intent and being. A negative 
 cause is a phase of public sentiment or a force which tends, 
 from its inherent nature, to be destructive, or at least 
 obstructive ; it tends to stand in the way of progress. 
 Thus the sentiment that favored union in the colonies 
 against the aggression of England was positive, while the 
 attitude of king and parliament was negative. The sen- 
 timent in favor of a strong government during the Con- 
 federation was a positive cause, for, in its nature, it was 
 progresssive and constructive ; while the opposition to the 
 adoption of the Constitution was a negative cause, for the 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 29 
 
 reason that it tended, from its nature, to hinder progress. 
 The causes of the Civil War, or of any great war, may 
 be classified in the same way. If revolutions be compared 
 as to the number of positive and negative causes, it will be 
 found that the greater number of negative causes belong 
 to the most destructive revolutions, while the number of 
 positive causes increases as the revolution approaches the 
 character of an evolution in institutional life. Hence the 
 interpretative value of classifying the causes of a move- 
 ment in history under these categories. 1 
 
 Fundamental and Particular Causes. — In viewing the 
 contents of events as active forces, a more valuable classi- 
 fication of causes may be found based upon differences in 
 the degree of generality in the content. On this basis the 
 student will discover that some are particular and special, 
 while others are general and fundamental. The particular 
 and the general, we have seen, bear a vital relation to each 
 other in every department of knowledge. Hence, to be 
 able to discover a series of causes as particular phases of 
 some greater truth means not only more perfect interpre- 
 tation, but is a long step toward organization in the form 
 of integration. An illustration will make this clear. Let 
 
 1 Careful analysis will reveal that positive movements produce at 
 times negative results. The American Revolution, as a whole, was a 
 mighty, positive force, making for progress in almost every phase of 
 institutional life, and yet many of its results were negative. Likewise 
 negative causes may produce positive results. The Boston Port Bill 
 was negative, and yet it produced many positive results. In all such 
 cases some factor intervenes to turn the cause toward an effect oppo- 
 site in nature. 
 
30 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 us take the causes of the decline of the Confederation. 
 Here they are, as frequently seen in text-books : 
 
 1. The Confederation had no executive or judicial 
 department. 
 
 2. Congress could not raise an army. 
 
 3. No power of direct or indirect taxation was given to 
 the Confederation. 
 
 4. Congress had no control over domestic commerce. 
 
 5. Congress could not enforce treaties with other 
 nations. 
 
 6. The Confederation operated on states and not on 
 individuals. 
 
 7. The Articles of Confederation recognized the sov- 
 ereignty of the state. 
 
 8. Voting in congress was by states. 
 
 9. The people owed allegiance to the state only. 
 
 The effect of these and of other causes that might be 
 named was the destruction of the Confederation. As causes 
 they were forces in the process of working out the result 
 indicated. The student must see them as such — must 
 witness them in this process — if the right interpretation 
 is to be made and a proper value set on each cause as a 
 factor in the result. But there are three views, any one 
 of which he may take. He may look upon these state- 
 ments as expressing a given amount of historical fact, 
 statistical in its nature, which may be learned by using 
 memory, thus gaining no interpretation. Again, the stu- 
 dent may see each of these as a real force moving toward 
 its own result. Each is thus only an individual and 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 31 
 
 isolated cause and hence of little organizing value. This 
 is always the result of seeing only a series of direct or 
 particular causes. 
 
 The above points of view may be taken without the con- 
 sciousness of the fundamental cause coming into the stu- 
 dent's mind. In this state of mind he sees no connection 
 between the first cause given above and the last one. The 
 identity of causes two, three, four, and so on, with the 
 last cause in the list is not perceived. The only con- 
 nection, the only kinship among these causes that this 
 view gives is that each aids, as a cause, in producing the 
 same result, — the downfall of the Confederation. This 
 process is vastly superior to the first named, for it 
 yields more discipline and a better understanding of the 
 subject. 
 
 Another view may be taken : the general or fundamental 
 cause may be found and the others may be interpreted 
 with reference to it. The careful comparison and contrast 
 of the causes listed above will show that the first eight 
 are closely related to the ninth cause. By common con- 
 sent, when the colonists transferred their allegiance from 
 England, they gave it on all domestic concerns primarily 
 to their respective colonial governments. The Continental 
 Congress recognized this relation in creating the Confedera- 
 tion by making the states, in the main, sovereign. Wherever 
 primary allegiance is placed, there sovereignty will reside. 
 This shows that allegiance conditions sovereignty, and 
 that cause seven is the result of cause nine. Great men 
 like Madison and Hamilton attributed much of the Con- 
 
32 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 federation's weakness to the fact that it did not operate on 
 individuals. The truth is that the Confederation had no 
 individuals — citizens — on which to operate. The people 
 were citizens of the states, because they had placed their 
 allegiance there, hence cause nine is the cause of cause six. 
 Why could not congress enforce treaties made by itself ? 
 Who violated such treaties ? Evidently the citizens of 
 the states. What power had congress over them? None, 
 since they owed allegiance to their respective states. 
 Thus cause five is the effect of cause nine. The fourth 
 cause in the list bears a similar relation to the last one. 
 Logically, the framers of the Confederation could not have 
 given the Confederation control over domestic commerce 
 after recognizing that the people owed it no direct alle- 
 giance. It would simply have aggravated the situation if 
 the Confederation had been given executive and judicial 
 departments. The attempt of the executive to enforce the 
 laws of congress or execute the decisions of the judges 
 would have brought the states and the Confederation into 
 violent collision, for the citizens of the states would have 
 been constantly appealing to their own authorities for pro- 
 tection. The men who made the Articles were more logical 
 than some of their critics have been. 
 
 In the same way the remaining particular causes of the 
 fall of the Confederation may be traced to the fundamental 
 cause, thus illustrating its interpreting value, as compared 
 with the other possible ways of viewing the causes of this 
 great event in American history. From every point of 
 view we must see that the reduction of these causes to 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 33 
 
 their highest terms is vastly more to be desired than either 
 of the other methods of working with them. 
 
 It thus appears possible to reduce a series of particular 
 causes to one fundamental one, or at least to a few. In 
 no subject is it more difficult than in history to reduce 
 diversity to unity. The constant tendency of the student, 
 especially in dealing with causes, is to enumerate facts 
 which have obvious differences and take it for granted that 
 a new fact has been discovered, when in truth the new 
 fact may be only another embodiment of a general idea 
 which has already been often discovered in other particular 
 facts. A similar study of the causes of the Civil War will 
 show like results, the reduction of a larger number of 
 particular causes to one, slavery, or at most two, slavery 
 and state sovereignty. This illustration is an example of 
 the process of interpreting great movements as a whole in 
 the light of their causes, and may also be viewed as illus- 
 trating the interpretation of particular phases of thought * 
 rather than the interpretation of events. It is very 
 apparent that the teacher may set his class a very inter- 
 esting and valuable problem : Analyze the particular causes 
 for a general cause and show how the general cause is 
 found in each particular cause. 
 
 The classification applied to causes may be extended to 
 effects with the same educational advantages. The inter- 
 pretation of a movement as a whole not only requires a 
 study of causes but also of its effects, for the nature of 
 
 1 Other illustrations of this most important form of interpretation 
 will be given under the various periods. 
 
34 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 a movement is partly expressed in its results. Results 
 reflect to a large extent the movement as a whole which 
 produced them. Hence to classify these as positive or 
 negative and as general or particular is to give a fuller 
 understanding of the movement. 
 
 Purpose and Means. — The process of interpretation is 
 not complete if it leaves out of the content of historical 
 facts the intention and motives of men. The ambition of 
 a single great man, the plans and purposes of men in 
 organizations — societies, parties, armies, or nations — are 
 factors in the movement of history. In truth, most of the 
 physical forces of history are transformed and enter human 
 consciousness as motives and ends on account of which men 
 struggle. 
 
 Causes and effects may come and go in history for a long 
 time without arresting the attention of the people, or 
 at most, without absorbing enough notice by touching 
 their interests to create a conscious effort for a well- 
 defined end. As long as this is true, the categories of 
 cause and effect are sufficient to account for and to inter- 
 pret historical movements. But when causes and their 
 effects begin to be more widely recognized, men assume a 
 new attitude toward them. As the movement increases in 
 intensity, persons arise who seek to promote or retard it, 
 or it may be, to use it for other and ulterior ends. When 
 this stage is reached, the student must always take into 
 account the transformation that has taken place. What 
 was once an unconscious moving energy becomes now a 
 great stream of thought and activity marching toward 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 35 
 
 some well-defined goal. A striking illustration of this 
 transformation of cause and effect into means and end is 
 seen in the growth of sentiment that made the Civil War 
 possible. Without trying to be very specific we may say 
 that one of the causes of the struggle was the estrangement 
 that grew up between the two sections. This result was 
 of slow growth, its roots extending far back into colonial 
 days. But in that early time no one recognized or took 
 account of it, — its work was going on silently. It was not 
 until the first quarter of this century that even great 
 statesmen in both sections began to bestow upon it any- 
 thing like continuous thought. The Missouri struggle 
 was the first event to call general attention to the grow- 
 ing gulf, and although the Webster-Hayne debate, nulli- 
 fication by South Carolina, and the struggle for the right 
 of petition attracted still wider attention to the disparity 
 in thought and feeling between the two sections, yet the 
 idea of their estrangement took great hold on only a few 
 minds. From now on Webster and Clay are devoted, each 
 in his way, to the preservation of the Union, while Calhoun, 
 perhaps unconsciously, gives up his life to a cause that 
 could only promote the growing estrangement of the two 
 portions ; yet it is plain that the majority of the people 
 at this time did not take the question into their thoughts 
 and feelings and resolve to accomplish certain ends, — one 
 part of the people had not yet resolved to give its life to 
 secession or the other to the preservation of the Union. 
 More and more, however, these ideas began to win men 
 to their support, till, in the latter part of the fifties, as 
 
36 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 the old parties were dissolving under the pressure of the 
 conflict, the two sections stood arrayed against each other, 
 one marshalling its forces under the banner of secession 
 and the other under the flag of the Union. Yet even at 
 the opening of the war the sections were not agreed 
 among themselves as to the supreme end of the conflict. 
 For in the South some held to secession only as a 
 means to preserve slavery, while in the North some still 
 called for the destruction of slavery as the highest aim 
 of the war. 
 
 Other illustrations will be found in the organizing ideas 
 of the various periods. The same law of growth — the 
 transformation of causes and effects into purposes and 
 means — will be seen. The mastery of this relation between 
 these two pairs of categories is essential in the explanation 
 of great movements in history. It will be seen how inade- 
 quate an explanation is that which rests on causes and 
 effects alone, or upon purposes and means alone. It 
 should be made clear that purposes and motives often 
 arise out of conditions and in the presence of facts that 
 may be called causes, and that these causes are modified 
 by the purposes they originate and the means used in 
 their realization. 
 
 The effort to attain ends projected by men as individuals 
 or as nations will give rise to a series of events. This 
 suggests that purposes are causes. In fact, it is rightly 
 held that the purpose of an event, if it have one, is its true 
 cause. At least the peculiar form of the event is due to 
 the fact that it comes into being as a means to accomplish 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 37 
 
 a result that exists in idea before the event takes place. 
 This difference the student must always detect between an 
 event resulting from an ordinary cause and one that results 
 from a purpose. For on the difference in the form of 
 events depends the conclusion as to whether they result 
 from conscious or unconscious thought and feeling. The 
 conventions in the various states that met to consider the 
 question of ratifying the Constitution, took their peculiar 
 form as events from the nature of the end they were to 
 subserve. Their adaptation to the end in view existed in 
 the thought of the people before the conventions existed in 
 fact. We cannot say that the Stamp Act Congress was in 
 the minds of British statesmen as an end to be accomplished 
 by the passage of the Stamp Act. But one cause of the 
 Stamp Act Congress did exist in thought before it did in 
 fact, namely, the determination to secure the repeal of the 
 Stamp Act. The men who passed the act did not con- 
 sciously plan to arrange the act so that it would produce a 
 congress of the colonies, but the men who secured the 
 repeal of the act did consciously plan the congress to that 
 end. There is, then, a greater degree of adaptation between 
 the purpose and its means than between the cause and its 
 effect. This greater degree of adaptation often suggests a 
 difference in the content of the two classes of events, 
 especially on the side of feeling. The event or the series 
 of events created by the people for the attainment of some 
 cherished end is permeated by an intensity of feeling that 
 is impossible in events that come into being more or less 
 unconsciously. 
 
38 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 Without this idea many series of events could hardly be 
 organized. How could the individual facts of a military 
 campaign become intelligible unless the student can illumi- 
 nate them by the design of the head of the army ? How 
 shall it profit a student if he learn the numbers and disci- 
 pline of the army, the amount and kind of arms and stores, 
 the position of the troops, the character of the country, the 
 movements of the battle, the stratagems employed, without 
 seeing the common idea in each, — the idea that makes an 
 intelligible whole, — the purpose of the general. Of a 
 series of events used as "means the end must be seen in 
 each. This is discovered in two ways : 1. By noting how 
 the means are adapted to secure the given end. This point 
 has just been illustrated. 2. By watching the means in 
 the process of working out the end in view. The very 
 nature of a means requires that it shall take part in a pro- 
 cess, otherwise the end could never be actualized. If the 
 student fails to witness this process, he fails to get at least 
 one-half of the relation which means bears to end. It is 
 easy to say or to learn that Hamilton's bank aimed to 
 strengthen the national government. It is quite another 
 thing to trace the steps by which this end was realized. No 
 doubt Hamilton and Washington and the leading Federal- 
 ists saw the bank in the process of bringing into real exist- 
 ence a result that once existed in their thoughts and desires 
 only. The student, to reach a correct interpretation, must 
 see this means moving to its end just as the men who 
 observed it did. He must observe that the creation of the 
 institution called into existence, in spite of a most deter- 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 39 
 
 mined opposition, the doctrine of implied powers ; that the 
 stock of the bank was taken up by business men with great 
 avidity, thus binding certain capitalists to the government 
 by ties of interest, and giving confidence to other business 
 men ; the student must see how the presence of uniform 
 bank notes payable in specie impressed the people with the 
 wisdom of the new plan and the weakness of the old ; 
 how the credit of the nation in the eyes of foreigners was 
 raised by having a responsible financial agent through 
 which it could secure loans. And finally, he must discover 
 that the bank's objects were so perfectly secured that its 
 original enemies were lessened, its recharter defeated in 
 1811 by but one vote in the lower house, and was carried 
 in 1816. In some such way the student must watch and 
 trace means in the very process by which their ends are 
 attained. Otherwise a set of means becomes a mere collec- 
 tion of mechanically related facts. 
 
 Immediate and Remote Ends. — In the process of inter- 
 pretation it is helpful to distinguish between immediate 
 and remote ends. The difference here is mainly one of 
 degree. A remote purpose is one that can be secured by 
 the use of many intermediate steps ; but the people may 
 project a purpose into each step. The people as a whole 
 come more easily to the contemplation of immediate than 
 remote ends. The probability of speedy attainment seems 
 necessary to stimulate the majority of men to enthusi- 
 astic devotion to a cause. Only statesmen, philanthro- 
 pists, and reformers seem able to strive with persistent 
 zeal for ends whose fulfillment may belong to the remote 
 
40 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 future. The student must see, therefore, that, as a rule, 
 the more immediate the purpose he finds in an event or 
 series, the closer he is getting to the mind and heart of the 
 people as a whole concerned in the undertaking. But 
 while this is true, at the same time he is dealing with ends 
 that are to the leaders of a people's destiny only so many 
 means in the process of attaining remote and more pro- 
 found objects. It thus becomes necessary, if the student 
 masters the thought and feeling of any period in its com- 
 pleteness, to compass both the immediate and the remote 
 ends and aims that moved the people of that time. 
 
 The levying of the tax on tea in 1767 had for its imme- 
 diate end the collection of a revenue on tea and some other 
 articles. This seemed to most of the people of England 
 and America the chief end in view. But by the leaders in 
 both countries the raising of a revenue was looked upon 
 as a means, while the ultimate end to be reached was the 
 submission of America to parliamentary authority. In 
 America the great mass of the people had before them- 
 selves resistance to the tax by the formation of non- 
 importation and non-exportation societies, while the leaders 
 in the agitation looked upon these efforts as mere means in 
 the accomplishment of a remote and more universal end, 
 — the acknowledgment that Americans were entitled to 
 the rights of Englishmen. To get the full content of this 
 struggle, the student must find the motives of all parties 
 engaged in it. 
 
 In the efforts to attain their ends men and nations 
 bring about results which were not planned by them, and 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 41 
 
 whose occurrence they could not foresee. Men may plan 
 and arrange means to carry out definite ends, but effects of 
 an opposite nature often result from their efforts. Passion, 
 interest, and selfishness may be the motive and the end, 
 yet out of these may come results that will bless posterity 
 to the remotest generations. The selfishness of slavery 
 annexed Texas and brought on war with Mexico, from 
 which was wrested an imperial domain. Yet how different 
 the remote result from the immediate aim. Morris' Hegel 
 contains the following on this general point : 
 
 " The particular historic event exists by the grace of the 
 particular volition of a particular human being ; it is im- 
 mediately what the individual intended, and is explained 
 by his intention, but by the grace of God it acquires a 
 character beyond what was intended, requiring a deeper 
 and broader explanation. The whole interest and thought 
 of the individual may be practically confined to his imme- 
 diate personal aims and restricted plans. Beyond them he 
 may not consciously see ; to aught beside them he may be 
 indifferent. But the sequel shows them to have been the 
 material for the accomplishment of a plan of history, 
 which is none other than the realization on this planet of 
 self-consciousness and self-mastering spiritual existence, 
 passing himself through knowledge and control of a natural 
 world of which he is the crown, and through knowledge 
 and love of a God who is the ultimate ground and the 
 eternal goal of all travail both of Nature and of Man. 
 Thus God makes even the wrath of man to praise 
 him." 
 
42 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 This view makes the whole process of history — all its 
 events and all ambitions of men and of nations — a means 
 in the working ont of the Divine Ideal. 
 
 Material Presented for Interpretation. 
 
 Second-hand Material. — The facts of history come to 
 the student in all stages of interpretation. The ordinary 
 narrative text-book mainly confines itself to a description 
 of the externals of history while adding some statements 
 about ideas and sentiments. If the events are presented 
 fully enough, the teacher will have an excellent opportu- 
 nity to train to interpretation by means of inferences as 
 to the content of events. But since the power to infer 
 specific content from the form of the event is limited, there 
 is need of a larger presentation of the facts in order to 
 obtain a fuller interpretation. These facts may sometimes 
 come from the teacher, but better from the students by the 
 use of larger works as references. The demands of accu- 
 rate interpretation will not be met by turning this fuller 
 reading into a mere hunt for additional facts, for each 
 would demand interpretation ; but since each new fact is an 
 element in the greater event, it will make its contribution 
 to the interpretation needed, if the right attitude of mind 
 is assumed. But if the student is taught by experience to 
 expect that an enumeration of facts will be called for, he 
 will, consciously or unconsciously, prepare for it. If, how- 
 ever, additional and richer meaning of the event is pressed 
 for, he will fuse his collection of details into some great idea 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 43 
 
 which he now sees, perhaps for the first time, to be a por- 
 tion of the content of the great event. 
 
 The point of view in gathering material to aid in inter- 
 pretation is of great consequence, for in still another way 
 may it fail of its end. It is often mistakenly believed 
 that some unusual value attaches to gathering the opinions 
 of the various authorities. In the first place, works of 
 similar scope do not vary enough in the amount of matter 
 and the peculiarity of opinions to make it worth while 
 to search for them. In the second place, even if the 
 works are much larger and from a different point of 
 view, it is far better for the student to feel that he is 
 interpreting history rather than the views of various 
 authorities. 
 
 Original Material. — Every historical people leaves be- 
 hind, in some form or other, the direct records of its ideas 
 and sentiments, customs and institutions. These records 
 are the first-hand material out of which history is made, 
 and consist, in the main, of official documents setting forth 
 the ideas and principles of government ; of the declarations 
 of political parties, or the creeds of religious sects ; of the 
 speeches before legislative and judicial bodies ; of the cor- 
 respondence and diaries of men, great and small ; of orations 
 made on the platform, — in short, of any contemporaneous 
 writings that express the nature and tendency of public 
 sentiment in any period. The value of such material 
 largely depends upon the position of its author. If he was 
 in a position to speak for a community, a party, or the 
 nation, his utterance must be of first importance in ena- 
 
44 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 bling the student to put the right meaning into the facts 
 which he is endeavoring to interpret. Of course, the record 
 is of much greater value if it embodies officially the institu- 
 tional ideas of the whole community. 
 
 The superiority of this sort of material in the process of 
 interpretation may be understood from the following con- 
 siderations : 1. The facts thus presented are first-hand — 
 unorganized, and the student is left to contend with a real 
 problem with no ready-made solution at hand; he must 
 work without the author's aid. Without discussing the 
 educational value of this sort of work, it is apparent at 
 a glance, that a wide difference separates the direct study 
 of the Mayflower Compact from the study of a school 
 text's statements about this document. 2. This direct 
 study brings immediate contact with the source of truth 
 concerning the content of the Compact. It is possible that 
 texts have been written whose authors did not have first- 
 hand access to the material of history, but have written 
 from another's interpretation of that material. But what of 
 it ? Simply this : the student of such a text will be still 
 farther removed from the real source of truth, and like the 
 author, not knowing all the concrete facts, or not knowing 
 them exactly as they were, may make erroneous interpre- 
 tations. 3. Even if the facts obtained in the above way are 
 correctly interpreted, there is yet something lacking in the 
 effect produced, which can only be supplied by applying 
 the process of interpretation to original material. In no 
 other way, in the study of historical material, may the 
 student get deep and realistic conceptions of the life he 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 45 
 
 studies — ideas and passions, motives and prejudices, and 
 all those subtle influences that go to make up concrete 
 public sentiment. Take the examples of interpretation 
 given above : how much more easily and correctly could 
 the student put the right content into the events connected 
 with founding Jamestown if he could read the motives of 
 king and company in the charters granted, and could add 
 to these the opinions of the settlers. Even the writings 
 of John Smith, with all their exaggerations, would give 
 meaning and reality to these events, such as could come in 
 no other way. Again, how can the student get most easily 
 and fully into the minds and hearts of the colonial mer- 
 chants, the motives and passions that swayed them when 
 organizing the non-importation associations ? Evidently 
 by reading the addresses sent to king and parliament and 
 to the colonial legislatures ; by reading the resolutions of 
 town meetings in pledging support ; by studying the cor- 
 respondence between the associations of different towns, 
 and by following the newspaper and pamphlet war that 
 arose over these organizations and their work. Likewise 
 with the struggle over state sovereignty, or any other 
 phase of thought which the student tries to reach through 
 events. Depth of impression and richness of content will 
 always come from this sort of face to face contact with a 
 people. 
 
 Original matter may be made to serve, as in the case of 
 reference histories, merely as another source of individual 
 facts. This defeats its use as a means of interpretation. 
 In order to make it serve this function truly, the additional 
 
46 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 matter must be used as a key to the content of the event 
 or movement under consideration. The student must not, 
 unless he is searching for undiscovered truth, get the idea 
 that he is examining records as records to determine their 
 historical accuracy. Historical interpretation, and not his- 
 torical criticism, is his problem. 
 
 The Educational Value of Interpretation. 
 
 Nature of the Question. — The examination into the 
 nature of the process of interpretation has furnished the 
 basis for an intelligible answer to the problem of its edu- 
 cational value. There are two phases to the question : 
 one inquires concerning the effect of interpretation upon 
 the crude material of history, and the other concerning 
 the resulting mental discipline and development. These 
 two phases of the inquiry are intimately related, since both 
 at bottom are questions of mental experience and should be 
 separated only for convenience in discussion. 
 
 Integration and Unification. — Interpretation produces, 
 on the side of knowledge, an integrated or synthesized 
 product. Since the ordinary methods of studying history 
 do not accomplish this important educational result, it is 
 worth while to bring this historical product into conscious- 
 ness and analyze it carefully. Interpretation unifies the 
 facts of history because it discovers in them a common 
 content, and this subjects them to the only process by 
 which knowledge is unified. This is a universal process, 
 since it is common to the organization of material in 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 47 
 
 every realm of knowledge. It is also a process of highest 
 educational value on account of the degree of strength 
 called forth. No other subject appears at first glance 
 less likely to admit of any sort of integration. On 
 its external side — the one from which the student first 
 sees it — history seems a wilderness of unrelated facts. 
 But interpretation, by discovering common ideas, estab- 
 lishes order among these facts and connections among 
 the larger parts of the subject ; and if the process of 
 interpretation is carried on till the student finds the com- 
 mon content of all the leading facts of history, the result 
 is the integration of the subject as a whole. The mind 
 now sees, not isolated and diverse facts, but one great fact, 
 — the growth of institutional life. In order to estimate 
 the educational value of the historical whole we must 
 examine into the nature of the different forms it may 
 take. There are two of these : one in which the whole 
 is a mere aggregation with its parts of the same nature, 
 while in the other form the whole is a principle, or idea, 
 and the parts are its phases. There is a vast difference in 
 the pedagogical value of these two forms, and in the pro- 
 cesses by which they are wrought out ; and it is of the 
 utmost importance that the teacher be able to recognize 
 which kind of an historical whole he is creating in the 
 student's mind. 
 
 The Mechanical Historical Whole. — One of the com- 
 monest illustrations in history of this first form of whole 
 is that of time-whole. This is not only common, but is very 
 superficial. Ideas grow and events occur in time, it is true. 
 
48 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 but neither are controlled merely by the lapse of years. 
 New ideas and new movements do not begin with the 
 opening of the year nor cease with the closing of a cen- 
 tury ; hence time-wholes and time-parts are more or less 
 artificial — are aggregations of events united by a bond 
 that is outside of, and apparently around, them. We may 
 think of the expedition against Lexington and Concord as 
 occurring within one day, thus surrounding the event in 
 imagination by the limits of a day. The events under 
 this mental form are an aggregation, exhibiting no living 
 principle which gives them organic union. This event 
 may be thrown into time-parts by perceiving that one 
 portion of the events occurred before daylight, another in 
 the forenoon, and still others in the afternoon. These 
 smaller wholes are artificial, for they do not correspond 
 to the real parts of the event; but even if they did so 
 correspond it would only be a coincidence. The imagina- 
 tion may, and often does, hold a vague picture of the 
 events of American history as limited by the two points 
 in time, — 1492 and 1896. This is also a mere aggrega- 
 tion. It may be definitely separated by other dates into 
 smaller wholes — each time-whole bearing a name which 
 calls up a confused jumble of events that have only time 
 limits. Such periods of history — if they are entitled to 
 so dignified a term — are mere mechanical wholes. 
 
 Another illustration of the aggregate whole, in contrast 
 with the organic, is the space-whole. We picture the events 
 of the American Eevolution as having certain place-limits, 
 and in so doing we create, as it were, an aggregation — a 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 49 
 
 mass-whole. By picturing some of these events as belong- 
 ing in the North, some in the West, and others still in the 
 South, we drop our revolutionary space-whole into smaller 
 wholes. These are not, as the imagination pictures them, 
 derived from any peculiar differences in the events them- 
 selves, but are rather divisions based on differences in 
 place, into which we mechanically force the events. 
 
 It is necessary tha,t the mind should view the events 
 of history under the forms of time-wholes and place-wholes, 
 but such artificial aggregates can hardly be ends in knowl- 
 edge. It would be dangerously superficial to let the rela- 
 tively mature mind stop with such forms of thought or 
 to give much conscious attention to their creation. Such 
 work belongs to the stage of immaturity, but for the logical 
 stage of thought this should be incidental and should result 
 from the mind's struggle with events under the higher 
 form of integration. 
 
 The Organic Historical Whole. — The other form of 
 integrated product is one in which parts are made into a 
 whole by the presence of a common idea which perme- 
 ates each part. Such a whole maj - be called an organic 
 one — one in which each part exists for the whole and the 
 whole for each part. There is a life-connection here, for 
 the destruction of the whole results in the disintegration 
 of the parts. This whole is not an aggregate but a prin- 
 ciple, and its parts are not smaller aggregates, but phases 
 of the general truth. Such a whole expresses itself out- 
 wardly by an aggregation, and each phase of the general 
 idea manifests itself in some part of the aggregation. 
 
50 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 To see the history of our country as an organic whole 
 requires that the student shall find one idea — the growth 
 of institutional . thought and feeling — manifesting itself 
 in all the details of that history. This idea constitutes 
 the whole of our history and also its phases — growth 
 of local institutions, union, and a national spirit. These 
 phases are usually denominated periods, and are really 
 smaller wholes when considered in themselves. Periods 
 in history are . such for the student by virtue of the 
 process of integration which follows from interpretation 
 having discovered the great dominant phase of growth 
 which characterizes the period and which furnishes the 
 content of leading events of the time. The periods so 
 viewed are organic wholes. They must be such in order 
 to give the highest form of knowledge and the greatest 
 degree of discipline. 
 
 Comparison the Basis of Integration. — Fuller meaning 
 can be given to the educational value of integration in 
 history if we turn from its form — the historical whole — 
 to its process, comparison. Integration is a synthetic 
 process. Constructive mental processes in history, as in 
 all subjects, are based upon the discovery of resemblances 
 in the facts interpreted. The process of interpretation 
 which results in integration is carried on hj the special 
 process of comparison, — the process by which the mind 
 discovers resemblances. Comparison, then, is the mental 
 instrument by which historical wholes are wrought out. 
 
 In order to produce the best results, comparison should 
 become a conscious instrument in the hands of the student. 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 51 
 
 When he feels its value by actual conscious experience, 
 he becomes self-directive. Nothing frees him sooner 
 from the monotony and drudgery of the history text 
 than a conscious search for likenesses. These are not 
 often formally expressed in school histories, so that this 
 work may be performed by him under the stimulus of 
 a direction or question put by the teacher. Such work 
 stimulates to real discovery ; the student feels that he 
 is getting more than is expressed in the book he uses, 
 and this, too, without the direct aid of the teacher. The 
 consciousness of his own strength thus comes to him, 
 and he begins to be a seeker after first-hand historical 
 truth. When the student forms a taste for searching after 
 resemblances in historical material, the teacher will have 
 no trouble at all in leading him into the habit of enlarging 
 his comparisons by searching more than one author. It 
 must be kept in mind here that this extension of the proc- 
 ess is not for the purpose of being able to state the par- 
 ticular views of each author, but rather that the student 
 may have a deeper and fuller knowledge of the facts under 
 investigation. If the likenesses and differences between 
 authors are constantly alluded to, the attention is put in 
 the wrong place. This is not a distinction without a 
 difference. Nothing is more common in teaching history 
 than for very different results to come from different 
 teachers, apparently doing the same thing in the same 
 way. This arises from a very subtle difference — a 
 difference in the point of conscious attention or em- 
 phasis. 
 
52 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 Integration through Comparison Simplifies Historical 
 Knowledge. — This does not mean simplification by a 
 reduction in the number and complexity of its facts, but, 
 as hinted several times above, by discovering unity in 
 the midst of diversity. This is the process by which the 
 student grows into the conviction that, comparatively, 
 only a few great ideas have battled for mastery on the 
 fields of history ; it convinces him that new and strange 
 events may be only the new embodiment of old ideas ; 
 new and strange as to form, but old as to content. 
 
 Division and its Uses. — It is a law of knowledge that 
 whatever features enter into subjective truth must have 
 their correspondence with objective truth. In no other 
 place is this principle more often violated than in making 
 divisions in history. Perhaps the reason is found in the 
 fact that such divisions are made instead of discovered. 
 
 In our analysis of the nature of history it was seen that 
 in obedience to the law of continuity there are no gaps or 
 breaks in the institutional life of a people, but that con- 
 tinuous and connected growth is its characteristic feature. 
 It was discovered that the phenomena of history are sub- 
 ject to another principle of development, — differentiation. 
 It is the movement of institutional life under this law that 
 enables the student to discover progressive changes in the 
 line of growth and thus mark transitions from one phase of 
 thought and feeling to another. The operation of this law 
 enables him to discover in the midst of some dominating 
 movement different tendencies which may, under favoring 
 conditions, become in turn the feature of some other period. 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTOKY. 53 
 
 When, by interpretation, it is noted that certain periods 
 of time are marked by peculiar phases of life, the basis 
 for a division into parts is found. If this is to be done 
 consciously for purposes of organization, three or four 
 suggestions must be followed : (1) as already intimated, 
 the parts are to be discovered, not made, — must be found 
 in, rather than fitted on, the subject ; (2) that if coordinate 
 and logical parts are to be found, there must be but one 
 basis of division for any set of parts and that basis must 
 be the phase of growth that integrates the facts of the 
 period, or, if possible, some phase of this integrating idea ; 
 (3) the basis of division ought to be a fundamental one, 
 that is, some phase of institutional growth rather than 
 portions of time, parts of country, or series of events. 
 
 It is quite the custom to divide history into parts on the 
 basis of differences in time, thus marking centuries, half- 
 centuries, and decades in the subject. But these are not 
 so much divisions in the thing studied as divisions in the 
 calendar. It is evident to the student of life that the end 
 of one century and the beginning of another no more mark 
 the end of one movement and the beginning of another 
 than any year within the hundred does. Life moves right 
 on over decades and centuries — does not stop to take a 
 holiday the first day of each new year as is implied in 
 dividing and classifying events by years. Such divisions 
 may be convenient when speaking of history in a general 
 way, but they certainly do not in themselves reveal or 
 designate anything fundamental in the life studied. But 
 if the student needs a framework to lean upon, as little 
 
54 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 harm will come from a chronological division as from any- 
 other artificial means. 
 
 The same objection holds against geographical divisions. 
 These may seem to be convenient, but are generally super- 
 ficial, misleading, and give no insight into the nature of 
 the thing studied. The familiar division of our history 
 into discoveries, settlements, intercolonial wars, war of 
 the revolution, confederation, administrations, and so on, 
 gives parts that are not entirely artificial, but are based 
 on differences in events ; they are somewhat superficial, 
 for they deal with the externals of history rather than with 
 history itself. The basis of separation is not fundamental 
 enough to be helpful in the process of organization. If 
 we drop below the surface-play of events to the growth 
 of institutional ideas — the principle on which the sub- 
 ject as a whole is integrated — and ask what are the great 
 differentiating features of American institutional life, it 
 will be found that between 1607 and 1860 there are three 
 great forms of development : (1) the growth of European 
 ideas into local institutions ; (2) the growth of local insti- 
 tutions into the form of a nation ; (3) the development of 
 the spirit of nationality. This division, to be true, must 
 meet all the requirements of organization. 
 
 The process of division is not an end in itself, but a 
 means to more concrete interpretation and more minute 
 integration. History is separated into its parts, not only 
 because there is a basis for separation in the thing itself, 
 but, pedagogically, because it enables the mind to attack 
 the problem of historical organization in detail. This idea 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 55 
 
 of division as a means to more concrete study will be amply 
 illustrated in the application of the principle of organiza- 
 tion to the various periods and sub-periods. 
 
 The process of division is an analytic one, so far as the 
 subject of history is concerned. In this respect division 
 is the opposite of integration in its product and in its proc- 
 ess. Hence the discovery of differences in the act of 
 interpretation trains the mind to make careful discrimina- 
 tions. To get the exact phase of public sentiment demands 
 a most discriminating judgment. Interpretation can be 
 made to do this if the teacher knows the content of the 
 events interpreted and presses the student for it. 
 
 It is difficult to see how this analytic study can be pushed 
 too far if there goes at each new step the new act of syn- 
 thesis — the making of a new integration. But when the 
 end is forgotten, and especially when the process is applied 
 to the mere form of historical material, events and other 
 accidental features, then there is danger ahead. 
 
 Most of the so-called " methods " of teaching history, 
 such as the topical, the outline, the diagram, the exponen- 
 tial, and the brace method, are based merely on the rela- 
 tions of whole and part. A student may outline or diagram 
 a lesson in history as presented by some author, and 
 know almost nothing about it. The most imposing out- 
 lines or diagrams of history are those made independent 
 of any real basis of division, while to be of any teaching 
 value, they must adhere to some fundamental idea as a 
 basis, which usually renders them insignificant in appear- 
 ance. It should not be forgotten by the- diagram-maker 
 
56 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 that the student must understand the relations in history 
 before he can make a logical diagram, and that after these 
 relations are once mastered, he has comparatively little 
 use for such artificial representations. Again, the outline 
 and diagram represent historical material as statical, while 
 in truth, it is predominantly dynamical. On still another 
 count these artificial systems are found wanting ; they 
 represent on the blackboard or in the notebook a thing 
 that has no corresponding existence in fact ; often the 
 pupil carries away only a picture of the subject in two 
 dimensions — a picture utterly unlike, in form and feature, 
 the facts studied ; and the only redeeming feature about 
 it is that the pupil will lose his false conception as soon 
 as the artificial framework passes away. Finally, these 
 systems at best are based upon but two out of the many 
 categorical relations. Diagrams are a means, but not a 
 means of very high order. 
 
 Interpretation Develops the Historical Judgment In 
 
 the discussion upon the nature of history, it was discovered 
 that the acts of individuals or of nations are adapted to 
 express the thought and feeling that give rise to them. 
 The imagination sets men and nations before the judgment 
 in the process of acting. From what they are seen to do 
 and from the way in which it is done, the judgment reaches 
 its conclusions as to the thoughts and feelings, ideas and 
 emotions that give rise to the events and, therefore, give 
 meaning to them. This act of judgment is the interpreta- 
 tive act proper, and the faculty that puts it forth may be 
 designated as the historical judgment. History is entitled 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 57 
 
 to give name to this phase of the judgment's activity from 
 the fact that history almost, if not entirely, alone stimulates 
 and develops it. It would seem that it is reserved for his- 
 tory to confer upon the mind the peculiar and very important 
 faculty of reading thought and feeling through deeds. 
 
 The training which gives the power to reach the plans 
 and purposes of men through their acts has not only high 
 pedagogical value, but also has very great practical value. 
 Progress in historical study is largely dependent upon the 
 growing skill with which the student can infer accurately 
 and rapidly the content of events as they pass in quick 
 review before the imagination. Mere accumulation of 
 facts in memory is not meant here, but instead, that power 
 which gets from events or facts described in historical 
 narrative, their true significance. The power to do this 
 has direct and important bearing on the affairs of every- 
 day life. What else are men doing who meet each other in 
 the various walks of life ? Men contend or men cooperate 
 in the conduct of all the institutions of human society. 
 But to do either well — intelligently and successfully — they 
 must penetrate to ideas, motives, and plans through the 
 deeds of one another. How poorly we judge of the con- 
 duct of men and of society! Surely there is need that 
 teachers of history shall recognize and utilize the capacity 
 in their own subject, to confer upon the student this pecu- 
 liar guiding power. 
 
 The exercise of the historical judgment in the process 
 of interpretation fosters the formation of a most valuable 
 habit of mind, — the habit of questioning appearances. This 
 
58 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 is not only an important historical habit, but it is of great 
 thinking value to the non-historical student, for its tend- 
 ency is to force the mind to look through appearances to 
 reality — to look through phenomena to the laws of phe- 
 nomena. Every act of historical interpretation gives the 
 mind this tendency. 
 
 Emotional Results of Interpretation. — The preceding 
 discussion of the educational value of interpretation has con- 
 sidered only intellectual processes and products. But some 
 of the most valuable results of historical study pertain to the 
 stimulus of emotions and the development of character. In 
 the first place, the process of interpretation in history gives 
 the rational basis for interest in the subject. It brings 
 the mind of the student into direct contact with mind as 
 it manifests itself in history; this is life in touch with life. 
 The life of the student responds to the touch of the life 
 of other men in other times. This is inevitable, for, as he 
 touches the whole round of human experience as it is 
 reflected in events, he will find much that is closely akin 
 to his own. It seems strange, therefore, that any one 
 should dislike history. About the only way to prevent a 
 love of history from arising in the normal mind is to 
 refuse it the opportunity of free and sympathetic contact 
 with life — refuse to allow it to enter into the minds and 
 hearts that lived and struggled as it lives and struggles. 
 This is accomplished by turning the student out to pasture 
 on dead events — disconnected and empty. This is a peda- 
 gogical consideration of some importance when it is remem- 
 bered that many pupils, and students even, not only do not 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 59 
 
 like history but have a positive dislike for it. There are 
 many artificial means used to create an interest in history, 
 but the results are usually delusive because their resem- 
 blance to the real thing makes their detection very difficult. 
 The pupil, and even the student, may be apparently inter- 
 ested in history because of an admiration for the teacher, 
 or a desire to make a high record, or to stand well in the 
 estimation of the class, or to be an honor student, or 
 because of some taking device that the teacher, for the 
 time being, employs to revive the lagging interest. None 
 of these reach the test of true interest ; each represents a 
 form of interest that deludes teachers, pupils, and students. 
 Interest in the thing for its own sake is the only genuine 
 interest. Proper interpretation will give this. 
 
 In the second place, the intimate contact with the life 
 of the past gained through a proper interpretation of events 
 has a still deeper significance in its relation to the emo- 
 tions ; it is the basis of an intelligent patriotism. In this 
 sort of work the student lives over again the life he studies. 
 He sympathizes with and admires men, parties, and nations 
 in their struggles for a just cause. His heart warms to a 
 noble idea or sentiment as he traces its conflict with preju- 
 dice and custom. On the other hand, he comes to despise 
 the unjust cause and the efforts of men who live under the 
 impulse of unworthy ideals and employ ignoble means. 
 He is impressed with the idea that after a time the right 
 comes to prevail, and that men and nations who turn their 
 backs upon a good cause and deliberately choose the baser 
 course will, in the end, pay dearly for their choice. 
 
60 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 Such a study will enable one to put a juster estimate on 
 the rights and privileges that have been won for him. He 
 thus comes to feel a deep current of sympathy with that 
 for which his own nation stands. He loves it for what it 
 has been, what it is, and for what it will become. This is 
 an intelligent patriotism — the only safe kind. Historical 
 interpretation is the only source of this form of devotion 
 to country. It may be, that, since this ideal of historical 
 study is only partly realized, it is necessary to have a flag 
 over each schoolhouse in the land. Perhaps, even if this 
 ideal were realized, it would still be desirable to have the 
 flag always in sight, but surely the patriotism that comes 
 from having the flag in the mind and heart of each American 
 citizen is the safer sort. 
 
 Ethical Value of Interpretation. — When the student 
 passes from the study of causes to the study of purposes 
 and motives, his whole attitude of mind changes. From 
 the very nature of the case, he is challenged to pass judg- 
 ment on the actors in the drama of passing events. He 
 judges of their ability and sagacity in forming designs 
 and in selecting means for their realization. In the pur- 
 chase of Louisiana the student will say that Jefferson 
 shows himself to be a farseeing and disinterested states- 
 man, but that in his plan of coast defence he exhibits 
 great ignorance of methods of war. In a similar way 
 he will judge the statesmanship, on its intellectual side, 
 of all the great and small men who have figured in our 
 history. But on another side, and one having very inti- 
 mate connection, as we have seen, with the question of 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 61 
 
 right interpretation in history, the student is still more 
 persistent in his determination to arraign men and meas- 
 ures before the bar of judgment ; I mean the moral quali- 
 ties of the motives which move men to action. In this 
 field he would praise Washington and La Fayette for 
 disinterested devotion to the cause of liberty, while he 
 would have condemnation for the selfishness of Gates 
 and Lee. He would extol John Quincy Adams for 
 fidelity to principle both as president and as congress- 
 man. His admiration for Webster will turn to regret 
 when he listens to the " Seventh of March " speech. 
 Just as in the conduct of individuals, he will com- 
 mend or condemn political parties for the motives that 
 sway them. 
 
 This process may go on in the student more or less 
 unconsciously. At least it may go on without the knowl- 
 edge of the teacher, unless, by the character of the inter- 
 pretation he stimulates the student to give frequent ex- 
 pression to his conclusions in this field. The fact that 
 the student will reach such conclusions is a sufficient 
 reason why the teacher should guide him in the process, — 
 guide, but not dominate, his inferences. ISTo other phase 
 of historical interpretation opens up so widely the oppor- 
 tunity for mistakes in judgment, even where the student 
 is free from prejudice. He needs here, if ever, the guiding 
 hand of one who has sought truth for its own sake — and 
 found it. This guidance finds its best work, not in giving 
 the student bald conclusions which he must accept because 
 the teacher is supposed to be better authority than he is, 
 
62 GENEllAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 but in leading him to gather sufficient data to make his 
 own inferences reasonably true. 
 
 The reaction of this phase of study on the student is 
 very profound but also very subtle. It is sometimes good 
 and sometimes bad. The study of generous, broad-minded, 
 unselfish conduct is ennobling in a high degree, but the stu- 
 dent must come in contact with conduct of another sort. 
 How rudely is he sometimes shocked when a great character 
 whom he very much admires, as Webster, Clay, or Calhoun, 
 goes astray and devotes the energy of his mighty genius 
 to an unworthy cause. The student in this formative 
 period of mind sets his ideal high, and to find in men he 
 admires any serious departure from this tends to shake 
 his confidence in humanity. This is a result that certainly 
 ought not to come about, and it need not. It ought not to 
 come about because it is usually based on insufficient his- 
 torical data, and is, therefore, not true to history. Again, 
 it ought not to come about for the reason of its disastrous 
 influence upon the ethical life of the student — it may 
 make him cynical and pessimistic. There is no necessity 
 for a result so untrue to history and so harmful to the stu- 
 dent. The teacher may direct the interpretation of events 
 in the light of purposes and motives so that the whole 
 truth of history may be revealed and its ethical message 
 to the student may not be perverted. 
 
 Three things can the teacher do to prevent false inter- 
 pretation : 1. He can show the student that unfair judg- 
 ments may be reached by projecting his own standard 
 and that of the present into the past and by trying men 
 
PROCESSES IN OEGANIZLNG HISTORY. 63 
 
 and motives by them. The student has been taught the 
 highest respect for the Constitution, and when he reads 
 the story of Patrick Henry's vehement opposition to its 
 ratification, the reputation, and perhaps the character, of 
 that patriot falls in his estimation. He finds it difficult 
 to reconcile Washington's love of liberty and his sacrifices 
 for it, with his owning slaves ; and even more so in the case 
 of Henry Clay. But it is evident that in each instance the 
 student is trying these men in the light of his own times. 
 The teacher's duty is to make him truer to history, and then 
 he will be truer to these men and truer to himself. 2. A 
 second means may be used to preserve the ethical equilib- 
 rium of the student, — a judicious emphasis upon the lives 
 of men who have been moral heroes, and there are plenty 
 of such lives. The student, like the public in which he 
 lives, takes it for granted that great men do good deeds, 
 and so he is not particularly struck with the everyday life 
 of good men as we have their acts in history. For the 
 truth of history, then, the student should have his atten- 
 tion consciously directed to the influence of good men on 
 the growth of our institutions. This will not be untrue to 
 history, for the influence of the Arnolds, the Burrs, and 
 others who have tried to harm the nation for personal ends, 
 has been, comparatively speaking, very slight indeed. 3. 
 We noticed in another paragraph that there is a tide in 
 the affairs of men that seems not always to be of their 
 own planning. It rides over their narrow, sordid, selfish 
 purposes and makes for ends and results far beyond 
 human comprehension. Or it may be a mighty wave of 
 
64 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 chastening public sentiment that rises and overturns the 
 schemes of men, thus reaching some great end in the way 
 of which men and parties stood. The selfishness and greed 
 of men and parties have thus been punished by what seemed 
 an avenging public opinion. The American Revolution, 
 the annihilation of the Whig party, and the defeat of the 
 Democrats between 1854 and 1860, and the destruction 
 of slavery by the proclamation of the son of a poor white 
 in order to suppress a slaveholder's rebellion, are instances 
 of great movements to secure great ends. These, and 
 others like them, can give the student confidence in the 
 ultimate triumph of right over wrong. They will also give 
 him confidence in the ability of the American people to 
 overthrow organized selfishness in whatever form it may 
 appear. 
 
 THE PROCESS OF COORDINATION. 
 
 Nature of the Process. 
 
 The Basis of Coordination. — It has been said that the 
 proper solution of the problem of the organization of 
 knowledge in general, and of historical knowledge in 
 particular, depends on discovering and utilizing the rela- 
 tions which exist between the particular facts and the 
 fundamental principle of a subject. 
 
 Investigation will show that the facts of a subject em- 
 body its fundamental principle in various ways and in 
 varying degrees. Translated into the language of history, 
 this means that different events embody the growth of 
 institutional ideas in different degrees. In carrying on 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 65 
 
 the process of historical interpretation, the process by 
 which the mind searches for the growth of ideas in events, 
 the student is frequently struck by the richness with 
 which some events, and the barrenness with which others, 
 reveal the thoughts and feelings of the people. 
 
 Theoretical and Practical Need. — In order to organize 
 historical knowledge then, something more is necessary 
 than mere interpretation, however valuable that is or how- 
 ever perfectly it may be done. It is necessary, therefore, 
 for the student to pass judgment upon the relative value 
 of the facts or events that have been interpreted. The 
 practical need of this is very apparent in a field like his- 
 tory, where the facts are almost limitless in number, and 
 where they range through all degrees of complexity. The 
 life of one man like that of Franklin has almost innu- 
 merable incidents attending its course. The history of a 
 single state numbers its facts almost without limit. What, 
 then, must be true of the amount of matter that may be 
 handled in dealing with the life of a great nation ? There 
 must be selection and emphasis here, or history must be 
 given over as a disorganized and lawless subject. 
 
 There are few teachers who have not felt the pressing 
 need of some means of selecting from the vast amount of 
 matter to be found in text-books and libraries that particu- 
 lar portion having the highest historical significance. The 
 small amount of time devoted to history, compared with 
 the vast extent of the field, makes the question of selection 
 and emphasis a really " practical" question. It comes every 
 day alike to the teacher in the grades and the professor 
 
66 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 in the university. For the sake of truth and for the sake 
 of the learner, each must make an attempt to solve the 
 problem. 
 
 The ordinary way is to trust the text-books — at least, 
 in the public schools ; and in colleges, adaptability as 
 material for an interesting lecture is too often the basis 
 of selection. If the teacher will compare different text- 
 books on history as to the amount of space given to events, 
 it will be apparent why most of them cannot be trusted to 
 settle the question of the relative value of the facts treated. 
 Not many years ago a very popular text-book on United 
 States history was issued that gave one-half of its pages 
 to our history before the Revolution. If the teacher trusts 
 this text-book, her pupils will spend as much time on our 
 history before 1760 as after it. The same text gives many 
 pages to John Smith's exploits, and a very few lines to 
 the establishment of representative government in Virginia 
 by Governor Yeardly, — an event full of destiny. King 
 Philip's war in New England and the Body of Liber- 
 ties established by Massachusetts in 1641 are treated 
 after a similar fashion ; about two hundred lines are given 
 to the former and less than a dozen lines to the latter. A 
 number of other text-books, while giving attention to King 
 Philip's war, do not even mention the Body of Liberties, 
 nor the early efforts of the Connecticut settlers at consti- 
 tution-making. Illustrations may be multiplied to show 
 that authors of school histories, as a rule, have no well- 
 defined principle of selection or emphasis, and that the 
 teacher who is guided by them alone will often go astray. 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 67 
 
 Of course, we ought not to infer that an author in all cases 
 expects teachers to value his material by the amount of 
 space given it. In many cases, from the nature of the 
 facts, the amount of space given to their narration must 
 be out of proportion to their significance. But even if the 
 teacher could trust the author to select and distribute his 
 material according to its value, he would still need, in order 
 to be free, a standard by which he could test the value of 
 the material for himself. There is no growth for the 
 teacher except through freedom conferred by working 
 under the guidance of principles. 
 
 The Principle Stated. — All these considerations, theo- 
 retical and practical, demand that the principle of selection 
 and emphasis in history be a fundamental one, — one to 
 which the student and teacher may appeal with some de- 
 gree of certainty. This standard must not be an accidental 
 one ; it must not be set up by the whim of any person and 
 be changed with a change of teachers, but must be one 
 derived from the very essence of history itself — from the 
 relations that exist between its facts and its organizing 
 principle. Since the events of history express the growth 
 of institutional life in different degrees, it must follow 
 that they will have historical value in proportion to 
 their content. We may safely set up the growth of insti- 
 tutional life as the standard for making this test of histor- 
 ical value. To state the principle somewhat formally, it 
 may be said that that event, series, or period has the high- 
 est historical value which reveals most fully the people's 
 institutional thought and feeling. Such a fact takes high- 
 
68 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 est rank. On the other hand, that event, series, or period 
 which yields the least historical significance will take 
 lowest rank in the subject. i 
 
 Suggestions as to Application. — There are two phases 
 of this question of historical selection. The teacher, like 
 the author, must first choose between the facts to be 
 omitted and those to be taken. In the second place, 
 a careful measure of the relative value of those selected 
 must be made. The utility of our standard of selection 
 is apparent from the fact that we must appeal to it in 
 making our choice in each case. Why should any fact 
 in American history be omitted and another fact selected? 
 The only logical answer is that the fact rejected does not 
 sufficiently reveal to the student the growth of institu- 
 tional life. Why should De Soto's expedition form a 
 part of a course in American history, while a hundred 
 other Spanish explorers and their work go unnamed ? 
 The only reason is that the work of De Soto had a more 
 intimate connection with our institutions than had those 
 omitted. If one had to choose between the work of 
 George Rogers Clark and that of Daniel Boone, in the 
 Revolution, on what basis should the choice be made ? 
 Whose work contributed most to the development of the 
 American institutions, would be the question to put. The 
 answer to this question is the answer to the other question. 
 Problems like these come to the teacher when he attempts 
 to make his own working outline, or when, for the lack of 
 time, he must omit portions of the history text or spend 
 little time upon them. The rational answer in each case 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 69 
 
 is to be found in the relation of the fact to the funda- 
 mental or organizing principle. 
 
 It is this phase of the question which presses con- 
 stantly upon the teacher and is the one that has most to 
 do with the distribution of the pupil's time and energy. 
 This question has been variously designated : some call it 
 " historical emphasis," others, " historical perspective." 
 Whatever the name, the principle is the same, and in its 
 application has to do with deciding between the relative 
 value of periods or series of events, between the members 
 of the series, and between features of each event. 
 
 In dealing with the relative value of these forms of his- 
 torical facts, the teacher can save time for the student by 
 deciding in a general way the relative amount of study 
 that is to be given to the various periods of history. 
 After this is disposed of, the next question of relative 
 values arises from within the periods. Each period, it 
 will be learned, is marked by a dominant movement in 
 institutional growth. This dominant movement furnishes 
 the leading content for interpretation, and also the stand- 
 ard for the relative value of the various series of events 
 that are found within the period. The next problem re- 
 lates to the relative value of the various series constituting 
 the period ; these express in different degrees the funda- 
 mental idea of the period, hence have different historical 
 values and are, therefore, entitled to attention and emphasis 
 in like proportion. But the problem of relative values has, 
 at least, one more important phase : Which is the greatest 
 and which is the least event in the series? A series is 
 
70 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 suck by virtue of a dominant idea, which idea is either 
 some phase of the dominant idea of the period or is vitally 
 connected with it. How the events of the series embody 
 this sub-idea is the test of their respective values. 
 
 It is desirable, if not necessary, here to call atten- 
 tion to the value of certain external features of events. 
 Two in particular, time and place, or chronology and 
 geography, ought to be considered. As ordinarily viewed 
 these two features or accompaniments of events pertain 
 rather to the external side than to the content of events. 
 When so viewed they can have little or no historical value. 
 This ought to suggest, to teachers of dates and dots on 
 maps, that there is possibly something wrong in the ven- 
 erable custom of committing to memory long lists of dates 
 and places of events. 1 Let us search for a rational basis 
 for judging the place of chronology and geography in 
 history. 
 
 Growth in institutional ideas is, as we have seen, along 
 lines parallel in time. Events are located along these lines 
 of growth at intervals of time, this location serving as a 
 means of marking off the stages in the development of 
 ideas. It facilitates interpretation to know the place in 
 
 1 It is strange how teachers who do this deceive themselves into 
 believing in its value. The trick is simple. After the lists are com- 
 mitted and some time has elapsed, the teacher begins — it may be on 
 review — to call for the time and place of events that belong to the 
 lists. Those who have supple verbal memories respond easily and cor- 
 rectly ; those who have learned no list, cannot give the exact date and 
 place, and so ignominiously fail. Hence the great value of committing 
 dates and dots ! 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 71 
 
 time an event occupies along this line. Its location, 
 however, includes more than knowing its mere date ; for 
 we may know the date of an event as an abstract and 
 empty thing, out of all relation to other events and there- 
 fore miss all suggestion as to its content. The fixing of 
 an event in time must be by associating with it events 
 and phases of thought that precede, succeed, and are 
 simultaneous in time. It often occurs that the associa- 
 tion of historical facts in the order of time suggests that 
 they may be more fundamentally related as cause and 
 effect, or that there may be a similarity of significance. 
 Whenever time associations are made among such facts 
 it must be remembered that it is never for the sake of 
 the date. The date cannot be an end in itself in the 
 process of interpretation ; it must always remain a ser- 
 vant. This fact rightly understood will prevent the per- 
 nicious practice of committing long lists of dates with 
 only the name of the event attached. The same amount 
 of energy given to a study of the thoughts and feelings 
 of the people, as revealed in the events belonging to the 
 list of dates, would give a fair knowledge of their con- 
 tent ; and at the same time the dates of the events would 
 be sufficiently fixed. This would be a study of history ; 
 date-learning is not. 
 
 Institutions must grow somewhere, and the place in which 
 a people's life develops exerts a powerful influence over 
 it. Not only do climatic influences modify man's physical 
 activity but his spiritual as well ; in one region physical 
 conditions favor reflection while in another they stimulate 
 
72 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 sensuous enjoyments. The physical differences between 
 the North and the South partly caused their wide contrasts 
 in institutional life, and through the latter the Civil War. 
 Differences in occupations are largely based on variations 
 in physical conditions ; conflicting interests may thus 
 arise that show their influence on legislation. The dis- 
 tribution of relief forms and waterways may determine 
 the direction of trade and the movement of armies. The 
 Hudson River and Lake Cham plain region determined the 
 direction and plan of more than one campaign in both the 
 Inter-colonial and the Revolutionary wars. The same 
 thing is true in a greater degree, of the rivers Mississippi, 
 Ohio, Potomac, and James, in our Civil War. It is clear 
 from these facts that the relation of place, like that of time, 
 is a key to knowledge under higher relations. But if the 
 place of an event, including its surroundings, cannot be 
 seen as an active agent transforming ideas and producing 
 events — cannot aid therefore in the process of interpre- 
 tation^ — then its historical value is very small indeed. 
 The bald location on the map of all the places named in 
 the text is almost useless work. The danger is that the 
 pupil carries away in memory a certain number of dots 
 located on certain parts of his map ; in other words, he 
 locates portions of the map instead of events in their real 
 geographical relations. This gives the imagination no 
 aid in picturing the physical surroundings of things, and 
 has very little historical value. The map is a means in 
 history, whether it is furnished by the book or made by 
 the pupil. The historical map may be made by the stu- 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HISTORY. 73 
 
 dent, if in the making lie gains something of historical 
 valne. It should be accurate, rather than beautiful ; the 
 end is an historical idea and not an aesthetic emotion. 
 
 There must be a great economy in time and energy when 
 the teacher has decided in advance which is the most im- 
 portant period, which is the most important series of events 
 in the period, and which is the most important event in 
 the series. Not only is there great economy in time and 
 energy, but what an immeasurable difference between the 
 student's conception of the subject itself under this plan, 
 and his hazy and bewildered state of mind under the old 
 plan of " going it blind " ! The result of testing periods, 
 parts of periods, and events in this way will lead to the 
 discovery of a number of things : 
 
 1. That the value of a period or other series of events 
 is not determined by the length of time covered. 
 
 2. That some events and series are of such a character 
 and the manner of treatment by certain authors is such 
 that a single reading is all they merit ; they may be put 
 in to fill out the picture or to make the connection between 
 more important events. 
 
 3. That a single fact may be so close to the people's life 
 that a series of lessons may be spent on it. 
 
 4. That this distribution of time and effort will break up 
 the uniform and featureless whole given by the simple proc- 
 ess of interpretation, and will create a body of knowledge 
 full of variety, each fact occupying the rank determined by 
 its own value. 
 
74 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 Educational Value of Coordination. 
 
 We now come to the pedagogical significance of the pro- 
 cess of judging relative values. It has already been stated 
 that there are at least two phases to this question ; one of 
 knowledge and the other of discipline. There is possibly 
 another phase by inference from these two, namely, what 
 must be done by the teacher in the light of the answer to 
 the other two. This has been partly discussed above. 
 
 Effect as to Knowledge. — It has already been made clear 
 that, foi complete organization, the material given in inter- 
 pretation must then be coordinated and subordinated, — 
 that is, arranged in a system on the basis of its historical 
 significance. This result removes the great body of histori- 
 cal facts another step from chaos, the first being unity and 
 diversity through interpretation ; now, they are made to 
 assume rank in the subject in light of the place they hold 
 in the life of a people. In most subjects the parts and 
 particular facts have a place and rank that is fairly well 
 recognized. Not so in history. While it may never be 
 possible to rank the facts of history as perfectly as those of 
 many other subjects, yet the loose and reckless manner in 
 which they are handled by teachers shows that a reasonable 
 attempt ought to be made in this direction. Perhaps not 
 much effort in ranking the facts of history has been made 
 because of the nature of the facts ; but mainly, however, 
 it is because no coordinating and subordinating principle 
 has been generally accepted. Why has no principle been 
 generally accepted ? Chiefly, I think, because students 
 
PROCESSES IN ORGANIZING HfSTORY. 75 
 
 have not clearly differentiated between the form and the 
 content of history. 
 
 There is another way in which this process affects the 
 student's knowledge, that is, by adding to it. When the 
 conclusion is reached that the battle of Lexington is a more 
 important event than the storming of Stony Point — one of 
 the most brilliant military events of the Eevolutionary 
 War — the student has added to his stock a fact more 
 valuable than if he had added a dozen mere incidents con- 
 nected with these events. Many pupils in the public 
 schools and students in higher institutions can state inter- 
 esting things connected with the purchase of Louisiana and 
 Florida ; but, knowing little about their relative impor- 
 tance, cannot explain which produced the greater effect 
 upon the dominant movement of that period. Would it 
 not really be adding to their knowledge of history to dis- 
 cover which produced the greater result upon the life and 
 the thought of the time ? 
 
 Confers Power to properly Judge Contemporaneous 
 Events. — On the side of discipline a far greater result is 
 produced by training in the ranking of men and events. We 
 have seen how interpretation gives ability and skill in get- 
 ting into the content of contemporaneous events. ISTow, 
 experience in determining the relative rank of past events 
 ought to confer the power and skill to estimate similar 
 present facts at their true value. It is not an easy thing 
 to estimate present movements at their true value, and few 
 there are who do not need more of this sort of ability, — 
 few who do not make grave mistakes for lack of power to 
 
76 GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 
 
 balance men and their conduct, parties and their policies, 
 institutions and their ends and tendencies. People are 
 influenced by new movements because they are new; 
 some become absorbed in a small, quiet movement with a 
 great principle behind it, while others are caught by great 
 noisy commotions with little or nothing of principle. 
 Others allow a single idea to fill their attention and absorb 
 their energy to the exclusion of all other ideas, until they 
 come to see it out of its true proportion. All other ideas 
 and movements come to such men through the wrong end 
 of the telescope. It would seem, therefore, that the power 
 cultivated by the process of coordinating and subordinating 
 the facts of history — balancing events, men, and motives 
 — is of great practical value in the contest of life. 
 
ORGANIZATION OF 
 
 THE PERIODS OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 — ~»-8-8g-r<~ — 
 PERIOD OF THE GROWTH OF LOCAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 The Relation of Discoveries and Explorations 
 to this Period. 
 
 Not a Coordinate Phase of Institutional Life. — The 
 
 separation of our history into the great phases given above 
 does not include as one of its parts the discoveries and 
 explorations that opened up America to Europe. A divi- 
 sion made by searching for differences in the growth of 
 institutional ideas cannot recognize these events as con- 
 stituting one of its organic parts. They do not mark a 
 movement in the thought of our people, for the ideas that 
 called these events into being were European and hence 
 belong primarily to the domain of general history, or to 
 the history of their respective nations. If the separation 
 into parts be made to rest, as is customary, on differences 
 in events, then discoveries and explorations would consti- 
 tute one of the main periods in American history. It does 
 not follow, however, that, with the fundamental basis devel- 
 oped in the preceding discussions, there is no place for these 
 events in our history. On the contrary, their rank in the 
 subject is determined by the same method that fixes the 
 
78 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 rank of any other series of events. If they touch the devel- 
 opment of American institutions in any appreciable way, 
 then they have some rank, but what particular rank must 
 be determined by the amount and kind of this connection. 
 
 Their True Connection and Rank. — In general it may 
 be said that the discoveries and explorations of the dif- 
 ferent European nations tended to fix the place where 
 each planted its institutions in America. The place where 
 ideas and institutions grow influences their development. 
 Climate touches human life in many ways, determining 
 animal and plant life, affecting the production of food, 
 clothing, and shelter, and influencing population and social 
 customs. The presence or absence of a fertile soil, rich 
 mineral deposits, and navigable lakes and rivers gives bent 
 to industrial life, and through this reaches into the domain 
 of politics. For these reasons the student must take some 
 account of the place where a new France, a new Spain, and 
 a new England are to grow and do battle for existence. 
 
 For another reason the place of discoveries and explora- 
 tions must be noted : the claims to ownership of soil were 
 based upon these events, and out of overlapping claims 
 came much of colonial history that shaped the course of 
 future events. Our organizing principle makes us say, 
 then, that the process of interpretation for a voyage of dis- 
 covery and exploration consists in showing how it tended 
 to fix a place for the growth of a group of institutions. 
 This same principle makes it clear that the expedition 
 having most to do in fixing or extending this region is the 
 most important one in the series belonging to a given 
 
GROWTH OF LOCAL INSTITUTIONS. 79 
 
 nation. To put it in another way, it may be said that the 
 teacher, in order to direct his pupils intelligently, must 
 know two things about each event in such series : (1) what 
 the event contributed to the claims of the nation sending 
 out the expedition ; (2) how the work of this expedition 
 compares with that accomplished by others. 
 
 In settling these points, no doubt questions like the fol- 
 lowing will arise in the teacher's mind : Shall the pupil be 
 permitted to learn only the bare facts about the voyage of 
 Ponce de Leon ? Our organizing principle does not exclude 
 any knowledge of this voyage that enables one to under- 
 stand how it tended to confirm or extend Spanish claims. 
 But whether the Fountain of Youth ought to be studied in 
 connection with this voyage is determined by its bearing 
 on the confirmation or extension of Spanish claims. 1 
 
 What ought to be done with the great expedition of De 
 Soto ? The organizing idea of history forces each teacher 
 to ask this question : Did De Soto's expedition touch 
 directly or indirectly the growth of our institutions ? The 
 answer is that it did so, very remotely, by confirming and 
 extending Spanish claims to territory in North America. 
 Very well, then, our principle directs us to study this 
 expedition until the extent of De Soto's contribution is 
 determined. But what about De Soto's wife left as Gov- 
 ernor of Cuba, the number of vessels in his fleet, the number 
 
 1 The pupil's interest in this beautiful legend may be an argument 
 for its study at some time, but this'interest offers no argument for its 
 finding a place in the study of Spanish claims : it must stand or fall 
 by the test applied to all events. 
 
80 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 of mail-clad knights, of priests, of horses and hogs on board, 
 the number of Indian fights and the results of each ? Must 
 the student learn and recite all these ? They are all down 
 in some of the books and serve to keep the class interested. 
 It all depends on the relation of these incidents to Spanish 
 claims to territory in North America. If they bear on the 
 solution of this problem ; if they aid the pupil to see more 
 clearly what this expedition did for Spain, then they must 
 be noticed — it may be, only noticed. The same principle 
 will apply to the voyages of other nations that planted 
 institutions in North America. 
 
 From the nature of the case, English explorations have 
 a closer connection with our history than those of other 
 nations. Our institutions have grown out of English ideas, 
 in the main, and in the place which English voyages pre- 
 pared for them. Eor this reason, though comparatively 
 fewer in number, they should be studied with more care 
 than the voyages of other nations. There seems to be an 
 exception in the case of the first voyage of Columbus. His 
 first voyage, historically speaking, was a world-voyage 
 having much significance for other nations as well as 
 for Spain. Hence, it must occupy high rank in this pre- 
 liminary part of our history. 
 
 Erom the fact that the discoveries and explorations, 
 taken as a whole, have, comparatively, only a small influ- 
 ence on the growth of our institutions, they cannot be 
 erected into a coordinate part of the history of the United 
 States ; but because of their immediate relation to the 
 localization and planting of European ideas in America, 
 
GROWTH OF LOCAL INSTITUTIONS. 81 
 
 tliey of right constitute an introduction to the period that 
 deals with the transformation of European ideas into 
 colonial institutions. 
 
 Non- American History. — Attention has been called to 
 the fact that not all the voyages to America belong in the 
 category of American history. In fact, much time may 
 be easily wasted in a study of events that are really no 
 part of American history unless one takes a very mechan- 
 ical view of history, and holds that all events occurring 
 in America form a part of its history. This would make 
 the history of the North American Indians a part of Amer- 
 ican history, but certainly no one will say that in any truly 
 historical sense did Indian institutions flow into or become 
 a part of American institutions. And yet it is no uncom- 
 mon thing for a teacher to be found earnestly at work 
 teaching the history of the North American Indian with- 
 out any conception of the proper limit of such study. The 
 same is true of Mound-builders and the theories of their 
 origin and modes of life. Nor do the ordinary texts give 
 much guidance. None will deny the deep interest that 
 attaches to these subjects, but the charm of interest cannot 
 be the basis for passing judgment upon their position as 
 facts in American history. There is but one test, the rela- 
 tion which they sustain to the growth of American institu- 
 tions. The extent to which they influenced our history is 
 the true measure of their value. When any fact is taught 
 about explorations, Indians, or Mound-builders, which has 
 no connection with our institutional life, such a fact is in 
 the field of non- American history. 
 
82 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 The Period as a Whole. 
 
 What Constitutes a Period. ^— It has just been shown 
 that a series of events, discoveries, and explorations does 
 not constitute a period. What does constitute one may be 
 inferred partly from preceding discussions, but something 
 more definite is now needed. The period or epoch is the 
 largest and most complex historical division. Fundamen- 
 tally, it is one of the coordinate phases of institutional 
 growth which unite to make up the totality of a people's 
 life. A period exists by virtue of the fact that a great 
 movement in the life of the people dominates events for a 
 given time. This epochal movement sets off its own time 
 and events from those which precede and those which 
 succeed it ; it is, therefore, a differentiating idea. Were 
 it not so, periods would be, in relation to each other, mere 
 artificial inventions depending upon, and varying with, the 
 whim of the writer or teacher. Not only does the domi- 
 nant movement do this, but it also forms the common 
 content of the facts of its own period, and thus performs 
 the function of integration. Fundamentally, an event 
 without this common content does not belong to the period, 
 even if it occurs within the usual chronological limits of 
 that period. On account of the loose thinking usually 
 done in history, such a statement may seem entirely 
 erroneous. It is only in history that groups and classes 
 of entirely dissimilar facts are permitted. 
 
 Nature of this Period. — We have found already that the 
 stream of American institutional life exhibits three great 
 
GROWTH OF LOCAL INSTITUTIONS. 83 
 
 and striking phases, and that the first of these is marked 
 by being mainly concerned with the rise and growth of 
 local institutions. From the manner of settlement the 
 ideas and customs out of which these institutions grew 
 were planted in groups more or less isolated, and through- 
 out the period there was little inter-communication. The 
 physical barriers to this were very great. The distance 
 between settlements was immense, especially if measured 
 by our present standards. Rivers, mountains, dense for- 
 ests, savage beasts, and more savage men were almost 
 insuperable obstacles to cooperation, even if the disposition 
 had existed. To this must be added the very slow means of 
 travel which in those days separated colonial capitals by 
 thousands of miles, as we estimate travel. In the early 
 part of the period, little conscious need of communication 
 between governments arose except in New England. Direct 
 official connection with England tended to prevent commu- 
 nication among the colonies on political matters. For the 
 most part, politics was entirely a matter of local concern. 
 Therefore this is the period when the forms and functions 
 of local self-government had full and free development, 
 when the government of the American town and township, 
 county and state had their genesis. The same tendency 
 prevailed in religious affairs, each colony following the dic- 
 tation of local considerations. In fact, religious differences 
 emphasized the isolation of colonial institutions, for the 
 spirit of persecution was not entirely absent. Similarly, 
 each colony followed its own ideas and prejudices in matters 
 of education and social life. 
 
84 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 Perhaps commerce was the only thread that bound the 
 colonies together, with the feeling that, independently of 
 all external dangers, each produced something which the 
 other wanted. In addition, it may be noticed that the 
 people felt the tie of race, especially when thinking of 
 themselves in relation to Spaniards, Frenchmen, and 
 Indians. But this feeling came only in times of external 
 danger. Whatever germs of connection and union may 
 have existed in this period were overshadowed by the facts 
 and conditions of institutional isolation. Preeminently, 
 then, it was an age for the development of local interests 
 and institutions ; and we may safely conclude that the 
 origin and development of such ideas and institutions is 
 the organizing idea of this period. 
 
 The Organizing Idea at Work. — It has already been 
 explained as an important principle of organization that 
 the differentiating and the integrating; idea must be iden- 
 tical ; that is, the idea which separates this period from the 
 other parts of our history must be the idea that unites 
 all the parts of this period into a whole. This we have 
 already found to be the growth of local institutions, mainly 
 out of European ideas and customs. It is this idea, seen 
 as the content of the leading facts of the period, that inter- 
 prets and integrates them, that puts meaning into them 
 and joins them as a whole. It is this same idea that 
 furnishes the standard for determining the relative value 
 of the events of the period, thus giving them coordination 
 and subordination as parts in an organic whole. To illus- 
 trate, we may say that the work of John Smith and Roger 
 
GROWTH OP LOCAL INSTITUTIONS. 85 
 
 Williams has the historic content common to all the events 
 of this period ; that each contributed to the growth of one 
 of the groups of institutions. This identity of significance 
 makes them a real part of the period. But how their work 
 ranks in the period and with reference to each other 
 depends entirely upon the relative amount and kind of 
 each man's contribution. 
 
 Phases of the Period. — The content which the organiz- 
 ing idea of this period as a whole puts into its facts is 
 too general to be alone sufficient for detailed work. It is 
 necessary, therefore, to subdivide the period and search 
 for more specific and concrete organizing ideas. It must 
 be ever in mind that the real parts of a period are to be 
 found by looking for differences in its organizing idea — 
 differences, in this instance, in the growth of local insti- 
 tutional ideas. A careful and discriminating study of life 
 in this time will reveal three forms pretty well differen- 
 tiated. They do not, however, result from progressive 
 evolution, but are, rather, three parallel streams of institu- 
 tional ideas that run throughout the entire period. It is 
 discovered that these differences coincide in the main with 
 the familiar geographical regions of colonial times. It 
 may be stated, then, that in New England there was a 
 movement toward a general diffusion of rights and privi- 
 leges, while in the southern group the predominance of 
 growth was in the opposite direction, toward the central- 
 ization of rights and privileges. In the middle group 
 there was a partial blending of the two movements. 
 
86 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 The Diffusion of Eights and Privileges. 
 
 Why the New Differentiation is Made. — These differ- 
 ences in the growth of local institutions are not discovered 
 for their own sake merely, but that they may serve the mind 
 further in the process of organization. It is to this end 
 that all separations — analyses — are made in any science, 
 for it is only by this process that deeper and more perfect 
 integrations — syntheses — are possible. Analysis, alone, 
 may annihilate a subject, reducing it to mere isolated frag- 
 ments. Isolation is death. To avoid this, and to attain 
 the highest result as to discipline and knowledge, the act 
 of synthetic organization must invariably follow. In the 
 present case each phase of local colonial life must be 
 organized under a new and more concrete principle. What 
 this new idea is was found when the period was divided 
 into its three great phases of institutional life. If life in 
 New England is differentiated from that in other groups 
 by a movement tending to the diffusion of rights and 
 privileges, then this same idea must connect New England 
 life into a whole. If diffusion was really the method of 
 growth for New England, an examination of its history 
 will show events in the main conforming to this law ; the 
 most important events relating to government, religion, 
 industry, and social life will be seen to come out of, and 
 pass into, this great movement toward a fuller and freer 
 participation by the people in the affairs of these insti- 
 tutions. 
 
GROWTH OF LOCAL INSTITUTIONS. 87 
 
 The Organizing Principle in the Concrete. — Let us look 
 at some of the leading facts of New England history to see 
 if they contain this principle. The charter of the Massachu- 
 setts Bay colony gave twenty-six persons almost unlimited 
 power — they could have established an aristocracy or 
 have taken great strides toward a democracy. Before 
 leaving England with this charter, other persons, by vote 
 of its members, were admitted to the rights and privileges 
 of the corporation. In 1631 suffrage was extended to 
 approved church members. New Haven was the only 
 other colony in the group that extended the privileges of 
 voting no further than to church members, while in early 
 Rhode Island the right was exercised by all men. In 1632 
 the settlers at Water-town refused to pay taxes levied by 
 the assistants. This led, in 1634, to the establishment of 
 representative government in Massachusetts by giving the 
 towns the right to elect the members of that part of the 
 General Court which finally became the lower house of 
 the colonial legislature. In 1635 Massachusetts made her 
 judiciary more popular by establishing local courts, whose 
 sessions were held in the various towns. About this time 
 was legalized the town meeting, the most democratic insti- 
 tution of that age. In respect to most of these points, the 
 other members of the group — especially Connecticut and 
 Rhode Island — were even more progressive. In 1641 
 Massachusetts established the famous Body of Liberties, — 
 a sort of Magna Charta, as was said. This document was 
 passed by the General Court and was submitted to the 
 towns of the colony, and is remarkable for the advanced 
 
88 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 ideas set forth as to the rights of individuals. Connecticut 
 and New Haven also framed very liberal constitutions. 
 These facts seem to indicate that this organizing principle 
 will hold for the growth in political thought. The existence 
 of a party in Massachusetts in favor of the ideas of Roger 
 Williams and Mrs. Hutchinson 1 proves a movement toward 
 differentiation in religious thought, and the fact that many 
 who did not agree with them did not favor their banish- 
 ment proves a tendency toward toleration. This same 
 tendency was stronger at the time the Quakers were pun- 
 ished, and had much to do in causing the authorities to 
 stop their persecution, and in the witchcraft delusion public 
 sentiment opened the prisons and cheated the gallows of 
 some of its victims. This sentiment ultimately led Massa- 
 chusetts to make reparation to the descendants whose 
 ancestors had suffered in the persecution of the Quakers 
 and the so-called witches. And later, both Massachusetts 
 and Connecticut relieved Quakers and Baptists from ecclesi- 
 astical dues. In Rhode Island there was always more 
 generous religious fellowship among sects than in Massa- 
 chusetts. The Puritan church organization was thoroughly 
 democratic. The local congregation was sovereign. There 
 was no appeal from its decision. The centralization of 
 religious authority in Pope or Bishop was antagonistic to 
 everything Puritan. Many other facts of New England's 
 religious life can be adduced to demonstrate that in the 
 sphere of this institution there was growth under this 
 
 1 The parties to these controversies were all Puritans — a fact that 
 is generally overlooked in most of our text-books. 
 
GROWTH OF LOCAL INSTITUTIONS. 89 
 
 great law. If we turn to the subject of education, there, 
 too, will be seen conformity to the same dominating 
 idea, for in no other department of the people's life was 
 the law of the diffusion of rights and privileges more per- 
 fectly expressed. The New England public school ! That 
 of itself tells the story. No other institution in its day 
 did so much to bring the same opportunity to every man's 
 child. The founding of the college and the establishment 
 of the printing-press were other facts that point in the 
 same direction. But what of industry ? Did it, too, push 
 Puritan life in the same general direction ? To begin with, 
 there was no concentration upon any one occupation. Soil, 
 climate, mode of settling, the presence of the sea, and the 
 great forest filled with timber and animals — all favored 
 variety of occupation. This resulted, naturally, in the 
 distribution rather than in the concentration of wealth ; at 
 least it gave equal opportunity and a just return for labor. 
 The Puritan family in England was freer from the coloring 
 of aristocracy than any other, yet, on removing to America, 
 it brought many an English custom. But the great move- 
 ments indicated were powerful social revelers. Puritan 
 legislation began to grow in a new mold, and in 1641 the 
 Body of Liberties struck some severe blows at the English 
 method of transmitting property. 
 
 The truth of our organizing idea of New England history 
 seems to be sufficiently attested by every great feature of 
 that historical group, as far as New England could control 
 her own destiny ; and we may safely take it as the great 
 central idea of this colonial group. It is this idea that the 
 
90 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 student must find in the individual facts of New England 
 history. In order that the case may be put more concretely, 
 let us ask what the student must search for in the Eoger 
 Williams affair. In the first place he must see this episode 
 grow out of the great movement that has been described 
 above, — must see Eoger Williams and his few friends as 
 representatives of a liberal movement in religious and 
 political ideas coming in contact with the old order of 
 things as represented by the authorities of the colony. In 
 the second place the student must discover how this con- 
 flict promoted the movement toward diffusion. In wading 
 through the details of the controversy he must look for a 
 tendency in public sentiment to either accept the new views 
 or to tolerate the presence of their author. This conflict 
 could not leave Massachusetts where it found her — there 
 had to be growth. No doubt this latter phase of the event's 
 content is the more difficult to discover, but it must be 
 remembered that it is also the more important part of the 
 content — more important because without it the degree 
 of progress cannot be measured. 1 It is the new trend 
 given to thought and feeling that enables the historian to 
 take note of progress. When the leading facts of New 
 England's life have been thus interpreted and we see in 
 them essentially the same idea, the mind has joined them 
 
 1 It is passing strange that most writers and most students have 
 taken this event to prove how narrow and illiberal Puritanism really 
 was, and in so doing have shut their eyes to the greater fact that it 
 demonstrated its recuperative or progressive power as much as its 
 conservatism. 
 
GROWTH OF LOCAL INSTITUTIONS. 91 
 
 into an intelligible whole due to the inherent force of a 
 great dominant idea. And when each fact is measured as 
 to the extent and degree of this content, we may say that 
 each fact has taken its appropriate rank in the whole — 
 that each is seen in its true historical perspective. 
 
 Principle Governing the Conduct of New England toward 
 English Authority. ■ — The events organized above belong 
 to the internal development of New England. There are 
 other events growing immediately out of the relations 
 between the colonies and the mother country. In what- 
 ever form the conflict of authority between them expressed 
 itself, the New England colonists were determined to pre- 
 serve and increase their rights and privileges. It was a 
 principle of action, always more or less consciously guid- 
 ing them to exercise as much power as possible and to 
 resist all encroachments upon it. This is clearly seen in 
 the first great- controversy between 1634 and 1636, when, 
 on account of charges against the colony, Massachusetts 
 was ordered by an English court to surrender its charter. 
 The Governor and Council refused to make answer, while 
 the ministers of the colony resolved that " we ought to 
 defend our lawful possessions." The General Court, or 
 colonial legislature, ordered that new forts be erected, and 
 that the people be trained in the use of arms. The danger 
 was averted by the crisis in England, and did not return 
 till 1646, when the Long Parliament held sway. This body 
 claimed the right to reverse the decisions of the colonial 
 legislature, and also to give to Massachusetts a new charter. 
 Both of these claims were viewed as aggressions by the 
 
92 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 colony, and were so strongly opposed that parliament did 
 not push matters to a crisis. Soon after the Restoration 
 Charles II. sent orders to Massachusetts to remove the reli- 
 gious qualifications for suffrage, permit the English Church 
 to hold meetings, and to have all legal documents run in 
 the king's name. There was so much opposition to these 
 changes, and some were made so reluctantly, while others 
 were not made at all, that royal commissioners were sent 
 over in 1664. News of their coming having reached Boston, 
 the colonial authorities ordered a fast, a committee was 
 given charge of the charter, the trainbands were authorized 
 to practice, and other military preparations were made. The 
 opposition to the work of the commissioners prevented any 
 encroachments upon chartered rights. In the battle of the 
 New England colonies for their charters, and in their tem- 
 porary defeat in the days of Andros, the same principle of 
 action controlled the people and their authorities. Their 
 fidelity to it is exhibited in the overthrow of the authority 
 of Andros and the rapid return to their former governments. 
 In all conflicts of crown officials with the people between 
 1700 and 1750, the colonists of New England were true to 
 the principle announced above. 
 
 Therefore, for the series of events growing out of the 
 relations between New England and the mother country, 
 the determination of the colonists to preserve, and, if 
 possible, increase their rights and privileges, becomes the 
 organizing idea. The teacher will note that this idea and 
 motive will be found as content in all the events entering 
 into the series, and also that this series as a whole organizes 
 
GROWTH OF LOCAL INSTITUTIONS. 93 
 
 into proper relations, with the series of events embodying 
 the diffusion of rights and opportunities. This latter we 
 have seen to be the principle of their domestic develop- 
 ment, and it was for the preservation of this internal life 
 that the fierce opposition to England's encroachments was 
 made. 
 
 Centralization of Rights and Opportunities. 
 
 Nature of this Organizing Idea. — The above heading is 
 taken as a statement of the most fundamental movement 
 common to the institutions of the southern group of 
 colonies. An attempt to organize the facts of southern 
 colonial history around this idea will be found more diffi- 
 cult than the organization of New England history around 
 the opposite principle. This difficulty grows out of the 
 fact that the political life of the southern group was more 
 frequently interrupted by conflicts of the people with the 
 officials of the crown or with proprietors, and hence its 
 political development was not left as undisturbed, and was 
 not allowed to follow its natural tendency as completely 
 as in New England. A practical difficulty also confronts 
 the teacher or student who searches for events and facts 
 bearing on the internal history of the group ; for while most 
 of our historians have been diligent in giving us pictures 
 of the political collisions * mentioned above, they have not 
 
 1 There is no doubt of the historical significance of these conflicts, 
 for they tended to keep alive the spirit of opposition to encroachments 
 on the rights of the colonies, but it must be remembered that they 
 constitute only one phase of one portion of the people's life. 
 
94 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 described very fully the events that attended the gradual 
 absorption of power and influence by the slaveholders. This 
 movement, by which political, social, cultural, and industrial 
 opportunities were practically concentrated in the hands of 
 the planters, was in the main a silent process. It went 
 on, generation after generation, without obtruding itself 
 upon the consciousness of the colonists ; but it was none 
 the less fundamental and permanent in its character. 
 
 General Causes of the Movement. — The soil of the 
 southern colonies was exceedingly fertile, thus making 
 agriculture so easy and remunerative that it practically 
 became their one great occupation. No other occupation 
 in this section could compete with it, and thus the oppor- 
 tunity for variety of labor was greatly limited. Besides, 
 the warm climate made possible the production of certain 
 plants, like tobacco, rice, cotton, and indigo. From the 
 nature of these plants and their physical environment, the 
 cultivation of them was simple ; it could be performed by 
 unskilled labor. These conditions made slave labor pos- 
 sible, and the great heat of the section made it seem 
 desirable. The employment of the slave soon taught the 
 planters that an increase in profit was to be gained by 
 increasing the number of slaves. The result of this was an 
 increase in the size of the plantation to give room for more 
 slaves. The tendency of family pride was also in the direc- 
 tion of more slaves and more acres. The planters therefore 
 absorbed the most desirable of the agricultural lands. 
 
 Economical Aspects of the Movement. — The first form 
 of slavery was not negro slavery, but it was a system of 
 
GROWTH OF LOCAL INSTITUTIONS. 95 
 
 indentured service, by means of which the planters obtained 
 white laborers for a term of years by paying their passage 
 to America, or by buying their labor from companies who 
 made a business of bringing over vagabonds and criminals. 
 After his term of service the indentured laborer was turned 
 loose — ignorant, poor, and often vicious — to shift for 
 himself. These people furnished the beginnings of that 
 class which, later, was the product of negro slavery — the 
 poor whites. To the indentured servant after his contract 
 expired, and to other non-slaveholders, three things were 
 open : 1. They could be day-laborers, the easiest and 
 most likely thing to be done. This, too, was the most 
 hopeless thing that could befall the poor whites. In this 
 sphere, they came into either direct or indirect competition 
 with the negro slave. Not only did the presence of the 
 slave give them less work to do, but for the part that 
 fell to them the wages were small, from the fact that the 
 cheaper form of labor was always present. 2. They could 
 emigrate, and thus remove themselves from the immediate 
 presence of slavery. Those dissatisfied could, and hun- 
 dreds did, move out upon the frontier or up into the 
 mountains, where lands were cheaper. They thus became 
 independent farmers on a small scale. The more enter- 
 prizing settlers direct from Europe, not yet affected by the 
 virus of slavery, furnished by far the greater number of 
 border farmers. But even this more ambitious class felt 
 the unequal contest with slavery. The products of their 
 more humble efforts had to go into the same market and 
 compete with the products of the plantation — products 
 
96 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 produced at the lowest possible cost. Their profits could 
 not be proportionally as high as the planter's, because the 
 labor that produced their tobacco or other products ate more 
 and better food, wore more and better clothes, and required 
 better shelter. If the non-slaveholders were still more 
 ambitious, and if their knowledge was equal to their ambi- 
 tion, they frequently crossed the border into the northern 
 or middle colonies, where disastrous competition was least 
 felt. 3. Finally, it was barely possible, but not probable, 
 that they might become slaveholders on a small scale. 
 
 There was little opportunity outside of agriculture. 
 The sparseness of the population, the absence of towns 
 and cities, and the consequent absence of the variety in 
 occupation which gave encouragement to large numbers 
 of intelligent and industrious laborers in the middle and 
 northern colonies, compelled the non-slaveholder to labor 
 in a field already too well occupied. Slavery gave the 
 planter leisure, but it added to the time the non-slave- 
 holder must work if he hoped to gain a competence or even 
 the comforts of life. Slavery gave wealth to the planter, 
 but denied it to the non-slaveholder. The tendency, eco- 
 nomically, was to put the wealth of the colony into the 
 hands of planters. 
 
 Social and Educational Effects. — Closely allied with 
 the economic differences between those two classes was 
 the contrast in their social life. In no other form of 
 southern institutional life is the reign of the principle of 
 growth, stated in the beginning, more strikingly apparent 
 than in social life. The gulf between the family of the 
 
GROWTH OF LOCAL INSTITUTIONS. 97 
 
 slaveholder and the family of the non-slaveholder was 
 often so wide as to be impassable. The immediate causes 
 of this contrast in social standing are found in the fact 
 that one family had wealth, leisure, and refinement, while 
 the other was poor and had to labor, — conditions akin 
 to slavery, — and was often marked by the absence of 
 refinement and intelligence. On one side was family pride 
 and many things to stimulate it — ancestry, acres, and 
 slaves ; on the other was a family often lacking in every- 
 thing which constitutes the basis of family pride, with 
 poverty often as deep as that of the slave, and even more 
 pitiable, and with ignorance so dense as to be entirely un- 
 conscious. Naturally, there could be but little fellowship 
 between families so widely separated by such social con- 
 trasts. 
 
 In the southern group there were few public schools 
 such, as were known in New England. In the absence of 
 general and public means of education there was little 
 opportunity for the non-slaveholder to educate his children. 
 He might teach them the rudiments of learning, if per- 
 chance he knew them himself. If he was above the 
 average non-slaveholder in point of wealth, the parson or 
 some indigent scholar might be found to tutor them. The 
 rule was that neither was found. Sometimes a substitute 
 was discovered in the person of an indented servant. But 
 all these results were only a few drops in the great ocean 
 of ignorance. Thus it seems that the lack of education 
 was a means to perpetuate the condition of the non- 
 slaveholder. How could he rise ? Where was his leverage ? 
 
98 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 In contrast with this, the children of the planter conld 
 have an education if their desires ran in that direction. 
 Many of them had private tutors. Some went to the 
 College of William and Mary, others to northern schools, 
 while the more wealthy and ambitious went abroad for 
 their schooling. This disparity between the two classes 
 in education had much to do in perpetuating social and 
 other differences. In view of this condition of the two 
 classes, we may safely say that the principle of concen- 
 tration finds another powerful confirmation. 
 
 How the Principle Worked in Politics and in Religion. — 
 With all these differences of wealth, family position, and 
 education, it is not only not a matter of surprise, but was 
 the most natural and fitting thing that the slaveholders 
 should receive all the political offices. They were, and it 
 was practically necessary that they should be, the recipients 
 of political preferment at the hands of the crown and also 
 at the hands of the people. No other class in this group 
 could furnish men who could measure up to the needs of 
 colonial government as closely as the slaveholders. But 
 besides the question of fitness, their social position, wealth, 
 and possible influence would have gained for them political 
 recognition. It was not unnatural, that with political power 
 mainly in their hands they should be tempted to use it to 
 promote their own interests. This was accomplished in 
 many ways ; but the most effective was the requirement 
 of a given land qualification for suffrage, and a larger one 
 for office-holding. In some instances, the tax on personal 
 property was heavier, in proportion, than that on real estate. 
 
GROWTH OF LOCAL INSTITUTIONS. 99 
 
 Add to these the custom of the crown or proprietor of ap- 
 pointing only persons of high degree to places in the upper 
 house of the colonial legislature, and we have all the con- 
 ditions for the concentration of political power and in- 
 fluence in the hands of one class. 
 
 We thus see that each phase of institutional life, except 
 religion, has been tested in the light of this principle of 
 growth and has in the main confirmed the position assumed 
 in the beginning. How about religious thought and feel- 
 ing ? Do they grow under the same law ? So far as 
 social and political interests touched religious customs and 
 machinery, the tendency was to put their control in the 
 hands of the aristocratic element. The English Church was 
 the dominant organization in this group of colonies ; and 
 its influence was not, generally, such as would destroy this 
 tendency, even if it did not purposely strengthen it. There 
 were, in many cases, limitations placed on the exercise 
 of free religious opinion, and even when dissenters were 
 allowed to organize churches they labored under the dis- 
 advantage of competing with a church that either was 
 supported directly, or was encouraged by the colonial 
 government. There is, therefore, in these limitations on 
 religious rights and privileges something akin to what we 
 have witnessed in the other great institutions. 
 
 • The peculiarity of all sides of life in the southern col- 
 onies, which we have been studying, did not, as might be 
 expected, unfit the slaveholders for active and aggressive 
 work in the Revolution. The love of personal and polit- 
 ical independence was as strong as it was in the feudal 
 
100 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 lords that snatched English liberty from King John. 
 And in the southern colonies, where the favors of the 
 crown did not stifle it, this old spirit flared up as quickly 
 as in the more democratic regions of New England. The 
 slaveholders formed the backbone of the Revolution in the 
 South, and did much to marshal the non-slaveholders in 
 defence of freedom. There were some features of the war 
 that were not found in the North, but the centralization 
 of power and privilege did not seriously check its progress 
 in the southern section. 
 
 Conclusion. — The above discussion is historical rather 
 than pedagogical. It has, however, this bearing on the proc- 
 ess of thinking : by it we have demonstrated the existence 
 of a law of growth in southern colonial life, which law is 
 to play the part of the " organizing idea " of the history of 
 this group, at least so far as internal influences are con- 
 cerned. This " concentration of power and opportunity " 
 is the idea that the student must keep with him in trying 
 to investigate southern life in this period. This idea is to 
 illuminate the facts of every phase of the people's life in 
 this age, and these in turn are to enrich and give con- 
 creteness to this principle of historical development. 
 
 It may not be amiss to suggest here that in the light of 
 the above discussion it is entirely feasible, and for many 
 reasons very desirable, that the colonies be studied in 
 groups rather than as isolated colonies. The student, in his 
 first study, should, perhaps, take each one in detail, but a 
 second going over the subject, if only in review, should 
 be devoted to laying emphasis on the features common to 
 
GROWTH OF LOCAL INSTITUTIONS. 101 
 
 tlie members of the same group. This should be done for 
 the sake of the knowledge as well as for the reason that 
 time may be saved. The knowledge thus gained will have 
 in it an element not to be had by studying isolated colonies ; 
 it will show the student that the great overshadowing 
 features of life in one member were to be found in the 
 other members of the same group. For purposes of histori- 
 cal interpretation this will entirely suffice. Why should 
 the student be required to wade through a maze of dis- 
 similar events only to find the same set of ideas ? The 
 value to the student of discovering the same idea in more 
 than one set of particulars should be fully recognized, but 
 there must be a limit to this unless great modifications 
 are found in the ideas as the result of their varying 
 embodiment. Such is not the case in the southern and 
 northern groups. It seems that the principle of concrete 
 expression of ideas and customs would be fully satisfied by 
 selecting a representative colony of each group, say, Massa- 
 chusetts for the northern, Virginia for the southern, and 
 Pennsylvania for the middle group. 
 
 The Principle Governing the Attitude of the Southern 
 Colonists toward English Authority. — As stated at the 
 opening of the discussion on the law governing the internal 
 development of southern institutions, historians have given 
 much time to the events touching the relations between 
 the colonial and the home governments. The cause pro- 
 ducing these events is the frequent action of the mother 
 country. This action, though frequent, was not continuous, 
 hence ordinarily it is difficult to find a common and con- 
 
102 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 nected content for these facts. This difficulty is not 
 diminished by the nature of the events themselves, for 
 they range over the whole list of possible occurrences. 
 While this is true, yet if we analyze these events for the 
 attitude of the colonial mind toward the exercise of Eng- 
 lish authority over them, we shall discover in the southern 
 group the same state of sentiment as was found in New 
 England, — a determination to exercise for themselves as 
 much power as possible, and to oppose all encroachments, 
 whether made directly by king and parliament, or indi- 
 rectly by the colonial governments. This attitude is found 
 in Virginia, when James I. took the charter from the 
 London Company, when Charles I. made an effort to get 
 control of the tobacco trade or sided with Governor Harvey, 
 when Cromwell sent his war vessels and commissioners, 
 and when Bacon defied the authority of Governor Berkeley. 
 Likewise in the Carolinas, whether they were contending 
 with proprietors under Locke's Grand Model, or contesting 
 the aggressions of colonial governors appointed by the king, 
 the same principle of conduct animated them. Because of 
 her internal disturbances, Maryland presents fewer cases 
 of conflict with king and governors than either Virginia or 
 the Carolinas ; but where cases of invaded rights were clear, 
 the settlers of Maryland proved their right to be regarded 
 as true Englishmen. 
 
 In discussing New England's relation to English au- 
 thority, we found that the events connected therewith 
 grew out of the people's efforts to maintain securely the 
 institutional life of the group, especially as related to 
 
GROWTH OF LOCAL INSTITUTIONS. 103 
 
 politics, religion, and commerce. The same relation exists 
 in the southern group between these two series of events. 
 The opposition here was not for its own sake, but for the 
 purpose of protecting the institutions' of the colonies from 
 dangerous encroachments which tended to limit the parti- 
 cipation of the people in their functions. 
 
 The Middle Colonies. 
 
 Internal Institutional Growth. — The diversity of races, 
 of religious and political institutions in this group makes 
 it impossible to discover a dominant movement in colonial 
 times for the group as a whole. Here we have a popula- 
 tion foreshadowing that of our times. Here were the 
 Dutch, Swedes, Germans, Scotch, Welsh, Irish, and English. 
 Each was wedded to the ideas and institutions of his native 
 land, and thus presented many barriers to the develop- 
 ment of a characteristic tendency in internal affairs. 
 New York partook, to some extent, of the characteristics 
 of New England, especially late in the colonial period, 
 but in its early days, Dutch influence was paramount ; it 
 did not, however, extend into other colonies. New Jersey 
 and Delaware were much influenced by their proximity to 
 the southern group, and the latter became a slave state. 
 The conditions favoring diversity in Pennsylvania were so 
 great that it had little in common with the other members 
 of the group. Thus it appears that no law of development 
 can be found for this group as a whole unless it be the law 
 of diversity. This makes the organization of the history 
 of this group as a whole quite unsatisfactory. No doubt 
 
104 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 an analysis of the internal life of each colony would present 
 some idea to serve as its organizing principle, but work so 
 detailed hardly belongs to the scope of the present discussion. 
 
 Attitude of Middle Colonies toward English Authority. 
 ■ — While it may be difficult to discover an internal move- 
 ment common to all the members of the middle group of 
 colonies, it is not at all difficult to find the common prin- 
 ciple animating the people of each colony with reference 
 to extension of English authority. Particularly is this 
 true of the two great members of the group, — New York 
 and Pennsylvania. -Almost from the day of their birth, 
 the people of these two colonies were in conflict with their 
 respective local authorities, whose functions and powers 
 were drawn from royal authority. Sometimes the opposi- 
 tion was in the minority, but it kept on its struggle. In 
 many cases the victory was only defensive, and simply 
 held what had been gained, but from 1700 to the Revolu- 
 tion the people became aggressive and won real advances 
 in rights and opportunities. 
 
 We thus discover that a common principle of action 
 controlled the people of all the colonies in dealing with 
 questions relating to the extension of British authority over 
 them. This gives us a common interpreting and coordinat- 
 ing principle for all events falling under this category. Of 
 course, with reference to the future, the discovery of this 
 common content is full of significance, for it shows the 
 gradual divergence of English and American political ideas, 
 and that the spirit of the Revolution was born of a century 
 or more of rough experience with English officials. 
 
PERIOD OF THE GROWTH OF UNION. 
 
 The Period as a Whole. 
 
 The Transition from Isolation to Union. — The law of 
 
 differentiation operating in history makes every age to 
 some extent a period of transition. The law of continuity, 
 however, so controls the movement of the dominant idea 
 that the growth of this idea may consist in merely passing 
 from one stage of itself to another. But what may be 
 termed transitions proper are changes marked either by the 
 appearance of new ideas and sentiments, or by growth in 
 the old ideas to such an extent that the changes practically 
 amount to new movements. These transitions proper are 
 most marked on the border lines between periods, and are 
 usually characterized by events whose content partakes of 
 both the old and the new movement. 
 
 The transition in the present case marks the passage 
 from the first to the second of the great coordinate 
 movements in our institutional life. If the student is to 
 be guided by the laws of growth he must search for the 
 germs of the second period far back in the midst of the 
 first. In the midst of isolation he must look for some 
 signs of union. One of these, the tie of race, has already 
 been mentioned. The English colonists felt that they 
 were one against Indians, Spaniards, and Frenchmen. 
 
106 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 Even in the first portion of the colonial era England made 
 the Americans feel that her commercial interests and theirs 
 were not identical. The renewal and extension of the navi- 
 gation laws under Charles II., the creation of the Boards 
 of Trade under William and Mary, the limitations on the 
 woolen trade in the same reign, the passage of the impor- 
 tation act of 1733, and many other limitations upon colonial 
 industry, tended to strengthen the conviction that the inter- 
 ests of the colonists and those of the mother country were 
 not identical, at least in the eyes of British merchants and 
 legislators. Out of these restrictions and this conviction, 
 aided by the desire of gain, grew and flourished the 
 colonial smuggling trade. American merchants and ship- 
 pers troubled themselves very little about the moral ques- 
 tions, and soon there arose a loose sort of cooperation among 
 the smugglers of the various ports ; this was a germ of 
 union that quickly developed into the merchant organiza- 
 tions of the Eevolution. Another cause of the colonists 
 uniting in thought and feeling against England, we have 
 already found in the fact that, in all their struggles with 
 governors, judges, and other royal officials, she stood against 
 the claims of the people and supported those of the 
 officials. While these contests over authority did not lead 
 to any form of cooperation in the colonial time, yet they did 
 create a state of mind which furnished a basis for union. 
 Another thread of sympathy and cooperation existed in 
 the first period, — dangers from the Erench and the Indians. 
 These dangers were constant between 1690 and 1763, and 
 were common to nearly all the colonies. That the English 
 
THE GROWTH OF UNION. 107 
 
 colonies so felt is abundantly proven by the long line of 
 intercolonial meetings covering this time, there having 
 been more than a dozen conferences between represen- 
 tatives of various colonies ; sometimes only the representa- 
 tives of one group were present, but at one time or another 
 all the colonies were thus in friendly cooperation. The 
 immediate result of these conferences was a series of 
 cooperative military and naval expeditions against the 
 common enemy. In teaching the colonies the lesson of 
 helpful and sympathetic cooperation in military affairs, 
 the so-called intercolonial wars furnished the experience 
 out of which a more perfect union might arise. In still 
 another way, but indirectly, these wars and their attendant 
 intercommunication prepared the way for union by break- 
 ing down to some extent the prejudices, religious and 
 social, which various colonies entertained, and thus tended 
 to remove some of the barriers- to union erected in the 
 period of isolation. These examples ought to be sufficient 
 to prove that even in the period when local interests and 
 institutions were dominant, new impulses were beginning to 
 differentiate themselves from the prevailing condition and 
 to move forward to the conquest of the future. 
 
 The Period Proper. — The real nature of the thought- 
 movement of this period is foreshadowed in the lines of 
 growth already indicated. It is indeed a movement from 
 isolation to union. The preceding discussion, however, has 
 not pointed out the special circumstances under which the 
 impulse to union gained so mighty an impetus that it 
 absorbed the energy of the whole people, and thus made 
 
108 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 it the dominant movement of an era. The intercolonial 
 wars left England apparently almost hopelessly in debt, 
 and even before the close of the last one she began to 
 devise means to raise a larger revenue in America. This 
 determination led the custom-house officials of Boston to 
 apply for writs of assistance as a means of breaking up 
 smuggling. James Otis came to the rescue and made his 
 great argument by appealing to the English constitution. 1 
 The result was regarded as a victory for all the colonies. 
 The failure to enforce the old laws of trade led to their 
 modification in 1763. This new law was a sort of confis- 
 cation act, because its most striking feature provided that 
 the navy should be used to destroy the smuggling trade 
 by confiscation of smuggled goods. It stimulated the 
 cupidity of the naval officers, the governors, the judges, 
 and the military officials by allowing them to share in the 
 confiscations. Commerce with the West Indies was threat- 
 ened with destruction. A storm of protests swept over to 
 England. American commerce was greatly damaged, but 
 England gained nothing. Erom now on, parliamentary 
 legislation concerning America produced at each step the 
 same results, — drove the colonies farther from England 
 and closer to one another. The Stamp Act brought in its 
 train colonial correspondence, a congress, non-importation 
 
 1 In this speech Otis struck the "keynote" of the first phase of 
 the American revolution. Lecky's England, vol. iii. p. 336, says that 
 it excited great enthusiasm in the colonies. Extracts from the speech 
 are found in Tudor's Life of James Otis, and in Mace's Working 
 Manual of American History. 
 
THE GROWTH OF UNION. 109 
 
 societies, Sons and Daughters of Liberty, and a whirlwind 
 of indignation. The Tea Tax, the Massachusetts Circular 
 Letter, the Boston Tea Party, the Boston Port Bill, and 
 other events all produced similar results, — closer unity in 
 sentiment, and greater cooperation in action. On this one- 
 ness of mind and heart independence rested for its declara- 
 tion and its success. The growth of union and the success 
 of the war were mutually dependent. This same sentiment 
 gave existence to the Confederation, and as it waxed or 
 waned, the Confederation was strong or weak. But the 
 great process of unification went on and finally gave us 
 the form of a nation, — the Constitution of the United 
 States, the crowning event of the American Revolution. 
 
 Organization of the Period as a Whole. — The above 
 brief examination of the thought and feeling of this period 
 is made to show that an organizing idea in history is not 
 an arbitrary whim or invention, but is a real, vital thing to 
 be discovered by probing into the very essence of the facts 
 to be organized, is a scientific induction drawn from a most 
 careful and penetrating analysis and comparison of the 
 facts observed. 1 It will be noticed that this examination 
 confirms what we saw when dividing our history into its 
 great coordinate parts, and also what was seen above when 
 tracing the evolution of this period out of the life of the 
 preceding, — that the differentiating mark of this phase of 
 our life is the growth of the sentiment of union. If the 
 
 1 It is not intended even to suggest that the examination of the 
 above events constitutes the process of induction necessary to reach 
 the organizing idea. 
 
110 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 results of these examinations did not mutually support one 
 another there could be no organization. For this idea of 
 union could not interpret the events of this period, if it 
 did not at the same time set them off from the events of 
 the other periods. This is a test which must be satis- 
 fied by the organizing principle of science ; otherwise 
 it cannot lay claim to the function of such an idea. The 
 ultimate test, of course, comes in the process of inter- 
 pretation, when the student is carefully searching for the 
 content — for the true significance — of the individual 
 facts. If the induction is a true one this detailed and 
 painstaking search will only reveal in this period the 
 idea of union in greater fullness. It is finding this iden- 
 tity of content in the series of events called the Revolution 
 that enables the mind to see it as an organically related 
 whole. Here are events so widely different in aspect as 
 almost to lose the student in the maze of differences, but 
 under the direction of this idea of union we find them all 
 akin. Identity of content is the only law of mind or of 
 history that will enable the student to organize so many 
 diverse facts into a logical historical whole. 
 
 The time between 1760 and 1789 was rich with events ; 
 and their systematic study as a whole must be carried 
 further by measuring their relative value as a means to 
 give them rank in the period. This is accomplished 
 by comparing these events as to their relative contri- 
 bution to the growth of the dominant idea of this time. 
 Not only as a matter of knowledge but as a matter pertain- 
 ing to the intelligent direction of others, the teacher must 
 
THE GROWTH OF UNION. Ill 
 
 answer such questions as this : Which event will give the 
 student the deepest insight into the great movement toward 
 unity in thought and action, — the struggle over the Writs 
 of Assistance, the Stamp Act Congress, the Boston Tea 
 Party, the battle of Lexington, the creation of the Confed- 
 eration, or the ratifying conventions that established the 
 Constitution ? This question asked and answered for the 
 leading facts of the Revolution will give them their true 
 rank in the period, — their proper coordination and sub- 
 ordination in the series. The student will thus be able to 
 view them in their true historical perspective. Then the 
 period is no longer a chaos of facts, but each one stands in 
 the place assigned it by its own historical significance. 
 
 The Phases of the Period. — As a means to a scientific 
 knowledge of the period as a whole, there can be no doubt 
 concerning the value of the general process of organization 
 just explained. But the general idea of union, as the con- 
 tent for events taken singly or in groups smaller than 
 that of the period, is not adequate, — is too abstract for 
 purposes of detailed study and organization. This would 
 leave the content of revolutionary events not only vague, 
 but necessarily also the student's notion of the movement 
 of union would be indefinite. Hence, for the sake of the 
 organizing idea as well as for a more concrete content to 
 give to individual facts, the idea of union must be pushed 
 out into all its different manifestations — into all the shades 
 of meaning that it took on in its process of evolution. To 
 obtain this richer content we must appeal to another great 
 function of our organizing idea — the division of the period 
 
112 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 into its organic parts. In obedience to the principle of 
 logical division, and in harmony with the laws of continu- 
 ity and differentiation, we mnst find these parts by dis- 
 covering differences in the growth of the sentiment of 
 nnion. In casting the eye along the course of this mighty 
 current between 1760 and 1789, there appear two general 
 differences. In one part of the stream, thought and feeling 
 are flowing in unison against England, while in the other, 
 ideas and sentiments are moving toward agreement as to 
 the proper relations between the states and the general 
 government. Union against England dominated public 
 sentiment from 1760 to 1783, and union on domestic ques- 
 tions had its beginning about 1775 and grew in intensity 
 till 1789. These forms of union constitute the two great 
 coordinate phases of the period of revolution. These two 
 phases overlap, which is proof that the parts are histori- 
 cally true and were really organic forms of the people's 
 thought, and not mere artificial inventions. 
 
 Union against England. 
 
 Organizes Events from 1760 to 1783 into a Series. — 
 
 Since the idea of union against England differentiates the 
 first from the second half of this period, it must also 
 integrate all the leading facts of the first half. Union 
 against England will be found as their chief common 
 content. Whether we study the Massachusetts Circular 
 Letter, the Congress of 1774, the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence, Washington's retreat through the Jerseys, or Bur- 
 goyne's campaign, the greatest common significance we 
 
THE GROWTH OF UNION. 113 
 
 can find in them is the relation of union to them as cause 
 and their reaction upon it as effect. The problem is not 
 entirely solved when all the facts are thus traced into this 
 great stream of public sentiment. These events must 
 stand in the mind in orderly arrangement. If a true his- 
 torical sense is to be developed in the student, they must 
 be given rank on basis of their contribution to maintaining 
 union against England. We see that this is a more con- 
 crete and definite organizing idea than the general idea of 
 union. Perhaps it is possible to discover a still more 
 substantial organizing idea. This can come, as we have 
 often seen, only by discovering the inherent differences in 
 the growth of the organizing idea, — in this case, union 
 against England. A glance at this growth will reveal two 
 contrasting phases : Union against England on the basis 
 of the Rights of Englishmen, extending from about 1760 
 to 1775, and most fully expressed in the Declaration of 
 Rights ; and union against England on the basis of the 
 Rights of Man, which extended from 1775 to 1783, and 
 best expressed in the Declaration of Independence. 
 
 Union on the Basis of Rights of Englishmen. — The 
 growth of union on the basis of the Rights of Englishmen 
 is, in the order of time, the first phase of the American 
 Revolution. To secure their rights as British subjects 
 under the British Constitution was the animating thought 
 that organized resistance to every measure of king or par- 
 liament aiming at an infringement of colonial privileges. 
 It was the inspiration of this idea that first made Ameri- 
 cans one in thought and sentiment, and concentrated their 
 
114 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 efforts in every struggle from the Writs of Assistance to 
 the battle of Lexington. The resolutions of town meet- 
 ings and of colonial assemblies, petitions to the king and 
 addresses to the English parliament and people by the 
 Continental Congress, the organization and work of the 
 Sons and Daughters of Liberty, the Committees of Corre- 
 spondence, the Non-importation and Non-exportation socie- 
 ties, the passage of the Stamp Act, Tea Tax, and Boston 
 Port Bill, the Boston Massacre and the Tea Party, either 
 consciously aimed at, or unconsciously produced, a union 
 to obtain the rights common to all Englishmen. The 
 development of this sentiment, then, must be taken as the 
 organizing idea for all the facts of this first part of the 
 union against England. To trace the connection between 
 these individual facts and this great idea — to see each of 
 them producing it or produced by it, or both — is to inter- 
 pret them. 
 
 A formal interpretation of some one of the events of 
 this time may serve to make plainer the process by which 
 a concrete organizing idea performs its work. Let it be a 
 familiar one, — the Stamp Act Congress. The process of 
 interpreting this event must follow the general principle 
 already laid down, and therefore requires two things of the 
 student : 1. That he show, if possible, the congress to be 
 an outgrowth of union and cooperation already in existence. 
 2. That he show to what extent and in w r hat way this 
 meeting gave new impulses to thought and action directed 
 to secure a united effort for the Bights of Englishmen. 
 The student has seen this movement going on as the result 
 
THE GROWTH OF UNION. 115 
 
 of a number of conflicts before the time of the Stamp Act. 
 Besides, it was more than a year after the first news of the 
 Stamp Act reached America that the congress convened. 
 During this time he has been watching public sentiment 
 take form. He has seen organized opposition begin in 
 the towns, and has noted its transfer to colonial legis- 
 latures through instructions to representatives. From 
 capital to capital, and from town to capital and back 
 again, he has watched the news of agitation spread over 
 the continent. This system of intercommunication he saw 
 carry the burning words of Patrick Henry to every colony 
 both North and South, giving courage and enthusiasm to 
 all the people till a call for a congress resounded over all 
 the land. By this process the student has been accumulat- 
 ing meaning for the congress, so that when he comes to it 
 he is historically prepared for it. It stands to him as the 
 expression of a great idea — an idea that moves profoundly 
 the mind and heart of an entire people. The meeting of 
 this congress is not to him an empty happening which 
 might or might not have occurred; but he sees its vital 
 connection with the public sentiment that gave it birth, 
 and hence views it as an occurrence which is natural, if 
 not necessary. 
 
 The work of this meeting must also be looked at from 
 the point of view of its effects on the growth of union. 
 Even the greatness of the men comprising the congress 
 has this significance. The eminence of that body only 
 gave greater impetus to the movement among the people. 
 One of the marked features of the work accomplished was 
 
116 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 that it came almost unanimously from their hands. This 
 fact was of no small consequence^ for agreement among the 
 leaders made the rank and file harmonious. The Declara- 
 tion of Eights — the most important document issued by 
 the congress — was calculated greatly to strengthen one- 
 ness in thought and action because it gave to the struggle 
 a constitutional basis. This document, distributed among 
 the people, read, debated, and talked over, was not only 
 felt to be a justification of what had been done, but was a 
 powerful educator of the public mind as to the ground of 
 resistance. The loyal and warm-hearted petition of the 
 congress to the king touched a responsive chord every- 
 where in America ; it truly expressed the sentiments of 
 Americans toward their sovereign, and, taken with the 
 Declaration of Bights, it showed how loyalty and love of 
 liberty grow side by side — how loyalty does not mean 
 servility, nor union treason. Thus we see that every 
 important point connected with the congress touches the 
 union to secure the Rights of Englishmen. 
 
 It is quite possible to put into the Stamp Act Congress 
 a more specific and individualized content than union for 
 the Eights of Englishmen, i.e., union against internal taxa- 
 tion ; but we have carried the process far enough for 
 purposes of illustration. In the light of this process of 
 organization, we see in this event a very perfect gradation 
 of ideas. In the first place, beginning with the lowest 
 degree of generality, the Stamp Act Congress expresses 
 the immediate determination of the people to secure the 
 repeal of the Stamp Act. The discovery of this idea in its 
 
THE GROWTH OF UNION. 117 
 
 content makes this congress a member of a series of events 
 that were means in trying to reach the same end. With 
 this idea in mind for its content, it is a member of the 
 smallest of the various series to which it belongs. Rising 
 a step higher in the scale of generality, we found in the 
 Stamp Act Congress an idea common to all great events 
 between 1761 and 1775, — union to secure the Rights of 
 Englishmen ; here it becomes akin to the struggle over the 
 Writs of Assistance, the Massachusetts Circular Letter, 
 the Boston Tea Party, and the congress of 1774. In this 
 same event we also found the more general idea of union 
 against England ; thus giving it place and meaning in a 
 wider range of facts. It is now allied to the battle of 
 Bunker Hill, the Declaration of Independence, Valley 
 Forge, the treason of Arnold, and the surrender of Corn- 
 wallis. But this congress of 1765 contains the general 
 idea of union — an idea that threads every great event of 
 the American Revolution. In embodying union in its gen- 
 eral form, the Stamp Act Congress strikes hands with 
 the transformation of colonial into state governments, the 
 Articles of Confederation, Shay's Rebellion, the cession of 
 western lands, the formation of the Society of the Cincin- 
 nati, and the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Rising 
 once more and finally in the scale of generality, we have in 
 this event an idea that permeates all the facts of our his- 
 tory — the evolution of the life of the American people. 
 What is true of this event is true of the period of the Revo- 
 lution, and what is true of this period is true of our entire 
 history : it can be organized into a Hierarchy of Ideas. 
 
118 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 Union on Basis of the Rights of Man. — This is the 
 second phase of the struggle against England, and has its 
 origin when public sentiment begins to pass over from the 
 Rights of Englishmen to the Rights of Man. The germs 
 of this new basis of union are found in the preceding 
 struggle. " The rights of man/' " natural rights," and 
 similar expressions are found in the speeches and writings 
 of Otis, Henry, and in the documents of legislatures and 
 congresses. The genesis of the new movement was greatly 
 stimulated by the failure of the great efforts of Chatham 
 and Burke at conciliation, and by the attitude of king and 
 parliament toward the petitions of the congresses of 1774 
 and 1775. The congress of 1775 sent a final petition to the 
 king by the hand of a good loyalist, Richard Penn. While 
 waiting for the king's answer, the congress, in order not to 
 prejudice the petition's reception, refused to undertake 
 any measure looking toward independence. When, how- 
 ever, word came that the king refused to reply to the 
 petition, proclaimed the colonists rebels, and provided 
 for mercenary troops, the congress went forward rapidly 
 with measures that looked toward independence. Lex- 
 ington and Bunker Hill had already occurred, and the 
 siege of Boston was in progress. Paine's Common Sense 
 came in January, 1776, to add argument to the force of 
 events in favor of separation. These and other events 
 convinced the majority of the people that England would 
 never grant their coveted English rights. This conviction 
 forced them to contemplate a broader and a more generous 
 basis of action, — the Rights of Man. The ripening of this 
 
THE GROWTH OF UNION. 119 
 
 new sentiment produced the Declaration of Independence, 
 — the best formulation of the Eights of Man ever penned. 
 
 In the winter and spring of 1776 various colonies began, 
 with the advice of congress, to reorganize their local gov- 
 ernments. New Hampshire and South Carolina were among 
 the earliest to form a government based on the " consent of 
 the governed." In April, 1776, North Carolina instructed 
 her delegates in congress to cooperate with the other col- 
 onies in measures for independence. May 4th, Rhode 
 Island disclaimed allegiance to the king, and instructed its 
 delegates in congress to promote union and confedera- 
 tion. The great commonwealth of Virginia, in convention 
 assembled, voted (May 15th) to instruct its representatives 
 in congress to propose a declaration of independence, con- 
 federation, and foreign alliances. This action was trans- 
 mitted to the other colonial assemblies. On June 12th 
 the convention issued a " Declaration of the Eights of Man." 
 Of course Massachusetts, in 1775, had overthrown the royal 
 government. Thus the movement away from the Eights of 
 Englishmen and forward to the Eights of Man went on till 
 the summer of 1776, when the more conservative colonies 
 could withstand the agitation no longer, and where the 
 regular colonial authorities refused to instruct for indepen- 
 dence, popular conventions assumed that function. The 
 formal Declaration of Independence marks the triumph of 
 the new basis of union in the minds and hearts of the 
 American people. Its permanent triumph in institutional 
 organization will be determined by the fortunes of war. 
 
 The enumeration of the above facts is not for the pur- 
 
120 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 pose of tracing all the causes that gave rise to the change 
 in American thought and feeling, but rather to show 
 how union for the Eights of Man 1 becomes the domi- 
 nant idea for the second phase of union against England. 
 This also serves to show that our organizing idea in this 
 new phase of the Revolution is not merely assumed or 
 invented, but is the essence of that phase of institutional 
 life which most completely absorbed the energies of the 
 people for that time, — a movement so fundamental that 
 the immediate past flowed into it, and the immediate 
 future sprang out of it. 
 
 The Organization of Military Events. — After the dec- 
 laration was made, most of the events connected with this 
 phase of the Revolution were military in character. Even 
 those not strictly military were more or less a means to 
 the progress of the war. Battles and campaigns are a 
 class of historical facts that have puzzled teachers and 
 students. For a number of years less and less attention 
 has been given to their study. Some persons urge their 
 omission from text-books altogether. This is a natural 
 reaction against the old-time view of history which made 
 it consist largely of wars and the career of warriors. Such 
 was, no doubt, a very one-sided and superficial view of the 
 
 1 The expression "Rights of Man" really names more funda- 
 mentally the content of this movement than either "Independence " 
 or " Separation." The latter are more frequently used, but the stu- 
 dent must see that separation is likely to seem more of an act and 
 less of a growth than the rights of man. Besides, independence is 
 rightly viewed as a means to the realization of the rights of men in 
 American institutions. 
 
THE GROWTH OF UNION. 121 
 
 subject; but it may be safely held that the military side 
 of history will never again dominate our books and our 
 teaching. Persons who oppose the study of military 
 events altogether generally do so on some ground outside 
 the subject-matter of history. This may be a worthy 
 ground of opposition, but it is one which method in his- 
 torical study can hardly take into consideration, and so 
 the question still remains: Have battles and wars no his- 
 torical significance ? Shall the battles of the Revolution 
 have a place in our study ? Most persons will answer 
 this question affirmatively; but in order to understand the 
 ground for the answer, this question must be asked: Did 
 the battles of the Eevolution have anything to do with 
 the real Eevolution? This can be answered only in 
 the affirmative, thus giving military events a place in the 
 study; but what place or rank is not indicated. For an 
 intelligent understanding of the subject, as well as for 
 pedagogical purposes, we need to determine more carefully 
 what content and what value are to be given to such 
 events in the study of this part of the conflict. This can 
 be done only by the aid of the organizing idea of this part 
 of the subject. The relation which the battles had to 
 the sentiment of union in general, and to union against 
 England for the Rights of Man in particular, is the stand- 
 ard to which we must appeal. It may be remarked that 
 some think the Revolutionary War was the Revolution; 
 but we have seen one phase of the struggle end before the 
 war began. The battles of the Revolution were hardly 
 a part of the real Revolution. They were the sign — the 
 
122 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 external evidence — that there was a real revolution in 
 the minds and hearts of the people; they were also the 
 means by which the Rights of Man were secured — by 
 which the advance in thought and feeling was made per- 
 manent. The relation between the war and the new form 
 of union was, therefore, an intimate one. It may be stated 
 in another way: the relation between them was one of 
 mutual dependence; the success or failure of one was the 
 most potent factor in giving strength or weakness to the 
 other. Perfect cooperation and union among the people 
 won victories, and oftentimes victories aroused their spirit 
 to more hearty and enthusiastic support for the cause. 
 Hence the rise and fall in the tide of public sentiment 
 cannot be traced from 1775 to 1783 without some study of 
 the military events of that time. But how shall we study 
 a battle ? What, for instance, is the problem to be solved 
 in studying the battle of Lexington ? Our organizing prin- 
 ciples — union for the Eights of Englishmen and union 
 for the Eights of Man — must give answer. How the sen- 
 timent of union, already in existence, tended to cause the 
 battle, and how the battle in turn affected the spirit of one- 
 ness among the people. The student must see flowing into 
 this battle all the preparations the colonists had made: 
 the formation of committees of safety, the organization of 
 minute men, the manufacture and storing of munitions 
 of war, the establishment of means of rapid communication 
 between Boston and the villages and country to enable 
 them to watch the British and to alarm the country in 
 case of danger. All these, and others like them, were 
 
THE GllOWTH OF UNION. 123 
 
 phases of the cooperation that made such a fight possible. 
 The movement toward union, manifesting itself in these 
 various ways, was the true cause of the battle, its char- 
 acter, and its immediate result. How much more meaning 
 is given to this event by viewing it in this way than by 
 seeing it as the result only of a purpose on the part of the 
 British to destroy military stores ! We now turn the battle 
 towards its results and see how its content is enriched. 
 First, let us see how not to do it. How this skirmish 
 wrought up public opinion to so high a pitch is not to be 
 discovered by trying to decide which party fired the first 
 shot, nor by quoting the language used by Major Pitcairn 
 as he bade the minute men lay down their arms, nor by 
 trying to remember the number killed, wounded, and miss- 
 ing on each side. One might know all these facts, and 
 many more of the accidental features of the affair, and yet 
 not see the flame of indignation that swept over the land 
 and made the people think and act as one man. A part of 
 the answer to the problem of the battle of Lexington is to 
 be found by seeing the response that came in the form of 
 minute men from thirty Massachusetts towns before that 
 day's work was over, and from all New England and the 
 country at large in the days and weeks that immediately 
 followed this contest. This answer is further to be read 
 in the assembly of twenty thousand provincials around 
 Boston, and in the patriotic resolves and energetic meas- 
 ures of the colonial assemblies, as they took up the burden 
 of war. After this manner are we to interpret the battles 
 of the war. 
 
124 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 The interpretation of the above battle makes the prob- 
 lem in the study of a military event the same in kind 
 as that connected with any other event. The historical 
 significance of a battle can be obtained in no other way. 
 To study it as a military event, or a war as a series of 
 military events, merely ; to view it as a student of mili- 
 tary science, is to miss its true historical content. Be- 
 cause teachers of history and writers of text-books have 
 persisted in trying to treat battles and campaigns as illus- 
 trations of military science, or have viewed them as mere 
 external happenings isolated from the real life of the 
 people, came the reaction against the study of battles. 
 It is believed, however, that the method of interpretation 
 suggested, and applied to the battle of Lexiogton, will 
 go far towards giving military events their legitimate 
 rank among historical data; but, in general, this view of 
 their content will not permit them to hold their former 
 rank. 
 
 The illustration given does not go far into details — 
 only states the problem and points out the general plan of 
 its solution. From the enumeration of only a few facts 
 about the battle of Lexington the inference should not be 
 drawn that none of the accidental features of a battle are 
 to be studied. The battle, like any other external event, is 
 a means and not an end; it was a means and not an end to 
 the people who participated in it. It must follow that 
 only such features of the battle or campaign are to be 
 studied as will contribute to the end in view. No more 
 definite law than this can be stated, because the accidental 
 
THE GROWTH OF UNION. 125 
 
 features of a battle, the particular officers in command, 
 the numbers on each side, the number killed and wounded, 
 movements, condition of each army as to supplies and 
 other munitions of war, and like points, bear no fixed 
 ratio to the effect on public opinion. In a given battle or 
 campaign, one set of features may account for a change 
 in public opinion, while in another battle a different set 
 of facts may have to be appealed to. Again, military 
 events of similar proportions do not bring about corre- 
 sponding changes in the ideas and attitudes of the people. 
 The disparity in the results of battles may be illustrated 
 by the skirmish of Lexington and the storming of Stony 
 Point. To the student of military science, the latter has 
 many points of interest, while the former has little to 
 commend it to him. To the student of the institutional 
 life of the people, the affair at Lexington is full of interest, 
 while the attack on Stony Point has little value to him as 
 a means of tracing the growth of ideas in the Revolution. 
 It is true that this daring event has many unique and 
 thrilling features about it, but their value ends in them- 
 selves, for they do not lead the student into the current 
 of human passion. This illustrates the statement that 
 there is no fixed relation, nor one permitting formulation, 
 existing between a battle and the movement of public 
 sentiment. The reaction in popular feeling caused by the 
 actions at Trenton and Princeton was greater, in propor- 
 tion to their size, than the depression produced by the 
 series of disasters begun by the great defeat on Long 
 Island and closed by the flight across the Jerseys. The 
 
126 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 best that can be done, therefore, is for the teacher to keep 
 before the student the problem to be solved, and, if neces- 
 sary, to direct him in the preparation of his work, so that 
 emphasis will be given to those features that throw most 
 light on the problem. 1 
 
 If the content of public sentiment in the form of union 
 for the Eights of Man is searched for in all the military 
 events of the time, the mind will group these facts into 
 a series, on the basis of a common historical content ; they 
 thus become as much a part of the Revolution as any other 
 event of that time. It must appear also, from the above 
 discussion, that those military events contributing most to 
 the end struggled for are the ones having the richest his- 
 torical content, and must take highest rank in the series. 
 If this standard of determining the relative value of events 
 be applied to all the battles and campaigns of the war, the 
 result will give about three grades of events: a very few 
 campaigns to be studied in detail ; a much larger number 
 of battles whose significance can be obtained in a single 
 reading; and a still larger number, including mere local 
 skirmishes, whose content is so vague that they should 
 not be studied at all. 
 
 During this second phase of the struggle against England 
 we have seen that another series of events, more purely 
 political in character, were taking place j they included 
 the ordinary work of the Continental Congress, the Declar- 
 
 1 It may not be amiss for the student in his reading to touch on the 
 details of events which have no bearing on the problem in hand, but 
 the teacher should not waste time in emphasizing them in recitation. 
 
THE GROWTH OF UNION. 127 
 
 ation of Independence, the formation of state constitu- 
 tions, foreign relations, the attempt to establish a general 
 government on the basis of the Articles of Confederation, 
 and other events of a like nature. These are to be inter- 
 preted and integrated by the same organizing idea that 
 answered for the military events — union for the Eights 
 of Man. The Declaration of Independence, as a document, 
 gives the best formal expression of these rights. It em- 
 bodies the ideas on which the struggle was to be waged, 
 and on which it was to be justified to the Americans 
 themselves and to the rest of mankind. The act of Dec- 
 laration is evidence that new ideas had taken the place of 
 the old basis of union. The enthusiasm with which it 
 was received by the army and by the people attests the 
 fact that union on the new basis was an accomplished 
 fact ; it also measures to the student the strength of the 
 revulsion in feeling that had taken place between April, 
 1775, and July, 1776. From this time on the attainment 
 of the Hights of Man becomes the conscious aim of the 
 Americans. It is held by some that the dominant idea of 
 any time is not always consciously present to the people 
 of that time. This is not true of the people in the 
 Revolutionary period. They had not only given up the 
 hope of English rights, but had substituted a new ambition, 
 and one full of inspiration. This is the ideal that ani- 
 mated their every act from the smallest to the greatest ; 
 it was a consuming passion with them. It seems to follow, 
 then, that the student ought to put into the means used 
 the same meaning which the people did themselves ; but 
 
128 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 this interpretation cannot be made unless the doctrines of 
 the great Declaration are studied, here and now, in the 
 very place this event occupies in the series of which 
 it is a part. In the ordinary text-book, Richard Henry 
 Lee's resolution holds a more prominent place than 
 any part of the Declaration. This has given the im- 
 pression that the former is of more importance than the 
 latter. Few, suggest any study of the Declaration. In 
 trying to emphasize the need of studying the Declara- 
 tion of Independence in this place, I do not mean to 
 insist on giving more attention to the accidental features 
 of this event, — the hall in which it was made, the hand- 
 writing of the document, the names of the committee that 
 prepared and reported it, and other like points, — but rather 
 that the student ought to be required to make a careful 
 analysis of the political principles x found therein, so that 
 the "rights of man" may mean something definite to him. 
 The accidental features should not be ignored ; but the 
 teacher of history must constantly bear in mind the fact 
 that the student may know all there is to be known of 
 such features and still not know the real Declaration of 
 Independence. There are two reasons for this study : it 
 casts a new and fuller light on the events preceding the 
 Declaration, — these events really caused it, — and their true 
 and full meaning is not known till the things that were 
 caused are understood; again, the events, both political 
 and military, that followed the Declaration, are to be seen 
 
 1 The portion of the Declaration preceding the enumeration of 
 grievances is the part to be studied most at this point. 
 
THE GROWTH OF UNION. 129 
 
 as means in the process by which it became possible for 
 the ideas of the Declaration to become the foundation of 
 our institutions. Thus, illuminated by the same great idea, 
 the events between 1775 and 1783 become the members of 
 a connected historical series. 
 
 It must follow without much question that the Declara- 
 tion is by far the most important event in this part of the 
 Revolution, and must, therefore, be given a large share of 
 time. In truth, the idea of independence begins to push 
 to the front with the battle of Lexington, and goes on 
 throughout the entire series. The formation of the state 
 constitutions will show how rapidly men's minds grew 
 toward the ideas of the Declaration. In all the new 
 constitutions these ideas are implied, and in a majority 
 of them are formally expressed in shape of Bills of Eights. 
 Wherever we turn, therefore, we meet with the new ideas. 
 
 Union between the States and the General 
 Government. 
 
 The Organizing Idea of the Second Half of the Revo- 
 lution. — The period of the Revolution is a period by 
 virtue of the growth of the idea of union which permeated 
 every act and fact of that age. We have already marked 
 two great differentiating forms in the process of union ; 
 union against England, which constitutes the first half of 
 the period, and union respecting the relation between 
 the states and the general government, which constitutes 
 the last half of the period. These two coordinate parts 
 
130 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 are not cross-sections in the stream of Eevolutionary 
 thought and feeling, but are parts found running parallel 
 through a portion of the period. 
 
 In the very beginnings of the Revolution the colonies 
 were brought into new relations with each other. To 
 promote and bring to a successful issue the combination 
 against England required not only new and strange rela- 
 tions between the thirteen political units, but that these 
 relations be made definite in order to promote harmonious 
 and efficient action. No sooner had the Continental Con- 
 gress convened than it had to determine the number of 
 votes a colony should cast and the number of votes neces- 
 sary to bind all the colonies. When the war opened, still 
 other questions pertaining to intercolonial relations pressed 
 upon congress, such as the number of troops, the amount 
 of supplies, and the amount of money to be raised. How 
 far shall the authority of the congress extend, and when 
 shall the authority and machinery of the state government 
 come into play? What regulations shall be placed on 
 interstate commerce, and who shall place and execute such 
 regulations ? These questions and many other kindred 
 ones arose out of the pressure of war. The Declaration 
 of Independence also aided in forcing the question of 
 domestic union upon the attention of the people. In fact, 
 the committees to draw up the Articles of Confederation 
 and the Declaration were at work at the same time, and 
 the former made its report only a few days after the latter's 
 work was done. As the war neared its close and the bur- 
 dens of the struggle grew heavier and heavier, the question 
 
THE GROWTH OF UNION. 131 
 
 of the proper relations between the states and the general 
 government began to assume still more prominence. The 
 efforts to pay the army, to make satisfactory commercial 
 treaties with foreign nations, the disturbances over inter- 
 state trade, and the injury to American manufactures at 
 the close of the war by the inflow of cheap British pro- 
 ducts, all kept the minds of the people constantly agitated 
 as to the proper distribution of sovereignty between the 
 states and the general government. The same problem 
 confronted the Maryland and Virginia commissioners in 
 1785, and that still greater body of men who .met at An- 
 napolis in 1786 and called for a national convention. 
 And what was the greatest problem before the convention 
 of 1787, and also before the ratifying state conventions? 
 Was it not the proper adjustment of the relations between 
 the states and the nation ? 
 
 The movement of public thought and feeling towards 
 agreement on some principle of cooperation between the 
 states and the general government is the organizing idea 
 of the second half of the Eevolution. It is the discovery 
 of this idea as the common content of the events of this 
 time that makes them into an intelligible series — makes 
 them more than a mere time-and-place series. This can- 
 not be done without a thoughtful effort ; a mere reading 
 over of the events and facts so as to picture them dimly 
 in imagination or to hold them vaguely in memory will 
 not suffice. It is not intended to suggest that memory 
 and imagination have no part in this process of interpre- 
 tation, for, in fact, they play a most important part. The 
 
132 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 aim is to guard against the common error of believing 
 that these processes reach the end in historical study. 
 Even if the processes of imagination and memory were 
 perfect, the student may not have found the connection 
 between the events studied and the general principles 
 of which they are the manifestation and which control 
 them as the law of their being. The teacher must there- 
 fore see to it that the student discovers this movement 
 as cause or as effect, or both, in the io dividual facts of 
 that time, and that he distributes his time and energy 
 among these events in proportion as they contributed to 
 this great movement. Some gave little, some gave much, 
 and they are to be judged accordingly. 
 
 Union on Basis of Sovereignty of the State. — Just as 
 we have found public sentiment separating the question of 
 the relation of the states to the general government on 
 domestic questions from their relation to it on foreign 
 questions, so it began soon to take different views of the 
 kind of relation that should subsist between these two 
 forms of government. The Declaration of Independence 
 expressly asserted the sovereignty of the people of the thir- 
 teen colonies as a whole with reference to England, and by 
 implication with reference to the rest of the world. Public 
 sentiment was not divided by state lines on the question 
 of independence ; but when the Articles of Confederation 
 brought to the front questions involving the relations of 
 the states to the general government on subjects that did 
 not primarily touch the conflict with England, it was found 
 in congress and among the people that no such unanimity 
 
THE GROWTH OF UNION. 133 
 
 of sentiment prevailed as to the principle on which the 
 relation should be permanently established. This differ- 
 ence caused the congress to delay over a year before 
 adopting the Articles. It was found impossible to carry 
 the principle of national sovereignty, which controlled, in 
 the main, foreign affairs, into the domain of domestic 
 questions ; and the more public sentiment was sounded, 
 the more it became evident that the states must be more 
 or less sovereign in home affairs. From 1775 to 1785 the 
 sovereignty of the state on internal questions was gener- 
 ally agreed upon, and for a part of the time was the legal 
 principle of connection that regulated state and general 
 governments in their internal dealing. This is the first 
 phase of domestic union — the first part of the second half 
 of the Revolution. The Articles of Confederation embody 
 the progress made. 
 
 The growth of domestic union did not keep pace with 
 union against England. In the first place, the colonies had 
 been undergoing, for a generation or more before the Revo- 
 lution, a change of feeling toward the mother country. 
 This we saw in the study of each group of colonies. Be- 
 sides, the first phase of union against England had to 
 prove itself a failure as a means of obtaining a redress of 
 grievances before the people could see the necessity of a 
 permanent union based upon purely American interests. 
 Of course no such union could arise so long as they were 
 struggling for the Rights of Englishmen. The habit of 
 cooperating against England was fifteen years old before 
 the germs of permanent domestic union began to grow. 
 
134 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 Again, from 1775 to 1783 the interest in the questions of 
 domestic confederation were entirely secondary, as we 
 have seen, and in many cases arose out of conditions 
 which were likely to disappear with the return of peace. 
 Perhaps many of these causes would not have retarded 
 a vigorous growth of internal union after it had once 
 taken root, but certainly two causes did so operate. One 
 was the people's inbred jealousy of any authority that 
 seemed to -have even the appearance of centralization. 
 This was not an unnatural fear, for they had no other 
 experience and no other example than that offered by 
 England. The other lies in the fact of the peculiar envi- 
 ronment of the colonial era out of which the colonies were 
 trying to emerge. The people were attached to their local 
 institutions, and scarcely a man in 1783 loved America 
 more than his colony or state. It was a most difficult 
 problem to lead the people to repose a portion of their 
 confidence and affection in a new system of government. 
 For these reasons the Articles of Confederation could not 
 and did not embody as high a degree of domestic union as 
 did the Declaration of union against England. Theoreti- 
 cally and practically the states held more sovereignty than 
 the nation so far as internal questions were concerned. 
 
 The sovereignty of the state is the dominant idea of this 
 sub-period and gives historical continuity to its events and 
 performs for the teacher the pedagogical functions of organ- 
 ization. This idea furnishes the main content for all the 
 events of importance touching the relations between the 
 states and the general government. It is the great idea 
 
THE GROWTH OF UNION. 135 
 
 that controlled this class of events during that time ; they 
 came in obedience to it ; and in turn reacted on public sen- 
 timent so as to modify this law of their being. The 
 sovereignty of the state is the fundamental doctrine of 
 the Articles of Confederation, and interprets them and the 
 acts done under them. Whatever can be pointed out as 
 defects in the Articles, and as failures in the administra- 
 tion under them, are to be interpreted by this principle 
 and its corresponding sentiment. In fact all the defects 
 in this instrument are there because this fundamental 
 defect is there. They can all be reduced to it. Not only 
 is this principle the interpreting idea for the defects of 
 the Confederation, but for such facts as the discontent in 
 the army near the close of the war, the lack of confidence 
 on the part of some foreign nations, and the insolence of 
 others, the financial and industrial depression, Shays' 
 rebellion, and many others, are to be traced to this same 
 principle as their sufficient cause and historical content. 
 This process of interpretation results in giving to the 
 student a series of unified facts. Not only will these 
 facts stand in his mind as having a common content, but 
 he will readily see that some of them contain more of this 
 content than others. Thus this study enables him to give 
 to each of these facts its true rank in the series. The 
 knowledge of this by the teacher before the student begins 
 the series will be of great service in guiding the work so 
 as to secure economy of time and energy. 
 
 Union on Basis of Sovereignty of the Nation. — No 
 doubt the careful student has observed, in the series of 
 
136 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 events just studied, this difference: that although state 
 sovereignty is the main content of these events so far as 
 their cause is concerned, yet their effects often tended to 
 draw the people away from this principle as the basis of 
 government. This is particularly true of the events be- 
 tween the closing years of the war and 1786. We may say, 
 then, that the student, observing one of these events, looks 
 through it in two directions, — back toward state sov- 
 ereignty as its remote or immediate cause, and forward 
 toward national sovereignty as the effect it had on public 
 sentiment. It is true that even the effects of these events 
 are the negation of state sovereignty, and are, therefore, 
 legitimately interpreted by it until the growth of public 
 sentiment takes on a positive form and moves consciously 
 toward the sovereignty of the nation. The genesis of a 
 new idea is often found in the negation of some idea that 
 is worn out or fails to meet the requirements of the 
 changed circumstances arising out of new conditions. The 
 old idea, on account of its inadequacy, causes a reaction 
 in public sentiment against itself till this sentiment moves 
 off in the direction of the new and opposing idea. This is 
 just what took place in the transition from state sovereignty 
 to national sovereignty, as the basis of union. The 
 movement toward nationality was well under way by 1785 
 and 1786, and the current was neither turned aside nor 
 broken after this point "had been reached. The growing 
 sentiment was becoming more conscious of the movement — 
 not only of going away from the principle of the Confed- 
 eration, but of moving toward a new goal. The struggle for 
 
THE GROWTH OF UNION. 137 
 
 its formal attainment goes on with increasing force through 
 the convention of 1787 and the ratifying conventions of 
 the states in 1787 and 1788. 
 
 The Process and Material of Organization. — The sug- 
 gestion has already been made that in the first phase of 
 domestic union many of the facts pointed to a new form of 
 union, and must be so interpreted. We do not violate, but 
 obey, a law of historical growth when we connect with 
 the new growth some of the events that were found to be 
 members of a different series on the basis of a different 
 idea. When the student is interpreting events in the light 
 of the idea of state sovereignty, the teacher should lead him 
 to discover the tendency of the new movement as it now 
 and then appears in the midst of other effects. This is ne- 
 cessary in order to compass the full significance, not only of 
 the facts, but of the principle itself. What an idea like 
 state sovereignty is potentially can only be discovered by 
 watching it transform itself through external facts into 
 reality, even if a part of this reality is the negation of the 
 principle itself. If this method of interpretation is ob- 
 served in transitional periods, or when two lines of thought 
 run parallel and mutually influence each other, as soon as 
 the new idea becomes the dominant one, the student already 
 finds himself in partial possession of its beginnings. It is 
 well at this stage to run back over such events with atten- 
 tion resting solely on their significance with reference to 
 the new idea. It may aid somewhat if we now gather up 
 some of these facts which the idea of national sovereignty 
 either partly or completely interprets. 
 
138 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 As far back as 1776 the idea of a national government 
 was suggested by Thomas Paine, and also by Eutledge 
 of South. Carolina. But the first years of the war so 
 unified public sentiment and effort that the defects of the 
 form of government did not appear in their completeness 
 till near its close. In 1780 the idea met with frequent 
 individual and public expression ; the Boston convention of 
 New England delegates, and, later in the year, the Hartford 
 meeting of New England and New York delegates, called 
 for a new government and sent a circular letter to the states 
 and to Washington. In the same year Hamilton wrote his 
 famous Duane letter ; in 1781, a series of papers called the 
 Continentalist, a name suggestive of nationality ; also a plan 
 for a national bank. Paine renewed his old suggestion. 
 In the next year Washington took a hand in the agitation, 
 and wrote to many prominent men urging the need of a 
 new constitution. Twice during this year congress called 
 for larger powers from the states, and a pamphlet argued 
 for a congress to frame a new government; in 1783, the 
 New York legislature was moved to ask congress to call a 
 convention to revise the Articles of Confederation. At this 
 time it became fashionable in the army and in the taverns 
 and coffee-houses to drink the toasts : " A hoop to the barrel," 
 and "Cement to the Union." The formation of the Society 
 of the Cincinnati, the agitation over the cession of western 
 lands, and the proposal of an impost by congress also aided 
 in molding public sentiment. This agitation extended over 
 the next year, and to it may be added the influence exerted 
 by Noah Webster's essays in favor of stronger government. 
 
THE GROWTH OF UNION. 139 
 
 By the time 1785 is reached, we may say that the current 
 was setting strongly toward nationality. The business men 
 of New York city called for adequate powers for congress ; 
 the merchants and mechanics of Boston addressed congress 
 and the state legislatures to urge that the former be given 
 power over commerce ; the merchants also opened corres- 
 pondence with other commercial centers to enlist them in 
 the cause. Governor Bowdoin addressed the General 
 Court on the question and suggested a convention of the 
 states to consider the subject. The General Court re- 
 solved in favor of such a convention and instructed the 
 governor to communicate with other executives, and 
 directed their delegates in congress to move in the matter. 
 In this same year the people of Pennsylvania, through a 
 popular convention, demanded more power for the general 
 government, and later in the year the governor and 
 council called for a new constitution. Early in this year 
 of healthy agitation the commissioners from Maryland and 
 Virginia met at Alexandria, and, with the advice of Wash- 
 ington, agreed to uniform rules for their trade — a work 
 which suggested the desirability and the necessity of a 
 wider application of common commercial regulations. 
 
 In 1786 came the Annapolis convention with wider rep- 
 resentation and with aims still more national than the 
 Alexandria meeting. Hamilton wrote the convention's 
 report, calling for a national convention to revise the 
 Articles of Confederation ; this was widely circulated 
 and commanded the attention of thoughtful men in all 
 parts of the country. In the winter of 1786 and 1787 
 
140 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 New England was shaken to its center, and the rest of 
 the states startled, by the insurrection of Shays ; this 
 made men and states willing to go to a national conven- 
 tion who otherwise would not have gone. The mut- 
 terings of discontent were coming over the mountains 
 from Kentucky and Tennessee ; already the Spaniards 
 had seized goods of westerners on the lower Mississippi, 
 and General Clarke at Vincennes had retaliated a'nd was 
 thought to -be preparing to attack the Spaniards. These 
 events were rapidly consolidating public opinion in favor 
 of the great convention that was to meet at Philadelphia, 
 and no doubt forced Washington to reconsider his refusal 
 to be a delegate. The state conventions to ratify the 
 constitution, and the events that were preparatory to 
 them, constitute the last series in the great movement 
 towards national sovereignty as the basis of union. They 
 are also the last acts in the drama of the American 
 Eevolution. With their consummation, the form of a 
 nation comes into being. 
 
 The Limit to the Process of Organizing a Period.— 
 With the close of the period under discussion, the more 
 formal treatment of historical organization ceases ; there- 
 fore the question of the limit of this process as applied 
 to periods may be properly raised at this point. While 
 no limit to this process has been assigned in preced- 
 ing discussions, it is really inferred from the nature 
 of the process itself that it must of necessity come to 
 an end when a content has been found so specific and 
 particularizing as to belong to one event only. With 
 
THE GROWTH OF UNION. 141 
 
 this content alone in consciousness, the event or other 
 fact stands in mental isolation, or as nearly so as can be. 
 This must be, for we have seen over and over that 
 resemblance in content is the only basis of organization. 
 Without it there is no integration, and likewise no 
 coordination and no subordination ; for there exists no 
 common standard for testing the relative value of events, 
 therefore no ranking can occur. This sort of content 
 has little value except to give concrete and individual- 
 ized details. It must not be inferred, however, that 
 concrete details have no organizing power. Whether 
 or not they have depends upon the power of teacher 
 and student to trace general principles or phases of 
 institutional growth into concrete details. Nothing can 
 be more concrete and individualized than the ideas of 
 some one particular man, as Roger Sherman in the conven- 
 tion of 1787. And yet this concrete and individualized 
 embodiment may, at the same time, be the sentiment of 
 a majority of the country ; it is none the less concrete 
 because found elsewhere, and not the less universal because 
 found in the heart and mind of a given man. The iso- 
 lated concrete fact, while not more concrete than the 
 example just given, has less historical value, because it 
 cannot aid in the interpretation of other concrete facts 
 like itself. When, therefore, the interpretation of an 
 event proceeds until isolated content is all that is 
 obtained, the process ought to cease. 
 
 But between this extreme limit and what has been 
 done with this period in passing from the most general 
 
142 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 idea of union down to the four coordinate and more con- 
 crete forms of union, there may be found several other 
 shades of thought and feeling in each of these forms. 
 For instance, this can be done easily for the first form 
 of union extending from 1761 to 1775. No doubt union 
 to secure the Bights of Englishmen was differentiated 
 by public opinion into the various elements that entered 
 into the people's conception of English rights, such as 
 trial by jury, right of internal taxation, and finally the 
 right to resist even external taxation under the guise 
 of the tax on tea. Each of these ideas may be found 
 as the content of a smaller series of events than the 
 series unified by the Bights of Englishmen. In a simi- 
 lar way it is quite possible to discover phases of thought 
 and feeling in the growth of union on the basis of 
 Bights of Man, the sovereignty of the state, and the 
 sovereignty of the nation. These more specific and 
 possible forms of thought and feeling will not be 
 discussed at length for the reason that it is the aim to 
 illustrate the nature and principles of the process of 
 organization rather than to deal with historical material 
 as such. It is believed that the organization of the 
 period of the Revolution has been carried far enough to 
 enable the teacher and student to push the process into 
 the more specific phases already indicated., 
 
 The Result. — If the teacher has guided the student 
 through the period by the light of the principles of organi- 
 zation, the result, on the side of knowledge, should stand 
 as follows : 1. The facts and events of the Revolution 
 
THE GROWTH OF UNION. 143 
 
 stand in his mind united into a series by the presence 
 of a common idea — the growth of union; some facts 
 stand out with great fulness, while others fade out of 
 importance till they have hardly a rank or place in 
 the series. 2. His view of the ideas and events of 
 this period as a whole gives two parts, two great 
 series, each with its members joined and ranked by 
 phases of the growth of union. In the first of these 
 two series, the animating idea is union against England, 
 and in the second, it is union on domestic questions. 
 3. A closer inspection will show that the student has 
 broken each of these phases of union into two parts and 
 reorganized each part into a new series on a new basis ; 
 union against England and its events are separated into 
 two parts : union for the Eights of Englishmen, and 
 union for the Eights of Man ; union on domestic ques- 
 tions and the events attending it are separated into union 
 on basis of state sovereignty, and union on the basis of 
 national sovereignty. Thus the period stands in the 
 student's mind an orderly arrangement of ideas of va^ing 
 degrees of generality. Each fact stands illuminated by 
 a series of ideas rising from the lowest to the highest. 
 Each fact has a lowest idea that isolates it from all 
 others, and a higher idea that gives it fellowship with 
 a series of like content, and so on upward through chang- 
 ing degrees of generality until the highest idea is reached, 
 an idea that binds it to all the facts of the period. 
 
 Perhaps a concrete illustration of the idea of gradations 
 of generality in the content of historical material may 
 
144 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 serve to make it clearer. The Declaration of Eights, 
 the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confed- 
 eration, and the Constitution are four great cardinal 
 facts in this period. Each of these contains a phase of 
 thought that not only separates it from the others, but 
 a phase so specialized as to take it out of any series to 
 which other more general ideas may have assigned it. 
 But as soon as we put into the Declaration of Eights 
 the idea of union for the Eights of Englishmen, it imme- 
 diately coalesces with a wide range of events — those 
 from 1761 to 1775 — having the same content. The 
 same is true of the Declaration of Independence, the 
 Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution. If we 
 think of the Declaration of Independence as expressing 
 the idea of union against England, it and the other mem- 
 bers of its series — most of the events between 1775 and 
 1783 — immediately join hands with the Declaration of 
 Eights and its series of facts, the two series thus form- 
 ing one. We may find in the Articles of Confederation 
 the idea of domestic union, and if we do so it and the 
 facts of our history immediately associated with it 
 combine with the Constitution and its associated events 
 so as to form a greater series. If we look upon the 
 Constitution as marking the progress of the idea of union 
 in general, it not only joins hands with the Articles of 
 Confederation and the two great Declarations, but also 
 with all the main facts of the American Eevolution. 
 
PERIOD OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 
 
 The Period as a Whole. 
 
 General Nature of the Period. — The student will find 
 greater difficulty in discovering the dominant idea of this 
 period than in the case of the Revolution. The movements 
 in the preceding period were rapid ; thought and passion 
 centered around a few definite propositions and moved 
 with such rapidity that extraneous matters were pushed 
 aside. The struggle, in its externals, was dramatic and 
 absorbing, as is usually the case with revolutions. Because 
 of this very intensity, the period was a short one, if meas- 
 ured in the number of its years. 
 
 The movement of ideas in the new period is, for the 
 most part, much slower, the exception being in its latter 
 portion. Besides their more evolutionary growth, ideas 
 and institutions are constantly becoming more complex, 
 and therefore distracting elements more frequently obtrude 
 themselves. Again, the period chronologically covers 
 nearly three times as much ground as the Revolution. 
 The student ought to be, as a result of previous experience 
 with such problems, far better prepared to cope with the 
 difficulties of the new period. 
 
146 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 The Revolution had developed the form of a nation, and 
 expressed the result in the Constitution. In the begin- 
 ning, the forms set up by this instrument did not have 
 a perfected national spirit to animate them. The struggle 
 with England had produced a good degree of national 
 sentiment on foreign questions, and the campaign for 
 the sovereignty of the nation as a basis of union had 
 done much toward making us a nation on purely domes- 
 tic interests. The growth of national sentiment, with 
 reference to foreign questions, had been more rapid and 
 substantial than on domestic matters. The Declaration 
 of Independence, relating primarily to foreign affairs, 
 was more nationalistic in its tone and propositions than 
 the Articles of Confederation which were concerned pri- 
 marily with domestic questions ; and the Articles them- 
 selves conferred more powers on congress in regard to 
 foreign, than to home, relations. While the united 
 strength of these two phases of sentiment did not really 
 make the thirteen states a nation, yet the germs of one 
 had begun to take root. 
 
 The long struggle in the constitutional convention and 
 the longer and severer battle for ratification in the states, 
 accompanied by anger, jealousy, suspicion, charges of 
 bad motives, and threats of alliances, go to show that the 
 preliminary victory for nationality was won with difficulty. 
 It may aid us to judge the true strength of the new move- 
 ment if we recall that the Constitution would probably have 
 been defeated had the congress of the Confederation thrown 
 its influence in the scale against it, had Washington re- 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 147 
 
 fused his support, or had it been sent to the people for 
 ratification by direct vote. But even as it was, the feeling 
 for stronger government was not general enough to get the 
 Constitution through the great states of Massachusetts, 
 New York, and Virginia, without a definite understanding 
 that it was to be amended quite freely. Again we see that 
 the spirit of nationality had not come into full being, but 
 was beginning to germinate. This spirit requires that the 
 people's thought break over the narrow limits of state 
 lines and contemplate the broader and deeper questions 
 that arise out of the life of the whole. This broadening of 
 thought does not belong to political problems alone, but to 
 all forms of institutional life. Questions of government, 
 religion, education, and industry must lay hold of the 
 minds and hearts of the whole people. The spirit of 
 nationality does not require the people to be a unit on all 
 the details of organization and the means of accomplish- 
 ing specific ends, but it does require them to transfer a 
 portion of their admiration and affection 'from the state and 
 locality to the nation ; that they love the good of the whole 
 more than the narrower interests of the locality, or rather, 
 that they see the highest interests of the state and neighbor- 
 hood in the highest good of the whole. Nationality is not 
 only a sentiment which thrills the multitude on great occa- 
 sions, but it is a principle of action for the statesman. It 
 is that principle which declares that national functions 
 shall be exercised for the good of the whole, and looks 
 upon the nation as the most appropriate and efficient 
 agent in the performance of such functions. The senti- 
 
148 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 ment and principle are interactive ; each is the cause and 
 the effect of the other ; they rise and fall together. For 
 their perfect manifestation they require an organism of 
 thought and feeling so sensitive and sympathetic that the 
 response of all the parts is quick and perfect when any por- 
 tion of the organism is affected. 
 
 It fell to our history between 1789 and 1870 to produce 
 this result. It was in this time that the germs of national 
 life, which originated mainly in the last phase of the 
 Revolution, were so developed as to constitute a new era in 
 our institutional evolution. So wide is its sweep and deep 
 its current that the stream of nationality is the greatest, 
 the most fundamental, movement that took place between 
 these two dates. It is the presence of this overwhelming 
 principle and sentiment that constitutes this a period in 
 American history. There were other mighty agencies at 
 work during this time ; some were in harmony with nation- 
 ality, and others were in deadly conflict with it ; yet they 
 were all either absorbed or destroyed by this dominant 
 one. 
 
 The Phases of the Period. — If the above propositions 
 are true, it follows that the growth of the spirit of nation- 
 ality is the organizing idea for the period, and that its 
 phases will furnish the organizing principle for the sub- 
 periods. These are as follows : 
 
 Relations between Nationality and Democracy, 1789-1840. 
 
 1. A Period of Conflict, 1789-1803. 
 
 2. The Mutual Approach of Nationality and Democracy, 
 
 1800-1820. 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 149 
 
 3. Fusion of Nationality and Democracy Working out 
 its Results, 1816-1840. 
 
 Relations between Nationality and Slavery, 1820-1870. 
 
 1. Slavery Gradually Grows Hostile to Nationality, 1820- 
 
 1840. 
 
 2. Sectionalization of Interests and Sentiments, 1835- 
 
 1860. 
 
 3. Death of Slavery and Triumph of Nationality, 1860- 
 
 1870. 
 
 RELATIONS BETWEEN NATIONALITY AND DEMOCRACY. 
 
 A Period of Conflict, 1789-1803. 
 
 The Germs of the Conflict. — At the opening of this 
 period only the professional classes, the well-to-do, and the 
 well-educated, were imbued with the spirit of nationality ; 
 and even these were not all thoroughly devoted to this idea, 
 and furnished many examples of opposition. The mass of 
 the common people were certainly more given to local 
 interests and more controlled by state pride than by 
 national sentiment. Of course many of this class had 
 been influenced by the preceding campaign, and were in 
 a position to be converted to nationality.* But most of 
 them were inclined to look with suspicion upon, and there- 
 fore resent, any attempt to do through national instrumen- 
 talities what had heretofore been accomplished by local 
 agencies. At the same time, it was a deep conviction of 
 
150 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 the great leaders of the " well-born " classes that the 
 country's only hope lay in extending its sphere of national 
 activity. 
 
 Under the above conditions, a struggle between nation- 
 ality and democracy x was almost inevitable. This con- 
 scious conflict is one of the differentiating marks of the first 
 phase of nationality. No doubt, as we shall see, many 
 events took place which caused nationality to make, un- 
 consciously, very steady gains. There are always these 
 two forms of growth, the conscious and the unconscious, 
 and in no other period was the prominent movement more 
 promoted by events which produced non-purposed results 
 and unintended effects. 
 
 Unconscious Progress of National Sentiment. — In the 
 opening events of this period we witness no conflict 
 between democracy and nationality, but nevertheless 
 we must discover how events contributed to the general 
 movement. The election of representatives, senators, and 
 the electoral college formally opened the new era. As the 
 student looks into these events, he will discover that in 
 form and purpose they are new, and without difficulty will 
 find their cause in the provisions of the new Constitution. 2 
 Probably the great variety in election methods will attract 
 
 1 The term " democracy," when used to designate a political party, 
 will be capitalized, but not when designating the mass of plain people, 
 their ideas and sentiments. 
 
 2 Just here the student must go to the Constitution and read its provi- 
 sions concerning these processes. This is not only desirable as a means 
 to a proper understanding of the events, but it is the best way to study 
 so-called " Civil Government." 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 151 
 
 his attention. He should see that while electors were 
 mostly chosen by state legislatures, in Virginia and Mary- 
 land they were elected by a direct popular vote, and in Mas- 
 sachusetts by a mixed method — two electors being chosen 
 by the people, and the rest by the legislature from twenty- 
 four names presented by congressional districts. In New 
 York no electors were chosen because the upper house de- 
 manded a concurrent vote, while the lower house held out 
 for a joint one. The houses also quarreled in New Hamp- 
 shire over the method of election. The lack of uniformity 
 was exhibited in congressional elections. In New Jersey 
 one portion of the state kept open the polls for three weeks 
 and only closed them on proclamation from the governor. 
 Connecticut voted twice, first for three men, and after- 
 wards to elect one of the three as a representative. In 
 Massachusetts some of the districts voted twice before 
 members could be elected. What is the historical signifi- 
 cance of these conflicting and contrasting methods ? This 
 can be seen by comparing them with the uniformity which 
 prevails to-day, The difference between then and now 
 reveals the distance in idea between the two periods, and 
 how much nationalization has had to do in order to work 
 out methods of election common to all portions of the 
 nation, and cooperative to national ends. These election 
 processes, however different in different places, were for 
 common national ends. The people of the whole country 
 were made to engage in the same acts at the same time 
 and for like purposes. The repetition of this series of 
 events and of the incidents connected therewith greatly 
 
152 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 promoted the consideration of matters of common concern, 
 and to this extent broadened^ the ideas and sympathies of 
 the people — drawing them away from the narrower and 
 opposing interests of the community and the state. This, 
 on the whole, has been the tendency and the result of all 
 national elections. 
 
 Akin to this was the effect of Washington's journey from 
 Mt. Vernon to New York to be inaugurated. It was a 
 continuous triumph ; in one place there were feasts and 
 toasts, in another escorts and processions, and in a third a 
 combination of these. Decorations of cedar and laurel, 
 flags and liberty caps, triumphal arches and evergreen 
 crowns, bonfires and signal lights, firing salutes and ring- 
 ing bells, patriotic songs and appropriate mottoes signified 
 the people's affection for the national hero. The inaugural 
 ceremonies exhibited similar enthusiasm on the part of 
 those present. The people who read and heard of these 
 interesting events were also thrilled with hope and pride 
 over the auspicious beginnings of the national government. 
 This effect upon the feelings of the people was, perhaps, 
 the most important contribution made by these events to 
 the history of the country. 
 
 The Struggle Originates over Domestic Questions. — The 
 stimulus given to national sentiment by the above events 
 was largely, if not entirely, unconscious. The people did 
 not plan to develop national affection, and hardly had their 
 attention called to this result ; but nevertheless, such was 
 the result. The fact that the growth was unconscious 
 proves nothing against the strength of the sentiment, for 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 153 
 
 unconscious growth is often the most natural, and hence 
 the most substantial and permanent. We now come to 
 consider a conscious movement. In this, some of the 
 people formed definite purposes and called into being 
 appropriate agencies for their realization, while others 
 were just as definitely determined to oppose and circum- 
 vent these ends. The contest over the leading measures 
 and events of Washington's and Adams' administrations 
 may be denominated a contest between nationality and 
 democracy. This is a correct statement of the nature of 
 the first phase of development in the period of nation- 
 ality. Two general considerations prove it : the nature 
 of the ideas in conflict, and the contrasts between the 
 people who gathered around these ideas. In the first 
 case we find measures and means taken for the primary 
 purpose of calling into vigorous life national agents and 
 functions. This policy was defended under the principle 
 of liberal construction of the Constitution. All this was 
 strongly combated by the idea of local self-government — 
 the basal idea of primitive democracy. As a feeling, the 
 fear was that the position of the states and the interests of 
 sections might become subordinated to those of the nation. 
 The defence of this position was sought in the principle of 
 strict construction of the Constitution, which was often in- 
 terpretated to mean state sovereignty. In the second place, 
 the people composing the opposition belonged to what is 
 often called the democracy, — the people in the humbler 
 walks of life who, by experience, are strongly attached 
 to localities. The people supporting the measures of 
 
154 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 national import included the majority of the well-to-do 
 and the educated classes. From interest, education, and 
 experience, this portion of the people was better fitted to 
 take broad views of governmental questions than their 
 opponents. 
 
 In this contest the presence of two classes of events will 
 be observed, — those relating to domestic affairs and those 
 concerning foreign relations. The work and measures of 
 Hamilton may be properly regarded as precipitating the 
 conflict of ideas alluded to above. These were a tariff and 
 excise, the funding and assumption bills, and a United 
 States bank and mint. An examination of the contro- 
 versy over the tariff will reveal that its immediate pur- 
 pose was to obtain revenue sufficient to meet the pressing 
 needs of the government, and that another purpose was 
 hardly secondary to this : to " give a just and decided 
 preference to our labors." Over the first object but little 
 dispute occurred, its aim being so clearly just and neces- 
 sary ; but the question of protection aroused animated dis- 
 cussion. The conduct of congress demonstrated the fact 
 that a power had arisen capable, by its decisions, of doing 
 great good to some national interests, and perhaps harm 
 to others. The result was that as many interests as pos- 
 sible tied themselves thus early to the nation and became, 
 perforce, the supporters of the administration and the 
 nationalistic view of the functions of government. The 
 opposition to the tariff was not so much against the 
 principle as because of certain interests which would be 
 affected unfavorably. Whatever may be thought about 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 155 
 
 the policy of discriminating between foreign and domestic 
 goods, and whatever may have been the arguments pro and 
 con used at this time or at any other time, two things must 
 be clearly in mind in order to reach a correct appreciation 
 of the historical meaning of the tariff. Certain industrial 
 interests were linking themselves to the nation and were 
 bidding for national favor, and both friend and foe to the 
 tariff in these debates, in or out of congress, aided in for- 
 cing upon the attention of the people questions of general 
 as well as of local concern, and thus contributed to awaken 
 a national consciousness. 
 
 But the feeling over the tariff was tame as compared 
 with the passion engendered by the funding and assump- 
 tion bills. These measures were explained before congress 
 early in 1790, and included plans for paying the foreign 
 and domestic debts and also the state debts incurred during 
 the War of the Revolution. The plans for the payment 
 of the foreign debt met with little or no opposition. The 
 foreign debt seemed one of honor and gratitude owed to 
 friendly nations, but somehow the home debt was not quite 
 in the same category. Many, in and out of congress, 
 argued against paying the face value of the obligation to 
 the present holders. Discussions on this point began to 
 reveal two classes of persons, — moneyed men and specula- 
 tors, and the original holders of the debt, many of whom 
 were farmers and laborers and former soldiers. Their 
 interests were supposed to clash, and some ground for this 
 appeared in the fact that men of small means had been 
 compelled to part with their certificates, and that even 
 
156 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 then speculators were scouring the country in search of 
 continental promises still held by the people of the back 
 districts. But in the interest of the nation's credit, con- 
 gress voted the measure without any distinction between 
 the original and the present holder of the certificate. 
 Just as the vote on the foreign debt raised America in the 
 eyes of foreign countries, so the success of this measure 
 demonstrated the absolute fidelity of the nation to its 
 home creditors, and immediately gave our own citizens 
 concrete proof of the strength of the new government. 
 
 The assumption of the state debts aroused the strongest 
 opposition yet encountered. The public took an interest 
 in the contest, the newspapers were often filled with com- 
 munications on the subject, and even threats of disunion 
 were made. Here was pressed the argument of strict 
 construction as a means of opposition and of protection to 
 the interests of localities. The debates went on with 
 varying effects during the spring and summer of 1790, and 
 the bill was finally passed by means of an agreement be- 
 tween Hamilton and Jefferson that eastern votes should 
 give the national capital to the South, and southern votes 
 should carry the assumption of the state debts. Out of 
 this conflict came two enduring results : 1. The location 
 and establishment of the capital whose life and environ- 
 ment testify to the aspiration of the people after a truly 
 national existence, and where there is gathered the external 
 evidence of a national organization. 2. The conscious- 
 ness that the assumption bill was a purposed and extraor- 
 dinary stretch of national authority. This result gave 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 157 
 
 satisfaction to some and alarm to others. Virginia's legis- 
 lature voted that assumption was " dangerous to the rights 
 of the people." 
 
 After assumption, the nation needed more revenue than 
 the tariff supplied. Hamilton proposed an excise on dis- 
 tilled liquors. It met opposition, but not on the ground 
 of being unconstitutional, for the strict constructionist 
 could find the very word " excise " in the Constitution. 
 Nevertheless, the people who were coming to accept this 
 view of the Constitution were the opponents of the new 
 measure. The ground of opposition was fundamentally 
 the same as that against assumption, — the desire to pre- 
 vent the extension of national authority. They saw in 
 this new law a very great increase in the number of gov- 
 ernment officials who would go prying around the country 
 and into the private business of many people. The bill 
 passed in 1791, and in 1794 the opposition of people of 
 western Pennsylvania, encouraged by sympathizers in 
 other states, resisted the collection of the excise till the 
 militia, summoned by national authority, suppressed the 
 Whiskey Rebellion. While the national authority was 
 thus vindicated by force of arms, the opposition began to 
 consolidate itself more and more. 
 
 The last of Hamilton's great financial plans was a United 
 States bank. More than the other measures did this call 
 into exercise the implied powers of the Constitution, and 
 bind the business interests more firmly to the government. 
 In that time, before the unwritten Constitution was thought 
 of, it certainly was an unusual exercise of power to call a 
 
158 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 bank into existence to cany out the nation's right to raise 
 revenue and pay the debts of the United States. The 
 provisions of the law made the government a stockholder, 
 and permitted it to borrow $100,000 from the bank. The 
 bank was to have no national rival, and could greatly aid 
 the government in making loans, and aid business by estab- 
 lishing branches in leading business centers. The oppo- 
 sition was intense. Even Madison began to use the principle 
 of strict construction, and Jefferson exerted his influence 
 to organize opposition and secure a veto of the bill. 
 
 As the effects of these measures began to work out, and 
 the immediate and remote purposes of their friends and 
 opponents became clearer, the people began to divide 
 among themselves and gather around leaders. "While 
 conservatives, aristocrats, the commercial class, the timor- 
 ous, and the friends of powerful rule thus gravitated toward 
 Hamilton, . . . the liberty-loving, those jealous of class 
 supremacy and court manners, they who detested money- 
 changers and the new methods of growing rich, together 
 with the floating remnants of the Anti-Federal and State 
 Rights party, were irresistibly attracted toward Jefferson." 
 This growing separation into parties is further made 
 apparent by the establishment of partisan papers. Thus 
 Hamilton's policy created a great contest between nation- 
 ality and democracy. This is the all-inclusive result, 
 and will translate and explain more events than any other 
 movement of that time. 
 
 The Progress of the Conflict over Foreign Relations. — 
 The discussion which follows, like the one on domestic 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 159 
 
 questions, does not purport to be a complete history of 
 these events, and deals with only so much of incident and 
 detail as is necessary to show the progress of this inter- 
 esting struggle and the evolution of its resultant, — a rising 
 nation. Before the conflict between nationality and democ- 
 racy had fully developed, a new element injected itself 
 into the controversy, — the war between France and Eng- 
 land. This war grew out of the progress of the French 
 Revolution. The American people were sympathetic spec- 
 tators from the very beginning of this revolution, because 
 France seemed to be following the example which she had 
 or generously aided in establishing in America. At the 
 fisst appearance of French extravagance those Americans 
 who followed Hamilton and strong government began to 
 lose sympathy with the Eevolution, and were ready when 
 war came to sympathize with England. The more demo- 
 cratic among our people were only made stronger friends of 
 France by the fact of war against England and the rising 
 opposition at home. Our treaty relations with France, 
 the arrival of a French minister, and the growing differ- 
 ences among Americans induced Washington and his 
 cabinet to issue the famous Proclamation of Neutrality. 
 This document in effect announced to the world our deter- 
 mination to stand aloof from European complications, and 
 was consequently the herald of a rising confidence in the 
 ability of the new nation to maintain its place without the 
 support of any European ally. It thus planted the germ 
 of a permanent foreign policy which ultimately made us 
 really an independent people. The Declaration of Inde- 
 
160 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 pendence was the expression of an intense desire for 
 political separation from England. The war made this 
 an objective fact. Bnt both could not destroy America's 
 dependence upon Europe ; the colonial habit could not be 
 thus easily eradicated. Looking backward, the proclama- 
 tion was a new declaration of independence, while looking 
 forward, it was a new prophecy of nationality. The imme- 
 diate result, however, was to disappoint France and her 
 friends and to please her enemies. The passing public 
 sentiment was with France and against England, and the 
 people joined with enthusiasm in the demonstrations con- 
 nected with the reception of Genet, the French minister. 
 The latter cultivated successfully the feeling against 
 England and tried to turn the public against the proc- 
 lamation and its enforcement, and finally against Wash- 
 ington's administration. He failed, lost public esteem, 
 and was superseded. A great deal of significance must 
 attach to the fact that while the majority of the people 
 took sides with France against England in a way to sug- 
 gest little national self-respect, yet when called upon by 
 the conduct of Genet to choose between Genet and France 
 on the one hand, and Washington and America on the other, 
 the decision was prompt and patriotic for that day. 1 The 
 full significance of this reaction, as it expressed itself in the 
 great cities in public demonstrations to uphold Washington 
 
 1 Historians have often set forth these facts as proof of our depend- 
 ence upon European standards as they are, but more often have they 
 failed to give full significance to this reaction. The one interpre- 
 tation discovers the past and the other the future in these events. 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 161 
 
 and neutrality, can be more fully appreciated when we re- 
 member that support of France and opposition to England 
 were now an article in the creed of the opposition party. 
 
 The more radical members of the democratic societies 
 were never enthusiastic over neutrality. These organiza- 
 tions sprang into existence with the coming of Genet, in 
 imitation of the French Jacobin clubs. They affected to 
 believe themselves the true disciples of the Eights of Man, 
 and that the hope of Europe hung on the success of the 
 French Revolution. No doubt this affiliation with France 
 retarded the success of neutrality, yet it must be remem- 
 bered that these societies also aimed to make America more 
 democratic. Their fundamental cause lies in the growing 
 conflict between nationality and democracy. They would 
 have had no existence if there had not been a body of 
 men of opposite ideas and purposes, and who were looked 
 upon as favoring less democracy, if not more aristocracy, 
 in the government of America. These societies became the 
 severest critics of the administration and encouraged the 
 Whiskey Rebellion. They possessed the virtues and de- 
 fects of mad enthusiasts over ideas necessary for the com- 
 plete development of American nationality, and were also 
 the angry opponents of an idea whose union with democ- 
 racy was necessary to the latter's permanent and healthy 
 existence on this continent. 
 
 The contribution to nationality made by our relations with 
 France was greatly influenced by our relations with Eng- 
 land. Troubles with England had come down through the 
 Confederation. She refused to carry out some of the pro- 
 
162 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 visions of the treaty of 1783, and to give up her illiberal 
 commercial policy. In addition, the war in Europe made 
 it desirable for her to confiscate American commerce of any 
 kind with France and French colonies, and also to search 
 American vessels for English-born sailors. This injury to 
 property and persons sailing under the American flag 
 aroused great indignation against England in 1793 and 
 1794. Measures of retaliation were proposed in congress, 
 and a temporary embargo was passed. President Wash- 
 ington sent Chief Justice Jay to England to arrange 
 matters. This mission made the democracy in the country 
 furious, as they could discover in it all sorts of danger to 
 America, insults to France, and truckling to England. Un- 
 fortunately the treaty itself could easily be taken as proof 
 of all this. The senate confirmed the treaty after a hard 
 fight, but popular feeling was so strong against Hamilton 
 that he was in danger from mobs ; Jay was burned in 
 efUgy, and Washington himself was vilified. The treaty 
 perhaps saved us from war at that time. But while it 
 promoted partisanship, it taught the friends of England 
 that she was not likely to be at all generous while dealing 
 with American interests. England missed a great oppor- 
 tunity to restore to some extent the sympathy lost in 
 the Revolution ; but she began to teach Americans the 
 lesson they needed most to learn : that nothing but self- 
 interest would control European nations in dealing with 
 America. Of course this lesson was not fully mastered 
 till we had another experience with France, and a decisive 
 one with England during the War of 1812. 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 163 
 
 The second experience with France was in the adminis- 
 tration of John Adams. The French had indulged in the 
 pastime of capturing American vessels, and now looked 
 upon Jay's treaty as an insult. They also resented the 
 recall of Minister Monroe — a Democrat — and refused to 
 receive C. C. Pinckney instead, or any other minister, till 
 their alleged injuries had been atoned. In 1797 Gerry 
 and Marshall were sent to join Pinckney. The Directory 
 kept them waiting while its agents X, Y, and Z tried to 
 secure a bribe of £50,000 as the condition of French favor. 
 The ringing message of President Adams and the publica- 
 tion of the X, Y, Z correspondence kindled a flame of 
 indignation. Democratic friendship for France was almost 
 silenced; democracy was beginning to learn its lesson. 
 Measures for war were rapidly pushed forward in the 
 spring and summer of 1798 ; they included a land force 
 with Washington as commander-in-chief, and a further 
 equipment of the navy. The war spirit ran high, and 
 addresses of congratulation and expressions of enthusi- 
 astic support poured in on President Adams. Great 
 demonstrations were held to testify the people's resent- 
 ment against France and their approval of the president's 
 spirited conduct. The black cockade superseded the 
 French tricolor in popular favor, and the elections of 
 1798 indicated a rising Federal tide. Subscriptions to 
 extreme democratic papers fell off, particularly in the case 
 of the Aurora, which had advocated compliance with the 
 corrupt demands of the Directory. This whole experience 
 taught Jefferson and his Democratic-Eepublicans that 
 
164 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 little good and great harm were likely to result to their 
 party from partisanship for France. While the term 
 "French party" was still applied to them, yet from this 
 time on it had little justification. 
 
 Rapid Development of Anti-Democratic Sentiment among 
 the Federalists. — The Federalists now became over-confi- 
 dent as they saw themselves floating into power again on a 
 wave of popularity. They thought the reaction an approval 
 of their principles, while it was rather an expression of 
 national feeling against France. When, therefore, they 
 tried to transform this into a condemnation of the demo- 
 cratic spirit of their opponents, they wrought their own 
 destruction. Three measures were passed by congress in 
 1798 to accomplish this end : 1. An amendment to the 
 naturalization law, extending the term of preliminary resi- 
 dence from five to fourteen years. The Federalists feared 
 the presence of foreigners, but this fear would have been 
 very slight if these foreigners had been enrolling them- 
 selves under the banner of strong government. 2. An act 
 concerning aliens which gave the president power to order 
 them to depart from our country if he considered them 
 dangerous to its welfare. Disobedience to his decree was 
 punishable by imprisonment, and forfeiture of citizenship 
 forever. 3. An act to punish citizens by fine and impris- 
 onment for opposing the national administration by combi- 
 nation or by scandalous or malicious writing. This act 
 demonstrated thorough distrust of freedom of discussion 
 and of the tendencies of American democracy. These acts, 
 and the attempts to enforce the last one, mark the extreme 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 165 
 
 application of national authority by the adherents of strong 
 government to protect it against the opposition. The re- 
 action expressed in the election of Jefferson in 1800 
 showed that the people were no more ready to follow the 
 attempt to suppress democracy than they were to support 
 the friends of France in 1798. The instincts and judg- 
 ment of the people were entirely correct in refusing to 
 follow either, for the perpetuity of the nation demanded 
 that nationality should become democratic, as well as that 
 democracy should become nationalistic. 
 
 The immediate result of this legislation was the Ken- 
 tucky and Virginia resolutions, prepared by Jefferson and 
 Madison, and passed by their legislatures. They pro- 
 tested against the Alien and Sedition laws, set forth the 
 nature of the national government, and deduced therefrom 
 the grounds of opposition. There were three main points 
 to each : 1. The Constitution is a compact between sover- 
 eign states, and the national government is one of limited 
 and specified powers. 2. The sovereign states are the 
 judges of violations of the compact. 3. In cases of pal- 
 pable and dangerous violations it is the duty of the states 
 to "interpose," said Virginia, and "nullify," said Ken- 
 tucky. These resolutions were the most extreme assertion 
 as yet made of the principle of state sovereignty as a 
 means of protecting democracy in its struggle for existence. 
 While they called the attention of the country, in an official 
 way, to the dangers of the new legislation, the people did 
 not rally enthusiastically to their support. In fact, not 
 another legislature voted them as the sentiment of its 
 
166 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 state, while several condemned them. It was thus toler- 
 ably evident that one extreme was offsetting the other. 
 
 In spite of the reaction against the Alien and Sedition 
 laws, the Federalists were in favor, in 1799 and 1800, of 
 keeping up a good military and naval force and of extend- 
 ing the scope of the national judiciary. The latter was 
 accomplished by a national bankrupt act which gave 
 district courts plenty of work, and by a bill which estab- 
 lished circuit courts, circuit judges, and provided facilities 
 for appeals from state to national courts. These measures 
 showed a determination to strengthen national authority as 
 far as possible against the rising tide of democracy. In 
 fact this last measure was passed after Jefferson's election, 
 and the appointments under it were incomplete when Jef- 
 ferson took his seat. The extension of the national judi- 
 ciary and the appointment of John Marshall as Chief 
 Justice exerted a powerful influence in preventing real 
 injury to the national system by the success of Jefferson's 
 anti-national followers ; and while the repeal of many 
 measures could not be hindered, yet Marshall and his de- 
 cisions did make impossible any application of the Ken- 
 tucky and Virginia resolutions. 
 
 The Triumph of Democracy. — The political battle in 
 1800 was another phase of the contest between nationality 
 and democracy. It was the first organized and successful 
 effort of the latter to get hold of the machinery by means of 
 which their opponents had wielded power. The conscious 
 effort to get control had grown steadily since Jefferson 
 left Washington's cabinet, and, with the exception of the 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OE NATIONALITY. 167 
 
 reaction in 1798, the people were slowly moving toward 
 Jefferson and democracy. The campaign of 1800 was 
 contested with great passion, and each party professed to 
 see, in the success of the other, great danger to the country. 
 The causes of the defeat of the Federal party were : 1. 
 The aristocratic tendencies of its leaders which led some of 
 the common people who followed them for a time finally to 
 desert for more congenial associations. Not only did these 
 leaders believe in and advocate government by means of 
 position and influence, but they scarcely tried to conceal 
 their distrust of the common people. 2. An excessive 
 dependence upon national power, and the knowledge that 
 many Federal leaders advocated its further extension, even 
 to invading what was then supposed to belong to the re- 
 served rights of the states. This policy, as it appeared in 
 efforts at legislation, was the logical result of the preceding 
 cause. 3. The presence of irreconcilable factions in the 
 party — one clustering around. Hamilton, the other sup- 
 porting President Adams. This fact of itself was proof of 
 the degeneracy of the party that had done a noble work in 
 establishing national power. In the long, hard battle its 
 habits had become so set that democratic measures of a 
 moderate sort found little support in its ranks. This fail- 
 ure to appreciate and acquiesce in the popular decision was 
 shown in the intrigues over the choice of a president by 
 the representatives. No one doubted that Jefferson was 
 meant for the first place by his party, but still the result 
 was long delayed, and if moderate counsel had not pre- 
 vailed among the Federalists, it is hard to say what the 
 
168 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 result would have been. This last episode rendered them 
 more unpopular with the masses. 
 
 The defeat of the Federalists was not the death of 
 nationality. The success of the Republicans was not the 
 triumph of the extreme principles of their party. What- 
 ever pledges they had made must now be modified by the 
 fact that they are to work through national machinery. 
 The operation of this machinery could not be obstructed, 
 for this would discredit the party. Besides, what harm 
 could come to democracy while its leaders were in con- 
 trol ? Jefferson's inaugural was such as to allay fears of 
 reactionary measures, and to indicate a purpose to win 
 over the moderates of the opposition. This was not for 
 purposes hostile to the nation, for Jefferson wrote that he 
 wished " to restore that harmony which our predecessors 
 so wickedly made it their object to break, to render us 
 again one people, acting as one nation." His moderation 
 is further revealed in his inaugural by the statement in 
 regard to the proper position of the state and national 
 governments : "The support of the state governments in 
 all their rights as the most competent administrations for 
 our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against 
 anti-republican tendencies ; the preservation of the gen- 
 eral government in its whole constitutional vigor as the 
 sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad." 
 The above quotations are the keynote to his moderation 
 in making removals from office, and the middle course 
 the party took in carrying out its policy. 
 
 Three reforms were immediately undertaken : 1, Repeal 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 169 
 
 of the law extending the Federal courts, and the impeach- 
 ment of obnoxious judges. The former was accomplished, 
 but the latter was only partially successful. It was found 
 impossible to secure the conviction of so bitter a partisan 
 as Judge Chase. The failure to intimidate the judiciary 
 left the national system impregnable, and taught the 
 extreme Republicans their limitations. 2. The repeal of 
 internal taxes. This included Hamilton's excise and a 
 sort of stamp duty passed, under danger of war, in Adams' 
 administration. We have already seen how the people 
 resented this form of taxation and objected to the burden 
 imposed. This necessitated great retrenchment in national 
 expenditures. The civil service, the army, and the navy 
 were largely cut down. The democratic idea of govern- 
 ment, as well as economy, called for some reform. 3. The 
 naturalization law was restored to its former condition, 
 thus proving democracy the friend of the foreigner who 
 sought a home in America. A fourth proof of democratic 
 spirit was given by Jefferson himself when he abolished 
 the forms and ceremonies that had grown up between 
 the legislative and executive departments, and simplified 
 or abolished social affairs connected with his office. Jef- 
 ferson thoroughly opposed courtly ceremonial and official 
 parade as entirely inconsistent with republicanism. He 
 determined to set the example himself of one who ruled 
 a great people by the merit of his work, and not by the 
 external trappings so characteristic of the governments 
 of Europe. 
 
 The popularity of these measures and of Jefferson's 
 
170 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 general conduct was rapidly demonstrated by the constant 
 accessions to his party. His whole policy made it evident 
 that his opponents had intentionally misrepresented him 
 and his party, or had misunderstood the intention and 
 spirit of democracy. 
 
 The Mutual Approach of Nationality and Democ- 
 racy, 1803-1820. 
 
 General Features of this Phase. — Long ago the student 
 must have discovered that at the very point of triumph 
 in the movement of an idea, a new phase of it begins to 
 take form. Gradually democracy and nationality cease 
 to battle against each other, and more and more find the 
 highest good of one to be the greatest good of the other. 
 The changed circumstances and relations wrought by the 
 preceding struggle made its continuance well-nigh impos- 
 sible. First, we have seen that democracy has not always 
 been hostile to a reasonable national patriotism, although 
 their opponents so argued. Secondly, the Federalists were 
 now an opposition party, and it would be very awkward 
 for them to oppose the new administration by urging it 
 to a more vigorous exercise of national power. In fact, 
 they soon became anti-national themselves, and advocated 
 strict construction of the Constitution. They thus aban- 
 doned their old ground to their opponents. Thirdly, the 
 development of great national parties forced upon the 
 attention of the people a constant study of questions of 
 national import. Unless the democracy of the country 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 171 
 
 could develop common sympathies over common objects, 
 it could not maintain itself. Local interests and objects 
 might do as the basis for an opposition ; but after victory, 
 what then ? Very evidently the party must enter on a 
 well-defined policy, and bring into harmonious coopera- 
 tion all its elements of support. Mere party success, 
 therefore, tended to call into being an organization with 
 national features. In the fourth place, the very com- 
 plete success of Jefferson's party in both state and 
 nation, by the close of his first administration, placed a 
 vast responsibility on its shoulders. How could this 
 best be met ? Not by refusing to use power, but by its 
 vigorous exercise. 
 
 The democratic leaders did not consciously aim to cen- 
 tralize power, but the circumstances named above were 
 against them, and the future opened up opportunities 
 and duties that could be met in no other way. In 
 spite of these controlling circumstances, the leaders still 
 continued to make their political confessions in terms of 
 strict construction. The explanation is partly found in 
 the fact that the circumstances of the new situation were 
 not correctly divined, and that the growth of interest 
 among the masses in national questions and their readier 
 response to the sentiment of nationality were largely 
 unconscious. This is particularly true of the movement 
 up to the War of 1812. From this date till 1820 the people 
 are more and more conscious that the old Jeffersonian 
 democracy is moving in new directions. In the analysis 
 and interpretation of this new phase of the relation between 
 
172 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 nationality and democracy, the narration of events will be 
 omitted as far as possible, since the only purpose is to 
 reveal to the student the process by which these two forces 
 began to approach each other. 
 
 The Purchase of Louisiana (1803). — This was the 
 greatest event of Jefferson's administration, and, because 
 of its effect upon nationality, may properly be taken as 
 opening the new movement. After the leading incidents 
 of the purchase are in hand, attention must be turned to 
 the bearing of the event on the problem before us. 1. The 
 fact of the purchase is of itself positive evidence of the 
 vast development in national sentiment already accom- 
 plished. No such an acquisition of foreign territory was 
 possible under the Confederation, and this may be taken 
 as a measure of the distance national sentiment has trav- 
 eled since 1789. 2. The purchase produced a profound 
 effect upon the settlers of the Southwest by checking 
 their growing hostility to the national government. The 
 Federalists had neglected them, and more than once had 
 they talked of setting up for themselves. Now their 
 interests were secure from foreigners at the mouth of 
 the Mississippi, and their commerce moved unchecked 
 to the Gulf and the Atlantic states. Commercial connec- 
 tion was no small factor in binding these people to the 
 rest of the Union. The strength of this growth and its 
 value to the Union were put to the test when Burr formed 
 his conspiracy. Had his expedition been made earlier 
 while this hardy people was disaffected it might have been 
 successful, but coming after the purchase it was easily a 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 173 
 
 failure. 3. The possession of land beyond the Mississippi 
 gave added weight to arguments for a system of internal 
 improvement, and no doubt influenced the construction of 
 the great National Road, whose eventual western terminus 
 was near St. Louis. The whole project of internal improve- 
 ment, both proposed and accomplished, did much toward 
 knitting the parts of the nation together. The possession 
 of the Mississippi with its tributaries gave an unlimited 
 opportunity to Fulton's invention which was soon plying 
 the great river and its connections, and thus by rapid com- 
 munication aided in consolidating the parts of the Union. 
 All sections now seemed to dwell in closer proximity than 
 ever before. 4. Almost a million square miles, added to 
 our national domain, seemed to offer unlimited opportunity 
 for the expansion of population and the creation of new 
 states. This, with the states from the old Northwest, 
 which were to bear the same relation to the Union, pro- 
 foundly affected national sentiment, and even changed the 
 nature of the Union. These new states are the creatures of 
 the nation, while the old thirteen were its creators. They 
 could not look back with pride to a period of independ- 
 ent existence. On the whole, therefore, their people had 
 different feelings toward the nation from those of the peo- 
 ple of the older states, and in the main this difference was 
 on the side of love and admiration for the rising nation. 
 5. The preservation of the balance of power between sec- 
 tions had been an object of solicitude since the constitu- 
 tional convention. The purchase was bitterly opposed in 
 New England as destroying its position in the Union, and 
 
174 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 caused threats of secession. For the time, national spirit 
 declined in this section, but remotely the purchase gave 
 a great preponderance to the free over the slave states, 
 and thus contributed powerfully to save the Union in 
 the Civil War. 6. Immediately the purchase argued for 
 nationality by demonstrating the impracticability of strict 
 construction. Strict construction was a fundamental prin- 
 ciple in the creed of Jefferson's party, but he and his 
 party consciously violated it because it stood in the way 
 of a great national interest. Not only this, but it was all 
 done without even asking the consent of the states whose 
 future relations to the Union were so fundamentally 
 touched. This act did not even emanate from the legis- 
 lative department, but was almost entirely the work of the 
 national executive. 1 If this act be tried by the standard 
 of the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions it is quite revo- 
 lutionary, and Jefferson himself must have felt so, for he 
 suggested amending the Constitution so as to ratify his 
 action. His party did not take his suggestion seriously, 
 thus showing its lack of interest in making good one of 
 its old dogmas and its willingness to be responsible for 
 
 1 In the interpretation of the purchase the student may discover 
 and state its meaning in various terms, but may not at first effort be 
 able to reduce them to terms of nationality. But, if possible, the 
 answers should all be so reduced in order that their highest signifi- 
 cance may be realized, and that they may be unified under some 
 great principle of growth. If possible, the student must see that the 
 greatest results of this event were largely unconscious, or so remote 
 that their actors did not perceive them. 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 175 
 
 an act that did vastly more to consolidate national power 
 than any act of either Hamilton or Adams. 1 
 
 English Aggressions, 1803-1812 This heading sug- 
 gests the narration of events. But it is selected to name 
 the external causes of an internal growth on the part of 
 Americans. Already it has been mentioned that the ten- 
 dency in this phase of development is for democracy and 
 nationality to approach each other. The former is begin- 
 ning to appreciate the necessity of the latter, while the 
 latter is ceasing to fear the former. This process of 
 mutual approach goes on more rapidly than ever before, 
 for the need of each for the other is more continuous and 
 pressing. The above growth is checked and limited by the 
 rise of a counter movement mainly confined to New Eng- 
 land and the middle states. This anti-national sentiment 
 connected itself with sympathy for England, and thus 
 brought upon itself the odium of being unpatriotic. 
 
 During the Confederation constant complaint was made 
 against England's attitude toward her former colonies. 
 This was continued down to Jay's treaty, and hardly 
 ceased then. The occasion of its renewal grew out of cir- 
 
 1 " However its statesmen might declaim about original compact, 
 "whatever Republican conventions might declare, the great empire 
 beyond the Mississippi was to stand forever as a contradiction of their 
 theories. Thereafter no man could, in the country store, around the 
 post-office stove, on the courthouse steps, at the country fair, or upon 
 the road, advance the ' compact ' theory of the government, without 
 being liable to have the Louisiana purchase thrown in his face." 
 — Walker's Making of the Nation, p. 184. 
 
176 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 cumstances connected with the Napoleonic wars. There 
 were three main causes : 1. Seizure of neutral goods in 
 American vessels. 2. Searching American vessels for for- 
 mer British seamen who had deserted or who had become 
 naturalized Americans. 3. Impressment of American sea- 
 men. A fourth set of circumstances greatly aggravated 
 the above, namely, the blockading and other decrees of 
 both Napoleon and England. 
 
 The Democracy's Efforts at Redress. — Democracy is 
 now in a process of transition, and tries to solve the most 
 intricate problems of international relations by means 
 consistent, to some extent, with its past profession of 
 principles; but the new circumstances with their almost 
 unsolvable problems at the same time forced a modification 
 of these principles. Democracy cannot escape the laws of 
 continuity and differentiation ; hence what was done must 
 partake of a double nature and seem inconsistent with its 
 past, while in fact it was the highest kind of consistency. 
 Jefferson and his party, in carrying out their programme, 
 had curtailed both army and navy, and had reduced taxa- 
 tion to a strictly peace basis. But the above aggressions 
 betokened war, and the problem was to coerce England 
 especially, and at the same time avoid war. The following 
 measures are referred to as briefly as possible for the 
 purpose of discovering their double significance : how they 
 connected themselves with the general spirit of democracy, 
 and how they tended to transform and nationalize its spirit. 
 
 1. A naval militia, or local gunboats, was the first meas- 
 ure to secure protection to American commercial interests. 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 177 
 
 The plan was to furnish, each seaport with the means of 
 self-defence, to be employed as occasion offered. In the 
 absence of danger the gunboat was to be out of water, and 
 the crew about their usual occupations. This appeared to 
 be a promising mode of avoiding heavy naval expenditures. 
 But even this took over a million and a half of Jefferson's 
 surplus and really accomplished little by way of defence ; 
 certainly it lowered us greatly in the estimation of the 
 great armed nations of Europe. 
 
 2. The next were negotiations with England looking 
 to a settlement of difficulties. These ran over much of 
 Jefferson's last administration. England refused to sur- 
 render impressments, to admit that "free ships made free 
 goods," and to open her West Indian ports to us. A treaty, 
 completed in December, 1806, Jefferson did not submit to 
 the senate, knowing full well that public sentiment would 
 be deeply humiliated, and indignantly resent the insult. 
 Nevertheless, Jefferson's method of disposing of the treaty 
 was hardly in harmony with the spirit of democracy, 
 although this same democracy justified the act, for the 
 people forgot the method in their admiration of the act 
 which refused to barter American seamen for a few paltry 
 European trade concessions which England would not obey 
 longer than European complications made it desirable. 
 
 3. In the same year, 1806, congress passed a Non-im- 
 portation Act, another democratic measure of coercion. 
 England was injured somewhat, but America was not 
 benefited ; the struggle with Napoleon was too intense for 
 her to notice the harm we inflicted. 
 
178 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 4. After the failure of these measures, and following 
 the orders in council and the outrage on the Chesapeake, 
 the president summoned congress in extra session and 
 recommended the Embargo. Three days' debate in the 
 house and four hours' in the senate sufficed to satisfy the 
 majority. Indeed the nation's pride was deeply stung, and 
 no doubt it felt the words uttered by John Quincy Adams : 
 " The president has recommended the measure on his high 
 responsibility. I would not consider, I would not deliber- 
 ate, I would act." Seldom has such power been conferred 
 on such short notice, and practically for the asking. No 
 doubt the passage of this law proves the confidence of con- 
 gress in the president, but it also proves his willingness to 
 exercise vast national powers oyer commerce, such as none 
 of his predecessors enjoyed. His judgment was to decide 
 whether American ships were to go abroad, and his deci- 
 sion was to be backed by the navy and revenue cutters. 
 Erom the very first the majority of Federalists in the 
 middle states and New England were indignantly hostile to 
 the measure, and soon the traders in the great ports were 
 actively engaged in eluding the law. Smuggling found a 
 supporting public sentiment in these places — especially in 
 Boston and New York. The carrying trade and its allied 
 interests looked upon the Embargo as purposely planned 
 for their injury. Jefferson had created the impression 
 that he was hostile to foreign commerce, and so he found 
 his record on the question standing in the way of the law. 
 The result was that New England Eederalists became 
 more and more anti-national, and were guilty, under the 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 179 
 
 exasperation of injury, of speaking words of sympathy for 
 England. A few even recommended submission to British 
 indignity as had been done by the French faction, and held 
 private communications with the minister sent to adjust 
 the Chesapeake affair. The legislatures of Federal states 
 protested strongly against the Embargo ; town meetings 
 did likewise, and there were hints at separation. The 
 spirit of opposition grew bolder after the act was amended 
 in 1809 so as to extend the power of the president ; the 
 law was printed in mourning type, revolutionary mottoes 
 were displayed, and hints were thrown out of a New 
 England convention to inquire into the reserved rights of 
 the states. However, matters in New England were not. all 
 running toward sectionalism, for a number of aggressive 
 Republicans fought for the national policy, and found their 
 ranks strengthened by the patriotic conduct of John Quincy 
 Adams and other men of note. The disunion scare, the 
 immense injury to all American interests, and the failure 
 to produce any effect on either England or France led to 
 the repeal of the Embargo in the spring of 1809. 
 
 Effects on the Progress of Democracy and Nationality. 
 — Great results had been wrought out in this contest : 
 1. The Eepublican party, which was more and more in its 
 composition becoming identical with American democracy 
 had fairly committed itself to the exercise of vast national 
 power, and had certainly pointed the way in emergencies 
 to an almost despotic use of such power. Democracy was 
 therefore beginning to occupy, with a courage born of 
 experience, good old Federal ground, once held only by 
 
180 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 Hamilton and his followers. The party of Jefferson was 
 beginning to act as if necessity was the true interpreter 
 of the Constitution. 2. The failure of the Embargo and 
 of other peaceable means of coercion forced upon the 
 country the conviction that war was a necessity. The 
 continued conduct of England was producing gradually a 
 war party within the ranks of the democracy. 3. The 
 remnant of the Federal party had become pretty thor- 
 oughly sectional, and was beginning to make its political 
 confessions in terms of the Kentucky and Virginia resolu- 
 tions. 4. A fourth phase of public sentiment appeared in 
 the vehement accusations of these two parties, each against 
 the other, of friendship for France and enmity toward 
 England, or vice versa. This resulted in each party trying 
 to avoid this cause of distrust for the future, so that when 
 Non-intercourse was substituted for the Embargo, France 
 and England were formally placed on the same footing. 
 5. Another fact containing the germ of a greater nation- 
 ality grew out of the Embargo, namely, the rise of new 
 industries and the expansion of those already established. 
 The War of 18 12 as a Product of the National Spirit. — 
 It has often been said, but will bear repeating, that the 
 true interpretation of a series of events lies in two phases 
 of public sentiment. First, the phase that immediately 
 precedes, and is more or less in, the events themselves, and 
 secondly, the phase that succeeds the events. The first 
 is the true cause of the origin of the events, and to some 
 extent determines their character. The second is their 
 true result. So far as the series of events called the War 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 181 
 
 of 1812 is concerned; the process of interpretation has 
 been begun in the preceding study. The main features 
 of this first stage of public sentiment may be referred to 
 again in order to trace them as factors in the production 
 of the war : 1. An extreme anti-national sentiment opposed 
 to war and to the exercise of national power by the party 
 in office. This sentiment existed among the high Feder- 
 alists. 2. A peace and strict-construction sentiment exist- 
 ing among the old Republicans, and on occasions coalescing 
 with the Federalists. 3. A rising national and war senti- 
 ment which found its principal supporters in the so-called 
 Republican party, and in a small contingent of patriotic 
 Federalists whose party had deserted them. The war ele- 
 ment was strong from Pennsylvania southward, and had the 
 solid and enthusiastic support of the new states. In the 
 absence of distracting local problems, the people of these 
 rising western states and territories were more uniformly 
 democratic and national than the populations of the old 
 states ; more democratic because the rough life of the 
 frontier equalized conditions to a marvelous extent ; more 
 national because they were the creatures of the nation 
 and felt their great dependence upon it. " Here no pride 
 of statehood diminished the affection and devotion of the 
 citizen to the government under which he held the title 
 to his land ; to which he looked for protection from the 
 savage foe ; which opened up the navigation of the rivers 
 to his clumsy flatboat ; which endowed the school in which 
 his children learned to read. Constitutional scruples were 
 at a discount with these rude, strong, brave men. . . . They 
 
182 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 wanted a government, and a strong government ; and in 
 the continually growing power of the Bepublic they found 
 the competent object of their civic trust and pride and 
 love." 1 Originally followers of Jefferson, their peculiar 
 life led them into the ranks of the aggressive portion of 
 the party, while their harassing experiences with the 
 Indians, due, as they thought, to British agents, made 
 them early and enthusiastic advocates of war. The above 
 is also applicable to the mountain populations of the older 
 states. This sentiment soon found advocates in the 
 national councils. Its chief exponents were Henry Clay 
 and John G. Calhoun, who were ably seconded by Felix 
 Grundy, Langdon Cheves, and Porter. These men, aided 
 by England's continued bad conduct, forced the peace- 
 loving and timid Madison into war. 
 
 In making this interpretation it must not be forgotten 
 that this war party, in spite of its great strides toward 
 nationality, had inherited the legitimate fruits of that 
 earlier democracy which doted on low taxes, a small navy, 
 and a smaller army. The preservation of this condition 
 had been a great argument for Jefferson's foreign policy. 
 It was now more than an argument for democracy — it was 
 a disaster to the country. Even now, on the verge of war 
 with the greatest naval power of the world, the democ- 
 racy of the nation could not quite recharter Hamilton's 
 bank, and establish an efficient navy. It showed wonder- 
 ful progress that the bank was defeated by but one vote, 
 and that something was done towards a navy, but the 
 1 Walker's Making of the Nation, p. 171. 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 183 
 
 "miss was as good as a mile." Of course nothing was more 
 national in that day than the United States bank and the 
 navy. The former touched the currents of trade every- 
 where, and its notes, bearing the national stamp, were no 
 respecters of state lines. But even more was the navy the 
 representative of national power. It stood as the visible 
 symbol of national dignity to all foreign powers, and ready 
 to assail them in defence of its people. The navy was not 
 sectional. No state could claim it as it claimed the militia. 
 A shot at the flag as it waved from the mast was felt by 
 the whole people as an insult to be resented. A disinter- 
 ested patriotism ought to have dictated a great navy, 
 especially since the commercial states called for it. The 
 failure to create one gave point to their opposition to the 
 war. Aside from these failures, the war democracy was 
 enthusiastic in the use of national powers, as the follow- 
 ing measures enacted between 1811 and 1815 prove : an 
 embargo preliminary to war, a doubling of the tariff, an 
 excise and a stamp tax, provision for a great national 
 debt, larger regular army, an army of volunteers, regu- 
 lations pertaining to the use of the state militia, and 
 finally, the administration was screwing up its courage 
 for a conscription law and for government paper money. 
 Most of these measures had been passionately denounced 
 by the party in the campaign of 1800. The people were 
 not inconsistent ; they had grown. 
 
 The bearing of national sentiment on the progress of 
 the war may be seen in the fact that where enthusiastic 
 devotion to the nation was most universal, there the 
 
184 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 greatest victories were won, and where this was at its 
 lowest ebb, there occurred the greatest disasters. No anti- 
 national sentiment could reach our navy on lake or sea, 
 and the navy was the glory of the war. The victories of 
 Harrison and Jackson were the most brilliant won on 
 land, while the invasions of Canada, supported mainly by 
 New York and New England, were the least successful 
 campaigns of the war. The campaign for the defence of 
 Washington may be regarded as a partial exception to 
 the above. 
 
 Opposition to the declaration of war was strongest in 
 New England and New York, but a few votes also came 
 from other middle states and from the South. The prog- 
 ress of the conflict only intensified the hostility of New 
 England. This section repeated in extremer fashion the 
 methods of opposition used against the Embargo. Some 
 additional means were : the refusal of one or two gov- 
 ernors to allow the state militia to be used by the nation, 
 attempts of capitalists to prevent loans to the nation, 
 draining specie from southern and western banks, open 
 expressions of favor for England, and finally, the Hartford 
 Convention. These are all anti-national, particularly the 
 last. It was popularly believed that its aim was the seces- 
 sion of New England from the Union. Its documents are 
 thoroughly imbued with the state-sovereignty idea of the 
 Kentucky and Virginia resolutions, as is amply demon- 
 strated by the propositions set before their legislatures, 
 and those recommended as amendments to the national 
 Constitution. 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 185 
 
 The War as a Factor in Nationalizing Democracy. — 
 
 The second phase of interpretation is to discover how this 
 war promoted the evolution of the national spirit. To 
 do this accurately the student must remember that the 
 movement in ideas and institutions set on foot by it are 
 more important than its military events. And yet it must 
 not be forgotten that war is a sort of seething caldron 
 of human thought and mad passion. Into this are poured 
 old ideas and apparently permanent habits of action. 
 These dissolve into their original elements, and new com- 
 binations are formed from them. War is a time of bold 
 initiative and courageous endeavor ; new men and new 
 measures result from new environment. Hence we must 
 expect the forces of nationality and democracy to come 
 out of the war greatly modified. This is best discovered 
 by looking into the content of the great measures that 
 followed peace. 
 
 1. The national debt was over $120,000,000, while cur- 
 rency and credit were in a deplorable condition. Gallatin, 
 Jefferson's great financier, tried to forestall disaster by 
 asking for a new bank charter in 1811. This was refused. 
 War with its lessons came, and President Madison, Secre- 
 tary Dallas, Speaker Clay, and John C. Calhoun favored 
 its restoration in 1816. Its capital was more than three 
 times that of Hamilton's bank, and it was as fully en- 
 dowed with authority. While it was more national, it 
 was more democratic ; five of its directors were appointed 
 by the president, and both congress and the secretary of 
 the treasury were more directly connected with this than 
 
186 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 with, the former. Stock was opened in each state, and con- 
 gress could compel the location of branches among its 
 constituents. In 1811 Henry Clay opposed the bank in an 
 elaborate argument based on strict construction and true to 
 the ancient ideals of his party ; in 1816 he was just as 
 enthusiastic for the bank, and his argument would have 
 done credit to Hamilton. Clay was not inconsistent, but 
 he had grown in knowledge and practical experience. 
 
 2. The Embargo and war cut off foreign importations, 
 and at the same time greatly injured American capital 
 employed in the carrying trade. This unintentional and 
 injurious result gave origin to a phase of economic life 
 which profoundly influenced the course of nationality. 
 The need of a new field for capital and the demand for 
 home products were simultaneous. By 1815 America had 
 made great strides toward economic independence. Peace 
 threatened to overwhelm the new industries by English 
 competition. The nation was appealed to for defensive 
 measures, and the party which had created conditions call- 
 ing them into existence responded promptly and patriotic- 
 ally with a protective tariff. Madison himself argued for 
 protection to industries tending to make us independent of 
 foreign production. The champions of this tariff were the 
 leaders of the war party ; its opponents were Federalists 
 and a few Eepublicans who still held to old party standards. 
 But the majority of this party were now consciously using 
 national power for the development of national resources. 
 
 3. Another lesson learned during the war was that good 
 roads and other means of easy transit had something to 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 187 
 
 do with the success of military movements. Again war 
 brought peace with the Indians, and population rapidly 
 moved westward. Ohio in 1810 numbered only 230,000, 
 but in 1820, 580,100. In 1810 Indiana had but 24,800, 
 while in 1820 the population had risen to 147,000. Thus 
 were social and economic reasons added to military neces- 
 sity in favor of internal improvements. It had been 
 the dream of Jefferson to apply the surplus which his 
 economy had created to the unification of America by 
 canals and roads, constructed by the cooperation of the 
 state and national governments. John C. Calhoun in 1816 
 and 1817 presented a bill to create a national fund for 
 internal improvement. Madison vetoed it because of its 
 violation of the principle of strict construction, and rec- 
 ommended an amendment covering the question. The 
 agitation for internal improvements went steadily on as 
 new states rapidly rose in the West. Appropriations had 
 already been made for the Cumberland Road. After the 
 war the demand came for its extension to the westward 
 under the name of the National Eoad. By 1820 over 
 $1,500,000 had been expended upon it. So far had senti- 
 ment grown away from the old point of view that the 
 national Republicans made internal improvements a cardi- 
 nal point in their programme, and more than two and a 
 quarter millions were appropriated for this purpose during 
 John Quincy Adams' administration. 
 
 The final decline of sentiment in favor of national aid to 
 roads and canals was not due to a decline in oationality, 
 but because the steamboat and the railroad were beginning 
 
188 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 to meet the demand for rapid and easy social and com- 
 mercial communication. Fulton's invention was successful 
 in 1807, and at the opening of the War of 1812 steamboats 
 were appearing on western rivers. After the war their num- 
 bers grew rapidly ; their work in binding the East to the 
 West was of untold value to the nation, although it was 
 largely a process whose significance was not then seen. 
 
 4. The war destroyed both the organization of the Fed- 
 eralists and the original doctrines of the Republicans. All 
 that was vital in the former was developed and applied 
 by the new Eepublicans. All that was dangerous in the 
 Jeffersonian democracy was absorbed by the Federalists as 
 an opposition party. As the contest went on democracy 
 constantly gained and aristocracy as constantly lost. Fed- 
 eralism not only became narrow, but also unpatriotic and 
 threatened the nation's life. It found no place among the 
 hardy western populations, and because aristocracy does not 
 emigrate it remained geographically stationary. Federal- 
 ism disappeared in name in the Era of Good Feeling. Its 
 old leaders had passed away ; its younger members found 
 congenial company among the National Eepublicans. On 
 its political side the Era of Good Feeling marked the final 
 disappearance of the difference that had separated democ- 
 racy and nationality. And while the party calling itself 
 Democratic does go on mumbling the Jeffersonian formulae, 
 yet the body of its members do not oppose, but generally 
 favor, nationality. 
 
 5. During the greater part of the era marked by the 
 transformation of American democracy, a series of deci- 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 189 
 
 sions of vast consequence to the development of the nation 
 were handed down by the Supreme Court. John Marshall 
 had been made Chief Justice by John Adams just as the 
 Federalist party was passing from power. Although 
 deserted by his party, Marshall was faithful to the work 
 appointed for him to do. Steadily there fell from his pen 
 a series of decisions touching the powers of the nation 
 under the Constitution. In 1816 the Supreme Court dem- 
 onstrated its right to be the final interpreter of the Consti- 
 tution thus limiting the power of state courts. Later 
 Marshall rendered a decision justifying a resort to implied 
 powers in the creation of the bank ; in 1810, and again 
 in 1819, he denied the power of the state legislature to 
 impair the obligations of contracts. Public sentiment was 
 not shocked at the principles announced in these decisions, 
 thus showing how much it had grown, especially between 
 1810 and 1820. 
 
 6. The war exerted many subtle effects on the mutual 
 movements of nationality and democracy. None were 
 more so than the effect upon what may be termed Ameri- 
 can literary thought. No department of life yielded so 
 slowly to the inspiring touch of nationality and democracy. 
 Before the war little was produced which could be called 
 literature, and less that was national in tone, although 
 there was much controversial writing over politics. The 
 literary men were generally out of sympathy with the dem- 
 ocratic movements of the period, and seldom found subjects 
 relating to American life and tendencies to inspire their 
 pens. The few writers were generally imitators of Euro- 
 
190 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 pean standards. The nationalizing effect of the war showed 
 itself in the field of literature, for now there arose men 
 who soon won fame for America. Among them may be 
 named Paulding, Irving, Bryant, Cooper, Halleck, Drake, 
 Percival, and Sprague. In 1815 was founded the North 
 American Review. As early as 1811 was established that 
 famous old journal, Niles* Weekly Register, whose intense 
 Americanism did much to stimulate national pride. A new 
 race of orators, deeply imbued with an ardor truly patriotic, 
 now sprang into existence. Among these were Channing, 
 Clay, Webster, Everett, and many others of lesser note. 
 
 Significance of the Era of Good Feeling. — This is partly 
 discovered in the facts immediately preceding. Its deeper 
 meaning lies in the fact that it was the culmination of the 
 movement for the nationalization of American democracy 
 and for the popularizing of American nationality. Then was 
 political disintegration complete and political animosity 
 forgotten. President Monroe's journey, as far eastward as 
 Boston and westward as Detroit, furnishes sufficient evi- 
 dence that there was once more a president of the whole 
 people. 1 It was also an age of political integration, for in 
 
 1 It was a Boston paper that called this period " the era of good 
 feeling." Another Boston paper said that "the visit of the president 
 seems to have wholly allayed the storms of party. People now meet 
 in the same room who a short while since would scarcely pass along 
 the same street." A third stated that "the visit has a more direct 
 tendency than any other to remove prejudices, to harmonize feelings, 
 annihilate dissensions, and make us indeed one people." In Hartford 
 the president was called a "political father and guide." — McMaster, 
 vol. iv. pp. 379-380. 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 191 
 
 the crisis of the election in 1824 men of Federal antece- 
 dents and the National Kepublicans coalesced and elected 
 John Quincy Adams. This presaged a new party. In this 
 campaign each section had its candidate, and so strongly 
 were the people attached to their favorite sons that they 
 refused to abide by the customary action of the congres- 
 sional caucus. This institution had stood between the 
 presidency and the people, but it was now forever destroyed. 
 The destruction of this undemocratic piece of machinery 
 shows a tendency of the people to directly participate in 
 national affairs ; they were greatly stimulated by the pres- 
 ence of presidential candidates from so many parts of 
 the country. The common people took a sort of personal 
 interest, not before witnessed, in the campaign because 
 of their warm personal regard for the candidates. This 
 was also prophetic. 
 
 The Fusion of Nationality and Democracy Working 
 out its Results, 1816-1840. 
 
 General Significance. — We now enter upon the last 
 phase of the relationship of nationality and democracy as 
 an organizing idea. The collisions and cooperations be- 
 tween these two mighty forces had worn down the differ- 
 ences separating them so that they now practically moved 
 in harmony. The most fundamental result of this fusion 
 as it worked itself out in national affairs has been the 
 deep and abiding interest taken by the common people. 
 In this phase, for the first time in American history, they 
 
192 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 actually came into possession of the machinery of the 
 national government. Heretofore they had been led ; now 
 they took the lead or furnished leaders. The tendency 
 toward an aristocracy of office-holders now began to dis- 
 appear, and new and untried men from among the common 
 people came to the front. No doubt the grade of Ameri- 
 can statesmanship was lowered by the introduction of so 
 much inexperience, but the thorough nationalization of the 
 common people was a result of immeasurable consequence 
 to our country in the day of its greatest trial. No one 
 can tell what the result might have been in the conflict 
 with slavery had not the common people come to feel that 
 their fate was bound up with that of the nation ; that its 
 enemy was their foe, and its helper their friend. The 
 enthusiasm of the masses for the nation grew into full 
 consciousness during this era. 
 
 Significance of Jackson's Election. — Old things were 
 passing away and all things were becoming new. In 
 nothing is the change so evident as in the campaign which 
 elected Jackson in 1828. Some of its methods and char- 
 acteristics were foreshadowed in the contest of 1824. 
 The following brief statements will further aid in 
 reaching a correct interpretation of the campaign as 
 a whole. 
 
 1. On the part of Jackson's followers the contest opened 
 immediately after the election of Adams, and was, there- 
 fore, nearly four years in length. The nominating caucus 
 was gone, and a more popular method was instituted for 
 getting Jackson before the people. The first step his man- 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 193 
 
 agers took was to get him recommended to the people by 
 the legislature of Tennessee in 1825, when Jackson imme- 
 diately resigned from the senate. By means of correspond- 
 ence, public meetings were held to endorse this action ; the 
 most notable was in Philadelphia in 1826. The apparent 
 spontaneity of the movement is shown by the frequent and 
 pressing invitations to Jackson to address all sorts of bodies 
 in all parts of the country. In 1827 the legislature of 
 Louisiana invited him to join with the people in celebration 
 of the victory of New Orleans. Delegations from distant 
 states united to make this the greatest popular demon- 
 stration yet held in America. In 1828 popular enthusiasm 
 took up Jackson's cause, and erected, with appropriate 
 exercises, hickory poles in many parts of the nation to 
 testify their appreciation of his peculiar character. The 
 above methods were in themselves telling arguments ad- 
 dressed to the imagination and feeling of the masses. 
 These brought General Jackson before the people and 
 created a personal interest in him such as they had taken 
 only in their favorite sons in 1824. In the course of this 
 campaign, papers sprung into existence for the special pur- 
 pose of promoting Jackson's candidacy. In congress the 
 opposition organized to obstruct every movement and 
 measure of Adams' administration. They aimed to dis- 
 credit him in the eyes of the nation. The student will 
 readily see that these are methods of campaigning not here- 
 tofore in use, and though not of the highest order, yet cal- 
 culated to win the populace. 
 
 2. The arguments of the campaign were new and carried 
 
194 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 tremendous meaning. In the first place, they did not bear 
 on the relative statesmanship of Jackson and Adams. 
 Perhaps the first argument used in the campaign was 
 that Jackson had been cheated out of the presidency by 
 a corrupt bargain between Adams and Clay. There was 
 no truth in the charge as was demonstrated, but Jackson 
 and his campaigners never ceased to reiterate the story, 
 and no doubt it was believed by hundreds of thousands of 
 small-minded people. A second reason urged in favor of 
 Jackson was that congress had violated the democratic 
 spirit in electing Adams. Jackson had received a larger 
 vote, both popular and electoral, than any other candidate. 
 This, said Jackson men, should have determined the 
 matter. The significance of this argument lies in its con- 
 trast with the way Jefferson and his followers would have 
 argued. They would have said there are two modes of 
 electing a president ; the Constitution does not even suggest 
 that the results of one mode shall determine the result for 
 the other. But Jacksonian democracy exalts the temporary 
 opinion of the people above the Constitution, and there- 
 fore throws strict construction to the winds. The meaning 
 of this with reference to nationalization is very clear when 
 we recall that the method by which Adams was elected is 
 the very essence of state sovereignty itself ; a cardinal doc- 
 trine of the Confederation period and of the Jeffersonian 
 democracy was the equality of the states. Perhaps the 
 most effective argument with the masses was that General 
 Jackson himself was a man sprung from their own class, 
 while President Adams and his supporters were a different 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 195 
 
 sort of people altogether, and had little or nothing in 
 common with them. Adams and Clay in particular, they 
 held, belonged to a sort of office-holding aristocracy that 
 had aimed to perpetuate itself by the congressional caucus, 
 the succession of secretaries, limited suffrage, and the 
 legislative election of the electoral college. By these 
 methods the great body of citizens were kept from exert- 
 ing their legitimate influence on the nation's policy. On 
 the other hand, they said, General Jackson is supported by 
 the people and is one of them ; so he was born, so he was 
 reared, and such has been his career. In his military 
 capacity he has ever been the friend and the idol of the 
 common soldiers ; he shared their hardships on the march 
 and in the camp, and in battle was their leader. We, 
 therefore, want him for our president ; he will indeed be 
 the people's president, and will use the government for 
 their good. There was much truth and some error in this 
 sort of argument, but the significant thing is that the plain 
 people of the West and South, in portions of the middle 
 states, and the artisans in the large cities were powerfully 
 taken by such appeals. They longed to see themselves, in 
 the person of Andrew Jackson, in possession of the great 
 office, and the result was in harmony with their feelings, 
 for Jackson received nearly a hundred more electoral votes 
 than Adams. No doubt the unselfish resolution of Adams 
 to make no effort in his own behalf, especially by the use 
 of patronage, contributed to Jackson's majority. By 1828 
 the non-democratic elements in the southern states had 
 begun to desert the National Republicans ; but it is very 
 
196 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 apparent that the campaign as a whole indicates the com- 
 ing supremacy of the people. 
 
 Jackson's Rule Interpreted. — This has been done partly, 
 since the campaign aided in determining the lines of 
 administration. The method and details were partly 
 determined by the men composing the administration. 
 The cabinet contained no man of statesmanlike ability, 
 with the possible exception of Van Buren. Jackson domi- 
 nated it completely, and directed its work with the same 
 vigor and despatch as he had conducted Indian campaigns ; 
 he was the administration. In addition to his military 
 spirit, Jackson possessed, in an intensified way, the 
 strength and weakness of -a frontier farmer. He recog- 
 nized but two classes of men, — friends and enemies ; 
 these were always personal and never political. He felt 
 that men of wealth had been favored by the government ; 
 the plain people, the farmers and the artisans, had been 
 neglected, and now their time had come. In trying to get 
 at the true meaning of the events and measures of this 
 administration, as little attention as possible will be given 
 to details. 
 
 1. The inauguration was simply a continuation of the 
 campaign ; the noisy demonstrations attending the event 
 proved that the people came to see themselves inaugurated. 
 No such scenes, no such crowds, and no such people had 
 ever before been drawn to witness the ceremonies. One 
 compared it to the invasion of Eome by the Goths and 
 Vandals, another to the reign of King Mob, and Webster 
 said the crowd acted as if they thought the country had 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 197 
 
 been "rescued from some dreadful danger." It was signifi- 
 cant that nearly all the Jackson editors in the country 
 were there. 
 
 2. The wholesale removals from office was the first 
 startling event. Spoilsmen in and out of the cabinet no 
 doubt hastened it, but it had to come, for it was the logic 
 of events as interpreted by the president. He plainly 
 said, and more deeply felt, that the demonstration of 
 public sentiment in the election imposed upon him the 
 duty of reforming the federal patronage. In view of prin- 
 ciples controlling all his predecessors, especially the retir- 
 ing executive, and in view of the tendency of the campaign 
 just closed, reform of patronage could mean but one thing, 
 — the substitution of the friends of the administration and 
 of the people for those in office. The immediate and dis- 
 astrous consequences to individuals and to the service 
 were either not seen or not appreciated. About the only 
 good result of the new departure was to interest the 
 common people more thoroughly in national affairs, and 
 thus give them a fuller appreciation of the way in which 
 the nation is related to them. The basis of this interest 
 may have been selfish, but it had to have a beginning ; that 
 it rose above the mere greed of office and partisan success 
 is well attested by the sacrifices made by the people to 
 save the nation in 1861. What if they had not been edu- 
 cated into an affection for the nation by a generation of 
 political experience ? However, it began to appear that 
 no national movement, where numbers count, can ever be 
 successful without the backing of the new democracy. 
 
198 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 3. In his message to congress in December of 1829, 
 Jackson opened his long fight against the United States 
 Bank. Whether he thus early believed the bank guilty 
 of participating in politics, or whether he conceived a dis- 
 like for the president of the bank for his independent and 
 courageous defence of it, it is significant that Jackson said 
 it was " considered unconstitutional by a large portion of 
 our fellow-citizens." The Supreme Court had decided it 
 constitutional, but that did not matter since the highest 
 court — the people — thought it unconstitutional. This 
 sounds like the claim made by Jackson's friends when 
 congress elected Adams in the face of a plurality of the 
 popular vote for Jackson. In this same message, Jackson 
 suggested a national bank, presumably under the control 
 of the treasury department, and thus subject to the new 
 tribunal, — the people. In his message to congress in 1831, 
 Jackson said he had disclosed his opinions concerning the 
 bank, " in order that the attention of the legislature and 
 the people " should be called to it, and now proposed " to 
 leave it for the present to the investigation of an enlight- 
 ened people and their representatives." This repeated 
 reference to the people is most significant. Benton con- 
 fesses that the opponents of the bank in congress aimed 
 by their method of attack to "rouse the people, and pre- 
 pare them to sustain the veto." Among other things the 
 veto said : " But when the laws undertake to add . . . 
 artificial distinction, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclu- 
 sive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent 
 more powerful, the humble members of society, the farmers, 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 199 
 
 mechanics, and laborers, . . . have a right to complain of 
 the injustice of their government. ... If sustained by 
 my fellow-citizens I shall be grateful and happy. . . ." 
 
 4. The campaign of 1832 was, in its methods, an evolu- 
 tion of that of 1828, and in its issues, mainly a continuation 
 of the bank controversy. Jackson had already recom- 
 mended amending the Constitution to secure the election 
 of the president by a direct vote of the people, and to 
 make him ineligible for reelection. But it did not take 
 much manceuvering to produce a " spontaneous " demand 
 for his reelection. A suggestion was now offered that 
 Jackson be nominated at a great national convention of the 
 party. This brought the selection of president one step 
 nearer the people, and was so in harmony with the spirit 
 of the times that all three parties held nominating conven- 
 tions. This campaign gained a still deeper hold on the 
 feelings of the people. There were day parades with fife, 
 drum, and banners, night demonstrations with torchlight 
 processions and transparencies, pole-raisings, speeches, 
 banquets, pamphlets, cartoons, and other features of later- 
 day campaigns. In originating this sort of political argu- 
 ment the Democrats far excelled the Whigs. The defeat 
 of Clay and the bank was overwhelming, the electoral vote 
 being 219 to 49 in favor of Jackson. The new court had 
 rendered another decision, and Jackson carried an order 
 for the bank's annihilation. His message in December, 
 1832, questioned the safety of the national deposits, and 
 said that rumors, widely current, called for an investiga- 
 tion. The investigation exonerated the bank, congress 
 
200 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 gave it a vote of confidence, but the president ordered the 
 deposits removed, in 1833, to certain state banks. To a 
 secretary opposing the removal, the president said : " My 
 object is to save the country ; it will be lost if we permit 
 the bank to exist." The bank began to prepare for the 
 end by contracting its loans, and the beginnings of finan- 
 cial disaster were at hand. 
 
 5. The number of state banks rapidly increased, creating 
 greater competition for national deposits. Congress passed 
 an act in 1836 depositing the surplus revenue with the 
 states, subject to recall. Money was thus placed where 
 the people could get it easily; speculation followed ; 
 prices, exeept of public land which was fixed by law, rose 
 rapidly. Hence everybody wished to buy government 
 land to hold for speculation. Thousands of depreciated 
 state-bank notes were received in payment for public land ; 
 Jackson became alarmed, and in July, 1836, issued the 
 circular ordering that specie alone be accepted for land. 
 Gold and silver moved westward, paper money eastward ; 
 business was disturbed, and confidence undermined. In 
 the spring of 1837 the crash came. 1 Jackson was just 
 retiring from the presidency, but was yet the real leader 
 of his party. The rank and file were every now and then 
 to hear the old leader's voice speaking through Van Buren. 
 
 1 This is not intended as an adequate explanation of the extent and 
 character of the speculation which took hold of individuals, corpora- 
 tions, and states alike. It does not assume to state all the causes of 
 the explosion, but rather indicates the part which popular sentiment, 
 —the conscious power behind the throne, — acting on congress and 
 the administration, played in the management of the national finances, 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 201 
 
 6. Although the new administration posed as a mere 
 continuation of the preceding one, had the election been 
 postponed a year even, the name of Jackson could hardly 
 have carried the day. As it was, the popular and electoral 
 vote were both much reduced. Between 1837 and 1840 
 the people began to distrust the leaders who brought such 
 distress upon the nation. Perhaps they did not recall 
 that, in the main, these leaders had reflected the people's 
 wishes in financial matters. The administration was 
 further separated from the masses who followed Jackson 
 by refusing the relief which public sentiment felt it could 
 furnish, especially the repeal of the specie circular. Van 
 Buren's great remedy, the Independent Treasury, did. not 
 strongly appeal to popular favor ; it was preventive rather 
 than curative, while the removal of present distress was 
 the popular demand. The measure brought no immediate 
 support to the administration, for it was generally viewed 
 as a selfish desertion of the country by the government. 
 
 The Campaign of 1840. — The significance of this extra- 
 ordinary campaign lies largely in the fact that the Whig 
 party greatly developed the Jacksonian methods of stirring 
 popular enthusiasm. While this party was far less aristo- 
 cratic and conservative than the old Federalist, yet, as a 
 rule, it was not nearly so popular in its make-up and 
 measures as its rival. However, in this presidential con- 
 test it obtained so tremendous a hold on popular favor that 
 it promised for a time to become the real people's party. 
 
 The intense distress produced by the panic, and the 
 apparently indifferent attitude of the administration con- 
 
202 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 cerning measures of relief, created dissatisfaction among 
 the rank and file of the Democratic party. They had 
 been taught to believe in the nation's ability to do well or 
 ill by the people. The contrast between Van Buren and 
 Harrison went far toward Whig success. It was not 
 unlike that between Adams and Jackson in 1828. Harri- 
 son was the honest western farmer and courageous frontier 
 soldier; Van Buren was the eastern politician, and had 
 always held office ; Harrison was one of the people, having 
 their ideas and feelings, and could be trusted to serve 
 them ; Van Buren was the " little aristocrat," lived in 
 grand style at Washington, and had forgotten the lessons 
 of Jefferson and Jackson. A popular campaign speech 
 pictured the White House as a royal palace and its occu- 
 pants feasting as Caesars. The tables in the banquet halls 
 were described with elaborate detail before the gaping 
 multitude. But Harrison, the man of the people, was 
 a product of the log cabin with its plain and frugal life. 
 
 In 1837 the Ohio Whig convention nominated Harrison, 
 as in 1825 the legislature of Tennessee named Jackson, 
 and, like him, Harrison began to be pressed by invitations. 
 In 1838 he visited Indiana, the scene of his great victory 
 over the Indians in 1811, and set the people on fire. 
 Clubs and battle anniversaries became the order of the 
 day, till the national Whig convention named him in pref- 
 erence to Clay, Webster, or Scott. And now began in 
 earnest a contest, by the side of which the campaign of 
 1832 pales into insignificance. Such crowds ! Such pro- 
 cessions ! Such enthusiasm ! The Harrison demonstra- 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 203 
 
 tions numbered all the way from a few to a hundred 
 thousand. People traveled hundreds of miles to be pres- 
 ent on such occasions, and processions were days upon the 
 road./ The log cabin with its latch string out, the raccoon, 
 the barrel of cider on tap, the rolling ball, and the roasted 
 ox played leading parts in rousing popular enthusiasm. 
 To these were added, for the first time, " taking " cam- 
 paign songs, which were widely employed in stimulating 
 patriotic and partisan zeal. In all this the Whigs far 
 excelled the Democrats, as the election demonstrated. 
 Nineteen states voted for Harrison and seven for Van 
 Buren, while the electoral vote was 234 to 60 in favor of 
 the Whigs. 
 
 The joy of the people was unbounded at finding them- 
 selves once more in possession of their own. The Whig- 
 statesmen now spoke with the same authority as did Jack- 
 son in 1828 and 1832. Listen to Clay as he speaks to the 
 Senate in December, 1840, on the repeal of the independ- 
 ent-treasury bill : " The nation wills the repeal of the 
 measure, the nation decrees the repeal of the measure, 
 and the nation commands the repeal of the measure, and 
 the representatives of nineteen states were sent here 
 instructed to repeal it." This reveals the immense dis- 
 tance separating the new from the old Federalism, and 
 how completely nationality has identified itself with 
 democracy, just as Jackson proved the close identity of 
 democracy and nationality. 
 
 An Era of National Pride. — The vast expenditure of 
 energy during this period was not confined to political and 
 
204 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 economic problems. From the organization of the govern- 
 ment the American people had been under the spell of 
 intense activity. The marvelous results wrought out 
 caused a corresponding elevation of national pride. No 
 doubt much of this feeling was shallow and bombastic; 
 but on the whole, it was based on solid achievement. We 
 were becoming proud of our past, and were not insensible 
 to the fact that foreigners were beginning to notice our 
 people and their institutions. Conscious of great things 
 already achieved, and of the possibility of still greater 
 achievements, Americans in this age hotly resented the 
 one-sided criticism of foreigners like Dickens and Trollope. 
 Perhaps nothing, in a quiet way, made Americans prouder 
 of their nation than its long list of celebrated names. 
 Besides the revolutionary celebrities, the last of whom 
 were rapidly passing away, and the military and naval 
 heroes of 1812, the imaginations and hearts of the people 
 were filled by the splendid abilities of the statesmen who 
 still moved in their midst. But the list included more 
 than warriors and statesmen ; men were now springing 
 into prominence in every field of activity. Longfellow, 
 Whittier, and Holmes were joining Irving, Cooper, and 
 Bryant in the field of literature, and Bancroft, our first 
 great historian, was beginning his herculean labors; while 
 Webster's Dictionary was already raising the standard of 
 national speech. Emerson was a rising philosopher and 
 poet whose American pride rebelled against the worship 
 of European formalism and tradition. Kent and Story 
 were occupying the field of jurisprudence with masterly 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY. 205 
 
 pens, and writers upon economics and political science 
 were coming forward. Science was beginning to count 
 some great names among eastern institutions, and already- 
 one polar expedition had done its work and returned with 
 its story of adventure and discovery. In the field of 
 journalism activity and success were even more marked. 
 Now came into existence those mighty engines of public 
 opinion, — the great metropolitan newspapers. They were 
 much like the politicians of the era in that they tried 
 to reflect the life of the people. Therefore they became 
 really newsy papers, and at first, selling at a penny, their 
 circulation increased enormously. In New York city the 
 Sun, the Herald, and the Tribune set the fashion of the 
 new departure. Before this advent political opinion had 
 been largely molded by the party organ located at Wash- 
 ington city, and dependent for its existence on administra- 
 tive favors ; but the new paper is more independent, 
 resting on the public for support, dictating policies and 
 measures for the administration. 
 
 These mighty forces were producing a body of common 
 thought and sentiment, creating a solidarity of interests 
 in all sections and among all classes that even slavery 
 could not destroy. Such was the function of the period 
 from 1789 to 1840, and such was the result. Many facts 
 touching this result could not be discussed. Important 
 among these were the extension of suffrage, the growth 
 of the government's land policy, increase of immigration, 
 party organization, increase of inventions, and the diffu- 
 sion of wealth. 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY, 1820-1870. 
 
 Development of the Conflict, 1820-1835. 
 
 Origin of the Struggle. — The mutual conquest of 
 nationality and democracy reached its fruition between 
 1820 and 1840. Had not slavery blocked the way, these 
 two mighty forces, now made one, would have carried the 
 nation rapidly forward to that greatness attained only in 
 our day. The new struggle differs from the old in that it 
 is a struggle to the death, and although compromises are 
 made, they only postpone the fatal day. 
 
 The earliest struggle of far-reaching importance occurred 
 in the constitutional convention. It arose over questions 
 of representation, direct taxation, and commerce. The 
 immediate cause was the fact that the slave states had a 
 smaller white population than the free states, and hence 
 would be in a minority in the lower house of congress. 
 But why ? Did not the slave states have a richer soil and 
 a more genial climate than the free states ? Slavery was 
 hostile to population ; it occupied vast estates, built few 
 towns, encouraged but one occupation, — agriculture, — 
 brought the white laborer into competition with labor con- 
 suming the coarsest food and clothes, built no public 
 schools, and put a social ban upon the non-slaveholder. 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVEHY. 207 
 
 For these reasons there was a tendency, in early times, to 
 avoid the South, and even leave it for the North. The 
 tendency became a movement only in this century. After 
 a fierce battle the convention agreed to count three-fifths 
 of the slave population for both congressmen and direct 
 taxes. The South was predominantly agricultural, and, 
 because of slavery, had only a narrow range of agriculture. 
 The South feared commercial restrictions by the North, and 
 the latter opposed the African slave-trade. The spirit in 
 which these contests were waged is seen in the repeated 
 threats of delegates from the Carolinas and Georgia to 
 disrupt the convention and defeat the Constitution. 
 
 The weakness which forced slavery to fight in self- 
 defence, and the spirit in which it conducted the contest, 
 constitute the fundamental causes of the struggle between 
 nationality and slavery. These inhere in the system itself, 
 and from the constitutional convention to the Missouri 
 Compromise are operating against slavery. The French 
 Revolution and the Napoleonic wars made life burdensome 
 to Europeans, and they began to come to America. Where 
 did they go ? To the North. At the same time the slender 
 stream of non-slaveholders, emigrating north and north- 
 westward, was growing wider and deeper. The result of 
 this movement of population is seen in the growing differ- 
 ence in the number of congressmen from the two sections. 
 In 1790 the difference was but four in favor of the North ; 
 in 1800 the census showed this to be twelve ; in 1810 it had 
 grown to twenty-five ; while by 1820, the period of the 
 Missouri conflict, the gulf had widened to forty-three. 
 
208 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 In spite of the three-fifths advantage, slavery had hope- 
 lessly lost power in the House. The inevitable was seen 
 approaching, and the battle for' the balance of power had 
 long been transferred to the Senate. The states are equal 
 here, population counting little. Since 1789 a sort of 
 equilibrium had been maintained by the admission of 
 states. Seven of the thirteen states were free or becom- 
 ing so in 1789, and six were slave. The admission of 
 Kentucky, Vermont, and Tennessee established an equi- 
 librium. Ohio destroyed it in 1802, and Louisiana re- 
 stored it in 1812. Indiana in 1816, Mississippi in 1817, 
 Illinois in 1818, and Alabama in 1819 alternately destroyed 
 and restored this political equality. But in this last year 
 Missouri applied for admission as a slave state. The 
 North took the alarm ; it was not slavery's turn, and, if per- 
 mitted, would give it a majority of two senators, — enough to 
 block legislation and the admission of new states. Besides, 
 slavery had encroached geographically upon the North, for 
 at least four-fifths of the eastern boundary of this state 
 rests against a free state. Further significance is given 
 to the Missouri application by remembering that there are 
 but two more slave territories, — Arkansas and Florida. 
 Aside from the moral questions involved, here are aggres- 
 sions that the free states feel must be resisted. Another 
 significant fact is that the necessity of this aggressive 
 action lies in the defects of slavery itself. 
 
 The spirit in which slavery conducts the controversy 
 over Missouri is made clearer by its attitude in the case of 
 the early petitions sent to congress against the institution. 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. 209 
 
 These were generally, in Washington's administration, pre- 
 sented by Quakers, requesting congress to use its constitu- 
 tional powers to place some restriction on slavery. The 
 spirit of the institution is revealed in the following argu- 
 ments in its defence: 1. The Quakers were denounced as 
 hypocrites and cowards. 2. The petitions were uncon- 
 stitutional, because violating guarantees on which the 
 South ratified the Constitution. 3. Emancipation was a 
 curse, and would lead to civil war. 4. The Bible and the 
 southern clergy were not opposed to slavery. 5. The 
 South could be cultivated by negroes only. 6. The 
 slave-trade was a benefit to the negro. The language 
 was more intemperate even than the arguments, and 
 both were repeated in all the conflicts between 1820 and 
 I860. 1 
 
 1 The slaveholder was a product of his environment, and a different 
 product would not have resulted if the people of the North had been 
 inhabitants of the South from colonial days. The spirit born of the 
 system is well stated by Jefferson: "There must doubtless be an un- 
 happy influence on the manners of our people, produced by the exist- 
 ence of slavery among us. The whole commerce between master and 
 slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most 
 unremitting despotism on the one part and degrading submission on 
 the other. Our children see this and learn to imitate it. . . . If a 
 parent could find no motive either in his philanthropy or his self-love 
 for restraining the intemperance of his passion toward his slave, it 
 should be a sufficient one that his child looks on, catches the linea- 
 ments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, 
 gives a loose rein to the worst of passions, and thus nursed, educated, 
 and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but be stamped by it." — 
 Notes on the State of Virginia, pp. 169-170. 
 
210 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 Meaning of the Missouri Struggle. 1 — The content of 
 this event has been partly indicated. The effect on public 
 sentiment remains to be noted. This will be best under- 
 stood in the light of the characterizing features of the 
 event. The fight opened by proposing to prohibit the 
 further carrying of slaves into Missouri, and to free all its 
 future-born slaves upon reaching the age of twenty-five. 
 The conflict lasted two years and excited the earnest 
 attention of both sections. Another feature of significance 
 is found in the depth of thought and passion stirred. 
 Feeling ran high in congress, and wild scenes were enacted ; 
 resistance was hinted, civil war was prophesied, and 
 threats of secession were frequently made. The public 
 participated in the excitement ; meetings were held in 
 town and city; county and state conventions, grand juries 
 and legislatures joined in resolutions and protests. North- 
 ern congressmen, in some instances, were burned in effigy 
 by their irate constituents. Others had to explain or 
 defend their votes. 
 
 The effects of the battle may be summarized about as 
 follows: 1. The South gained Missouri, but Maine was 
 admitted, thus preserving the balance of power in the. 
 Senate. 2. The South lost all territory north of the 
 southern boundary line of Missouri, thus apparently 
 
 1 Aside from the congressional debates, one of the best summaries 
 of the arguments presented is found in Von Hoist, vol. i. pp. 358-370. 
 Schurz' Clay, vol. i. pp. 192-200, gives an interesting interpretation of 
 the event. McMaster, vol. iv. pp. 570-000, shows the manifestations 
 of popular sentiment over the affair. 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. 211 
 
 cramping herself beyond recovery. 3. The compromise, 
 in effect, decided that congress could prohibit slavery in 
 territories, thus establishing the principle of the future 
 Free Soil platform. 4. The South learned that the weak 
 point in the North's armor was the fear of a dissolution of 
 the Union. 5. Threats of disunion carried ominous mean- 
 ing because both sections began to be conscious of the deep 
 differences separating them. Patriotic men like Jefferson 
 and Clay were profoundly alarmed over the situation ; but 
 after the end came, public interest and excitement quickly 
 disappeared. There was yet no consciousness of an irre- 
 pressible conflict. 6. The progress of pro-slavery senti- 
 ment in the South since 1787 is seen in the fact that no 
 anti-slavery advocate appeared among her congressmen, 
 while Virginia delegates in the constitutional convention 
 and others were not friends to slavery. 
 
 Slavery Nullifies the Tariff. — The significance of the 
 contest between the nation and South Carolina is found in 
 the above heading. With reference to its causes and 
 motives, nullification was primarily an economic and social 
 event; secondarily, a political one. The people generally 
 looked upon it as merely a factional opposition to escape 
 the payment of the tariff. Some believed the tariff only 
 an excuse, and that the assertion and execution of the 
 doctrine of nullification was the real motive of the leaders. 
 A small number have looked upon it as a struggle between 
 leaders of factions in the Democratic party. These are 
 superficial interpretations of the events and circumstances 
 making up the situation. 
 
212 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 The disappearance from the South of opposition to 
 slavery and the rise of a strong pro-slavery sentiment 
 were due to the vast development of the cotton industry 
 during the first quarter of this century. English invention 
 had aided in creating a demand for cotton; Whitney's gin 
 enabled the South to meet that demand. These new con- 
 ditions gave slavery a fresh lease of life by making it 
 profitable. It must be noted that the growth was mainly 
 along old lines, — merely an expansion of southern agricul- 
 ture. In this period no new industries were born in the 
 South, and she failed to diversify and render American 
 industry independent of European competition. The in- 
 ability of slavery to profit by the tariff was not apparent 
 to southern leaders in 1816, for Calhoun, among others, 
 was then a warm advocate of it. The experiment with 
 protection from 1816 to 1828 revealed to leading thinkers 
 of the South the startling fact that slavery was not only 
 unable to take advantage of the tariff, but was, as they 
 thought, greatly injured by it. Very few men from the 
 cotton states voted for protection in 1824 and 1828 ; but 
 in spite of this opposition, the tariff gradually rose till the 
 climax was reached in 1828. 
 
 The cry arose, How can the South protect her industrial 
 system? This question ought to be translated to read: 
 How can slavery be extricated from the position in which 
 it has placed itself ? In searching for a shield for slavery 
 and its interests, it was found in the old dogma of state 
 sovereignty, which had done service in former days for 
 both Eepublicans and Federalists. The theory of the 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. 213 
 
 Kentucky and Virginia resolutions was now to receive a 
 new interpretation. Calhoun elaborated this doctrine for 
 his people by his famous " South Carolina Exposition " in 
 1828. He pointed out a supposed permanent dissimilarity 
 between the " staple states " and the remainder of the 
 nation. This rests, he held, on differences in soil, climate, 
 habits, and peculiar labor. 1 The remedy against legisla- 
 tion injurious to these interests is a veto of it by the state. 
 The next step in the process was the Webster-Hayne debate 
 in 1830. Hayne promulgated in congress the doctrine of 
 state sovereignty, with its accompanying compact theory 
 of the national Constitution, and nullification as a rightful 
 and peaceable remedy. Hayne spoke for the past, for 
 slavery was of the past. Webster's argument embodied 
 all the mighty evolution of national life, both actual and 
 potential. He spoke for the future, for nationality was 
 of the future. To casual observers this seemed a repetition 
 of the old struggle between nationality and state sov- 
 ereignty, but was fundamentally a hand-to-hand combat 
 between nationality and slavery. The next move was to 
 commit Jackson to the new movement by surrounding him 
 with a nullification atmosphere at the Jefferson banquet; 
 but his volunteer toast, "The federal Union, it must be 
 
 1 This statement was generally accepted then, and is of ten believed 
 true now ; but it is easy to see that slavery alone put the South in a 
 position where it could not profit by the national policy of protection. 
 Soil, climate, and natural products alone would not have created 
 dissimilar and conflicting interests. The proof of this is found in the 
 development of diversified industries in the South to-day. 
 
214 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 preserved/' was the end of their hopes. Disappointed in 
 Jackson, Calhoun issued "An Appeal to the People of South 
 Carolina/' in July, 1831, in which he restated, in stronger 
 terms and with more elaboration than in the " Exposition," 
 the doctrines of nullification. In and out of congress it was 
 felt that a crisis could be avoided only by a reduction of 
 the tariff. This was done in 1832, but the principle of 
 protection was preserved. Once more the great leader 
 seized his pen, and emphasized the right of the state to 
 nullify an act of congress deemed injurious to its interests. 
 The legislature called a state convention, and in Novem- 
 ber of 1832 the famous ordinance was passed nullifying 
 the tariffs of 1828 and 1832. Provisions were made for 
 executing the decree by force, if necessary. Jackson 
 promptly issued his great proclamation demolishing the 
 doctrine of nullification, and declaring his resolution to 
 enforce the laws of the nation. Clay's compromise tariff 
 probably prevented a collision between the state and 
 national forces. The great bulk of the nation, irrespec- 
 tive of party, applauded the president. State legislatures 
 promptly condemned the conduct of South Carolina. Nulli- 
 fication as a peaceful remedy was discredited ; it could be 
 applied only at the point of the bayonet. Nationality was 
 strengthened in Jackson's party, especially in the North 
 and West. In the midst of the noise and excitement, few 
 persons saw slavery masquerading in the disguise of state 
 sovereignty. Fewer still saw that the compromise did not 
 go to the root of the matter, and that the real cause of the 
 trouble was still operative. 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. 215 
 
 Meaning of the Movement for Texas. — This is the 
 old question in a new form : How can slavery escape its 
 own ills ? There are two reasons why it must have Texas. 
 First, the wear and tear of the system in the old states 
 was so enormous that new lands must be had to enable it 
 to prosper. Second, the South needed more votes in the 
 Senate, especially since the anti-slavery movement was 
 growing. The method was simple and the steps few. 
 Slaveholders emigrated to Texas for one or both of these 
 reasons. Mexico abolished slavery. The American slave- 
 holders in Texas refused to submit, raised the standard of 
 revolt, issued a declaration of independence, and defeated 
 the Mexicans by the aid of citizens of the United States, 
 who forwarded both munitions and men. Mexico refused 
 to ratify Texan independence which Sam Houston wrung 
 from Santa Anna at San Jacinto in 1835. A government 
 was organized and application made for admission to the 
 United States. Jackson and the South favored the appli- 
 cation, but feared northern sentiment. Petitions from the 
 North, poured in on congress against annexation. The 
 South tried to make it a national question by arguing 
 for an extension of the national domain; calling for its 
 " reannexation," asserting it was once a part of the Louis- 
 iana purchase and needlessly given up ; appealing to preju- 
 dice against England, which was represented as intriguing 
 with the new republic. 
 
 In spite of all these reasons, opposition at the North 
 steadily grew, and forced the postponement of annexation 
 during the administration of Van Buren and the greater 
 
216 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 part of Tyler's. When annexation did come in 1845, the 
 two sections were gradually becoming conscious of a grow- 
 ing contrariety of interests. From this time on, if not 
 from an earlier date, every question of importance was 
 viewed by the American people in its relation to slavery. 
 The process of sectionalization has begun in earnest. 
 
 The Growth of Sectionalization, 1835-1860. 
 
 The Process already Begun. — The beginnings of new 
 movements frequently find their opportunity at the point 
 of triumph of older movements. In the decade from 1830 
 to 1840, democracy and nationality triumphed together. 
 While these two forces were reveling in their mutual vic- 
 tory, sectionalization was already raising its head. 
 
 We have already discovered that the active and aggres- 
 sive cause of this movement was an inherent weakness in 
 slavery itself ; that an attempt to overcome this led to the 
 political and economical conflicts over the admission of 
 Missouri, the nullification of the tariff, and the annexation 
 of Texas ; and that slavery sought out state sovereignty as 
 its shield of defence. This forced the nation and the sec- 
 tion into conflict. 
 
 The above contests gave opportunity to the opponents of 
 slavery on moral and religious grounds. This old enemy 
 slavery affected to despise, but it was the most dangerous of 
 all, because not influenced by political considerations, and 
 was likely to be most persistent and radical. The proof 
 that both sections were becoming conscious of increasing 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. 217 
 
 differences of interests and ideas is found in the following 
 points : 
 
 1. It is revealed in speeches of leading men. John 
 Quincy Adams on annexation : " Your trial is approaching. 
 The spirit of freedom and the spirit of slavery are drawing 
 together for a deadly conflict of arms. . . . Young men of 
 Boston, burnish up your armor and prepare for the con- 
 flict." Jackson pronounced this " a direct appeal to arms " 
 to oppose the annexation of Texas. Several, in speaking 
 on the subject, said : "To increase the slaveholding power 
 is to subvert the Constitution : to give a fearful prepon- 
 derance which may, and probably will, be speedily followed 
 by demands to which the democratic free-labor states can- 
 not yield, and the denial of which will be made the 
 ground of secession, nullification, and disunion." The 
 South Carolinian in 1844 said : " This question absorbs all 
 others. . . . Whigs and Democrats drop all their old party 
 differences and unite on it like brothers. . . . This is a 
 question not of party, but of country, and to the South one 
 of absolute self-preservation. . . . The only hope of the 
 South is in herself." Similar sentiments are found in a 
 few other papers. A call for a convention of the friends 
 of annexation was issued by these papers. Their motto 
 was : " Texas with, or Texas without, the Union." The 
 idea of a convention of slave states was born, but did not 
 materialize. 
 
 2. The movement toward sectionalization is seen again 
 in the rapid rise at the North of anti-slavery sentiment, 
 which, in its aggressive beginning, ran parallel to the 
 
218 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 attempt of the South, to beat down the tariff, and maintain 
 its supremacy in the Senate by seizing and annexing Texas. 
 Lundy, with his Genius of Universal Emancipation, and 
 Garrison, with his Liberator, had prepared the way for the 
 organization of the enemies of slavery into the American 
 Anti-Slavery Society (1833). From now on, this organiza- 
 tion, with an increasing number of state societies, demanded 
 the abolition of slavery. To this end it tried to educate 
 public sentiment in many ways, but most effectively by 
 pouring petitions into congress against the slave-trade, 
 slavery in the District of Columbia, and the annexation of 
 Texas. The success of annexation led to a rapid decline of 
 the anti-slavery opposition based on political consideration, 
 but it left in the North a very great increase in the num- 
 ber of determined abolitionists. 
 
 3. A third evidence of the progress of this anti-national 
 process is found in the congressional battle over the right 
 of petition. From Washington's administration, the slave- 
 holders showed much sensitiveness over petitions relating 
 to slavery. Now they gave an enormous impulse to the 
 anti-slavery cause by refusing any sort of hearing to such 
 appeals. This made anti-slavery men into abolitionists, 
 thoughtful men into enemies of slavery, and indifferent 
 men into thoughtful ones. The increase of anti-slavery 
 petitions led to the passage of the gag resolutions as a 
 means of suppressing them ; but the rising tide of opposition, 
 led by John Quincy Adams, finally beat down this barrier 
 in 1844. Not only did the North hate slavery more for 
 its willingness to override the most sacred constitutional 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. 219 
 
 rights, but also because it exhibited almost unbearable in- 
 tolerance toward the old hero who waged the battle against 
 its aggression. 
 
 4. In 1840 a new party — the Liberty — was born, and 
 cast nearly seven thousand votes for abolition. In 1844 
 its vote ran up to over sixty thousand, being joined this 
 year by several thousand anti-slavery Whigs. This vote 
 defeated Henry Clay for the presidency. The feeling 
 which led several thousand Whigs in New York to ignore 
 party ties and vote against the idol of the party is most 
 significant indeed. 
 
 5. In no sphere of activity was the tendency toward 
 denationalization stronger than in the church. One cause 
 of the dissensions among the Presbyterians in 1838 was 
 the growing divergence of opinion on slavery. A battle 
 over slavery was fought in the Methodist Church, resulting 
 in its dismemberment by the secession of the southern 
 conferences in 1844. Men, both North and South, saw 
 that it portended the dissolution of the Union. In this 
 same period the Baptist Church was also rent by the 
 slavery question. Thus were the interests and feelings of 
 the two sections moving away from each other, and making 
 it more impossible each year for the people to act as a 
 nation on questions immediately, or even remotely, con- 
 nected with slavery. The wedge of separation, driven by 
 the blows of slavery, had entered the Union. 
 
 Motive and Results of the Mexican War. — Slavery 
 had annexed Texas, but was not satisfied ; its ambition 
 had grown with its opportunity, and was not to stop short 
 
220 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 of the Pacific Ocean as its western limit. Two things 
 opened the way : several million dollars of fraudulent 
 claims against Mexico. Slavery saw in these an opportu- 
 nity for possessions far more extensive than Texas. Why 
 negotiate for peace when war promised unlimited expan- 
 sion of slavery to the westward ? The diplomatic corre- 
 spondence and the conduct of the governmental agents of 
 the United States show slavery's determination to have 
 California by peace or war. The order which sent Ameri- 
 can troops into the disputed territory furnishes additional 
 proof of this, and every victory of the American arms, from 
 Palo Alto to Scott's triumphal entry into the Mexican 
 capital, meant, in the minds of the promoters of the war, 
 more slave territory. 
 
 The masses of the people probably did not understand 
 all the relations involved in the war ; they supported it 
 mainly from patriotic or military ardor, little conscious 
 that their greatest industrial and social enemy was throw- 
 ing dust while it sought an impregnable" position in the 
 nation. However, the more thoughtful did see the trend 
 of things, if not at the opening of the war, during its 
 progress. The country was warned by abolitionists ; and 
 when the president asked, in 1846, for two millions to aid 
 in making peace, eyes were opened, and both Whigs and 
 Democrats at the North supported the Wilmot Proviso, 
 which proposed to apply to the possible territory the 
 clause which excluded slavery from the Northwest Terri- 
 tory. Almost without regard to party this measure was 
 supported or opposed, and marks an important step in 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. 221 
 
 denationalization. While Calhoun had opposed the war 
 as dangerous to slavery in the end, now he fought the 
 proviso with all the logic of his powerful mind. He 
 developed before the Senate the doctrine that congress 
 could make no law impairing the right of a citizen to carry 
 his property into the territories. This was a new and 
 aggressive position, and, if supported by the South, would 
 produce a solid North. The Wilmot Proviso was defeated, 
 however, by a small majority, on account of votes given by 
 those who feared a dissolution of the Union, and those who 
 feared no territory at all would be obtained. 
 
 The slaveholders began to say that no friend of the 
 Wilmot Proviso could ever be president, while even the 
 northern Democrats, particularly in New York, under the 
 name of Barnburners, began to break away from their 
 southern brethren. This deflection was made formidable 
 in 1848, when nearly all anti-slavery factions united on 
 Martin Van Buren under the name of Free Soil party. 
 They asserted it to be the power and duty of congress to 
 protect the territories from slavery. This was embodied 
 in their platform — the principle which was to produce a 
 completer sectionalization of parties than anything yet 
 seen. Calhoun had denied congressional intervention in 
 the territories, the Free Soil party had demanded it. On 
 the part of the North, this is a reassertion of the doctrine 
 of the Ordinance of 1787 touching slavery, the sentiment 
 contained in legislative instructions against the admission 
 of Missouri as a slave state, and the principle of the 
 Wilmot Proviso. It is significant that both of the old 
 
222 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 parties refused to commit themselves on this point. The 
 Democrats nominated a northern man, General Cass, and 
 the Whigs a southern man and slaveholder, General Tay- 
 lor ; and both ignored slavery as far as possible. This 
 only proves that each section feared the defection of the 
 other. In spite of this care, Democratic states, like South 
 Carolina, threw their votes for the slaveholding "Whig 
 rather than for the non-slaveholding Democrat ; Whig 
 Ohio gave over sixteen thousand majority for the Demo- 
 cratic non-slaveholder, besides over thirty-five thousand 
 votes to the Free Soil party; while in Michigan, Taylor's 
 vote was less than Clay's in 1844, although the Democratic 
 gain in four years was less than three thousand. The 
 Free Soil vote in the same time had gained nearly three 
 hundred per cent. Calhoun was right in opposing the 
 Mexican war, and had his opposition included the move- 
 ment for Texas, he might have prevented the rising hos- 
 tility of the North. 
 
 How the Discovery of Gold in California Aided in 
 Sectionalizing the Nation. — The treaty with Mexico was 
 hardly made before gold was discovered in California. 
 As the news spread over the nation large numbers started 
 for the new land. They forsook all occupations and went 
 by all routes : over the mountains, across the Isthmus, 
 and around the Cape. In 1849 this hardy population 
 organized for statehood. A free-state constitution was 
 adopted by the convention without a dissenting vote on 
 the prohibition of slavery, and it was ratified by a vast 
 majority of the people. The people of the territory had 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. 223 
 
 put the substance of the Wilmot Proviso in their constitu- 
 tion. Thus, by action of the settlers themselves, slavery 
 was deprived of the richest fruit of the war. Why did 
 freedom win in the territory acquired for aid by its rival ? 
 Slavery, we have seen, was immobile; it had a scanty 
 white population, and was tied, as it were, to the soil. 
 It had no emigrants to spare, and if it had, they must have 
 carried slaves as well as themselves. Therefore California 
 was lost by slavery itself. The same old cause forced and 
 lost the battle as in the days of the constitutional conven- 
 tion, the struggle for Missouri, and in the fight over the 
 tariff and nullification. This experience ought to have 
 convinced Calhoun that congressional non-intervention 
 would not save slavery in the territories. 
 
 The slaveholders were furious over the prospect of not 
 only losing the Mexican cessions for slavery, but of its 
 being added to freedom's growing power. Great southern 
 Whigs like Stephens and Toombs began now to cooperate 
 with slaveholding Democrats in resisting this result. 
 Eight southern Whigs deserted the caucus of their party 
 because it refused to resolve against legislation on the 
 subject of slavery. The Free Soilers refused also to 
 support the Whig nominee for Speaker. During the three 
 weeks' contest over the Speakership, it was no unusual 
 thing for southern congressmen to declare that the adop- 
 tion of the Wilmot Proviso, or the abolition of slavery in 
 the District, would be a sufficient cause of disunion. The 
 fear of this caused the North to weaken, and a slaveholder 
 was elected Speaker by a few votes. 
 
224 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 The Compromise of 1850. — This event, as an effect, 
 embodies the results flowing from the annexation of Texas 
 and the Mexican war. As a phase of public sentiment it 
 is the first conscious crisis in the process of sectionalization. 
 How the consciousness of this crisis arose and expressed 
 itself furnishes the first half of the content of this impor- 
 tant event. Had not the conviction that the Union was 
 in danger been deeply grounded, no such compromise 
 would have been possible. It is not necessary here to 
 detail the provisions of the compromise, or explain how 
 the bill as such did not pass, while its leading provisions 
 became law. 
 
 The struggle in congress was unusually significant. 
 The champions of the old order of things were met by 
 leaders of a new regime. Clay and Webster stood for the 
 Union. This was certainly Clay's dominant motive, and 
 the spirit and zeal of his appeals prove the depth of his 
 conviction that the Union was in danger from both north- 
 ern and southern radicals. Webster was also powerfully 
 impelled by the same noble desire in his famous " seventh 
 of March speech." Whether his severer strictures upon 
 anti-slavery agitators than upon pro-slavery radicals were 
 due to his desire to be president rather than to strengthen 
 the Union is a disputed question. To these men and to 
 most of their followers, the Union had been almost every- 
 , thing, and its destruction seemed to threaten chaos. The 
 speeches of these two men attracted widespread attention, 
 and called hundreds to Washington to hear them. The 
 significance of Calhoun's speech was in the emphasis 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. 225 
 
 placed upon equal political power between the two sections 
 as the condition upon which the South could remain in the 
 Union. This was a condition impossible of fulfillment. 
 First, because the North would not agree to it. Second, 
 because, even if such an agreement was reached, it could 
 not be maintained for the reason that it proposed to make 
 a minority equal to a majority. Slavery made the South 
 a minority section ; in respect to population, industry, 
 education, and all that constitutes progressive civilization, 
 slavery forced the South into a position of increasing 
 inferiority. Every decade would have revealed the grow- 
 ing injustice of such a plan of peace. 
 
 In these debates appeared the champions of a new 
 cause. Here men like Seward and Chase, having broken 
 from the traditions of the old parties on slavery, spoke for 
 freedom and the future. Here it was that the former 
 announced the " higher law," which constituted his most 
 significant utterance. He held that compromises would 
 avail nothing, and that slavery should be dealt with for 
 the highest good of the people. Seward is the representa- 
 tive of an increasing number of northern Whigs; hence 
 the alarm of the South at the doctrines announced in his 
 speech. This alarm was deepened by the way Webster 
 was berated in New England for his part in the great 
 debate. 
 
 The passage of the leading measures of the compromise 
 seemed to allay agitation for a time. " Union " meetings 
 were held in various parts of the nation, at which both 
 Whigs and Democrats appeared to promote fraternal rela- 
 
226 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 tions between the sections. The rising sentiment in the 
 South in favor of secession subsided somewhat. A con- 
 vention of states was held in Nashville in June, 1850, 
 but few representatives were present and little unanimity 
 found. The most significant thing was the fact the con- 
 vention was held. It met again in November and asserted 
 the right of secession, but this represented only radical 
 southern opinion, and met no general response. 
 
 Both of the old parties tried hard to support the com- 
 promise as a " finality." Resolutions in caucus and before 
 congress served rather to divide the Whig party. In 
 state conventions the compromise was generally supported, 
 and in both the great national conventions of 1852 it 
 received renewed pledges of fidelity. But it was felt that 
 the Whigs were less in earnest than the Democrats ; many 
 southern Whigs, therefore, supported their old opponents. 
 The Free Soil vote of 1852 was greatly reduced as com- 
 pared with 1848, but was more than double that of 1844. 
 
 The Kansas-Nebraska Bill The overwhelming success 
 
 of the Democrats still added to the delusion that the great 
 compromise was a finality; but the South could not forget 
 its loss of California nor the North forgive the fugitive- 
 slave law. The execution of this law maddened the 
 abolitionists, and led states to pass laws which greatly 
 limited its efficiency. This conduct was indefensible in a 
 legal sense, and was practical nullification. Only moral 
 ground — the " higher law " — could be urged in its de- 
 fence. The compromise of 1850 applied the principle of 
 popular sovereignty to the territories of New Mexico and 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. 227 
 
 Utah. This was the doctrine of congressional non-inter- 
 vention, leaving, as it did, the question of slavery to be 
 determined by the settlers of the territories. 
 
 Early in 1854 Senator Douglas introduced a bill embody- 
 ing this idea for the organization of the territory now 
 included within Kansas and Nebraska. Not much opposi- 
 tion to the application of non-intervention in 1850 was 
 made by either section, but now it raised a storm in the 
 North which raged till swallowed up by war. The present 
 application was to the territory obtained from Louisiana 
 and devoted to freedom by the Missouri Compromise, which 
 had now stood unassailed for more than a generation. 
 While slavery had not asked this favor, its congressmen, 
 Whigs as well as Democrats, supported the bill, while half 
 the northern Democrats in the House joined the majority 
 of northern Whigs in opposition. The bilPs majority was 
 only thirteen, — a most significant vote, considering the 
 great majority held by the administration. 
 
 The dissolution of parties outside of congress went on 
 more rapidly than in congress. In the extreme slave 
 states the Whig party rapidly disappeared, while in the 
 North anti-slavery Whigs and Democrats coalesced in 
 opposition to the agressions of slavery. It seemed to the 
 North that slavery, having failed to get possession of 
 California, was making a flank movement to possess all 
 remaining territory. To the South it appeared entirely 
 consistent to apply the principle of non-intervention to all 
 territories alike. The process of sectionalizing politics 
 was powerfully intensified by the effort of the two sections 
 
228 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTOKY. 
 
 to get possession of Kansas. Both saw that possession of 
 Kansas was a question of numbers, but they did not at 
 first see that the North alone could win ; it had the white 
 population to spare. The South was cursed by a sparse 
 population, and only the slaveholders with their slaves 
 could make Kansas a slave state. The Emigrant Aid 
 Society was an impossible organization for the South. 
 Thus handicapped by the system she would save, her 
 leaders were compelled to resort to force and fraud in 
 setting up a government. The free-state settlers retaliated 
 and civil war broke out. For several years both sections 
 were profoundly agitated by the conflict. 
 
 One of the immediate results of the new agitation was 
 the formation of the Republican party. It adopted the 
 principles and absorbed the membership of the Free Soil 
 party ; but the largest contingent was furnished by the 
 northern Whigs whose party was practically disbanded. 
 The large accessions from the old parties added that 
 respectability which comes from numbers and experienced 
 leadership. The masses of the voters made the new party 
 more popular in its tendency than had been the Whigs. 
 The leaders were mainly old Whigs and nationalized 
 Democrats, whose views of the Constitution were after the 
 school of Hamilton rather than that of Jefferson. The 
 new party cast more than a million three hundred thou- 
 sand votes two years later (1856), after the repeal of the 
 Missouri Compromise. It would probably have won had 
 the Know Nothing party been out of the way with its 
 remnant of timid Whigs. The fact of striking significance 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. 229 
 
 in the vote is that less than twelve hundred were cast in 
 the slave states for Fremont, and these only in the border 
 states. Were there only twelve hundred non-slaveholding 
 whites in the South who recognized slavery as their great- 
 est foe ? Again, the Democratic party lost all the north- 
 ern states except New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and 
 Illinois, and its total majority in these four states was 
 several thousand less than the total vote of the American 
 party. When this party disappears, will not its vote leave 
 the Democratic party sectionalized as far as majorities are 
 concerned ? 
 
 The Dred Scott Decision. — This rising tide of anti- 
 slavery sentiment was threatening to overflow all bounds. 
 All departments of the government, except the judiciary, 
 had been called in and had failed to find the remedy. 
 Would not the people's profound regard for the purity 
 and dignity of the national judiciary lead them to obey its 
 behests on the slavery question ? Would it not be risking 
 too much to drag this noble tribunal into the mad swirl of 
 sectional politics ? In 1857 the Supreme Court handed 
 down a decision to the effect that slavery could not be 
 excluded from the territories. The significance of this 
 decision lies in several points: 1. The audacity of the 
 venture. 2. The apparent purpose of the slave power to 
 fasten slavery on Kansas by this means. 3. Its complete 
 nullification of the doctrine of popular sovereignty. 4. The 
 denial of the Free Soil principles of the Eepublican party, 
 thus asserting it to be hostile to the Constitution. 5. Its 
 utter denial of the right of slaves to be considered even as 
 
230 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 citizens in the meaning of the Constitution, and the impli- 
 cation " that they had no tights which the white man was 
 bound to respect." 6. On account of the inflamed state 
 of the public mind, little respect was paid to the decision, 
 and the fight in Kansas went rapidly forward. 
 
 The Lincoln-Douglas Debate. — In the course of events, 
 both parties in Kansas framed constitutions, set up gov- 
 ernments, and applied for admission. The administration 
 favored the pro-slavery constitution which had been carried 
 by fraud and violence. It was such a travesty on popular 
 sovereignty that public sentiment forced many Democrats 
 in congress, among them Douglas, to oppose the admission 
 of Kansas with a fraudulent slave constitution. This was 
 the beginning of a breach in the northern Democracy. 
 
 In 1858 occurred the Lincoln-Douglas debate, an event 
 carrying far-reaching consequences. The term of Senator 
 Douglas of Illinois was about to expire. He was the idol 
 of the northern Democrats, and was admired by many 
 opponents for his manly stand against forcing a pro-slavery 
 constitution upon Kansas. The Republicans of Illinois 
 nominated Abraham Lincoln as their candidate for the 
 senatorship. Before the nominating convention, Lincoln 
 made his famous house-divided-against-itself speech. 
 Douglas immediately attacked this speech with great spirit. 
 Lincoln challenged him to public debate before the people 
 of Illinois. Seven joint debates were arranged. It was a 
 battle royal, and attracted general attention throughout the 
 United States. Only one question was discussed — slavery. 
 On the first day Douglas set a trap to prove Lincoln an 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. 231 
 
 abolitionist ; it consisted of a set of questions so worded 
 that each practically answered itself. Lincoln broke the 
 force of the questions by his skillful answers, and in turn 
 propounded a set of questions which contained two pitfalls, 
 into one of which Douglas must fall or refuse to answer 
 the questions ; in case he refused, he would really fall into 
 both. The pivotal question of the set was : " Can the 
 people of a United States territory, in any lawful way, 
 against the wish of any citizen of the United States, ex- 
 clude slavery from its limits prior to the formation of 
 a state constitution?" "It matters not what way the 
 Supreme Court may hereafter decide as to the abstract 
 question whether slavery may or may not go into a terri- 
 tory under the Constitution ; the people have the lawful 
 means to introduce it or exclude it as they please." This 
 answer made Douglas senator again, but lost him the presi- 
 dency, as such doctrine was now wormwood and gall to the 
 South ; from now on the differences between the northern 
 and southern Democracy was irreconcilable. Sectionaliza- 
 tion of political feeling in the South now rapidly hastened 
 to completion. 
 
 Other Symptoms of the Triumph of Sectionalization. — 
 From the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill the gulf 
 rapidly widened. The following hasten and at the same 
 time signify this fact : 1. One or more filibustering expe- 
 ditions between 1850 and 1860 were organized to obtain 
 more slave soil. Expeditions against the following points 
 were either attempted or planned : Cuba, Mexico, and Cen- 
 tral America. These expeditions were encouraged by the 
 
232 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 Ostend " manifesto/' which recommended either the pur- 
 chase or the conquest of Cuba. Coming as it did from 
 the deliberations of the American ministers to Spain, 
 France, and England, it had great weight with the South. 
 2. Another symptom was the growing conviction that the 
 conflict between the North and the South was an irrepres- 
 sible one. This idea was formulated by Lincoln in his 
 famous Springfield speech, June, 1858, and by Seward in 
 his celebrated Rochester speech in October of the same 
 year. 1 The universal attention given these speeches 
 proves that they accurately diagnosed the situation. 3. 
 The most startling of the current symptoms was the John 
 Brown raid. He startled the southern people. They fully 
 believed that the majority of the North sympathized with 
 or aided the expedition. Nothing proves so completely 
 the total misunderstanding between the two sections. 4. 
 Among the many signs of the rapid sectionalization of 
 interests and sentiments may be counted the frequent con- 
 
 1 Lincoln's statement : " f A house divided against itself cannot stand. ' 
 I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and 
 half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved, I do not expect 
 the house to fall, but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will 
 become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery- 
 will arrest the further spread of it and place it where the public mind 
 shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, 
 or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful 
 in all the states, old as well as new, North as well as South." 
 
 Seward's statement : " They who think that it is accidental, un- 
 necessary, the work of interested or fanatical agitators, and therefore 
 ephemeral, mistake the case altogether. It is an irrepressible conflict 
 between opposing and enduring forces, and it means that the United 
 States must and will, sooner or later, become either entirely a slave~ 
 holding nation or entirely a free-labor nation. " 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. 233 
 
 ventions in the South for the discussion of its peculiar 
 interests. Such meetings were held at Knoxville, Mont- 
 gomery, Vicksburg, and in other places. The reopening of 
 the foreign slave-trade was fully discussed and carried in 
 the affirmative. The more visionary papers of the South 
 saw in this, not only the recovery of the states lost, but the 
 universal sway of slavery in the nation. 
 
 The Meaning of the Charleston Convention. — In 1860 
 the Democrats met in Charleston, S. C, to nominate a can- 
 didate for the presidency. Before the meeting convened 
 it was becoming evident that the northern delegates were 
 determined to stand by Douglas, while the southern dele- 
 gates were just as determined to repudiate him. This 
 situation was largely the result of the Lincoln debate. Not 
 only the man but his principles had become distasteful and 
 dangerous to slavery. Slavery had hailed non-intervention 
 and popular sovereignty with every manifestation of ap- 
 proval. But the Kansas-Nebraska struggle and Douglas' 
 answers to Lincoln's questions had taught that these 
 principles in practice gave slavery no hope, and were as 
 dangerous as congressional intervention or prohibition. 
 Douglas and his platform were of no more service to slavery 
 than were Lincoln and his Free Soil platform. This was 
 true. But the true reason is found, not in Douglas, but in 
 the defects of slavery itself. 
 
 The southern delegates demanded that the convention 
 declare, among other things, that neither congress nor the 
 territorial legislature has the right to abolish slavery in the 
 territories or impair the right of property in slaves, and 
 
234 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 that it is the duty of the federal government to protect 
 the rights of person and property wherever its jurisdiction 
 extends. This was a blow aimed at Douglas and his 
 northern supporters. The latter knew their constituents 
 would resent it and disrupt the party. Holding a major- 
 ity, the Douglas delegates rejected the southern demands; 
 the latter withdrew and organized a rival convention, 
 which subsequently nominated Breckinridge for president, 
 thus practically sectionalizing the great Democratic party. 
 
 Douglas' supporters, deeply resenting this disunion, 
 called a new convention and nominated their favorite. 
 The Republicans named Lincoln; the Constitutional Union 
 party, Bell. The result of the canvass was the defeat of 
 Douglas and the election of Lincoln. The popular vote 
 shows how completely the Union was divided. Out of 
 nearly two million votes, the Republicans received a few 
 more than twenty-five thousand from the border slave 
 states. Douglas, likewise, out of nearly a million three 
 hundred thousand, received about one hundred sixty thou- 
 sand votes from the slave states. The North cast less 
 than one hundred thousand for Breckenridge and about 
 eighty thousand for Bell, most of whose vote was southern. 
 There were thus practically two northern and two southern 
 parties. 
 
 One consequence of the conduct of the Charleston con- 
 vention and of the result of the campaign remains to be 
 considered. The slaughter of Douglas in the house of 
 his friends, and at the hands of those he had so long and 
 so faithfully served, was looked upon by his friends as a 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. 235 
 
 piece of deepest perfidy. With a courage born of despair, 
 Douglas 'fought out the campaign till the " October states " 
 showed the certainty of Lincoln's election. He cancelled 
 his dates in the North and turned southward. On the 
 stump, in private correspondence, and at every opportunity 
 he declared for the Union and against secession. On his 
 return to congress, while southern states were seceding, 
 southern congressmen hurling defiance at the Union in 
 parting speeches, and threats of Lincoln's assassination 
 were heard in Washington, Douglas stood boldly for the 
 Union, and answered seceding congressmen in language 
 they could not misunderstand. At Lincoln's inauguration 
 Douglas stood near and commended his fearless though 
 gentle words. At the inauguration ball he escorted Mrs. 
 Lincoln in the presence of the capital's elite, which was 
 then largely southern in its sympathies. When Lincoln's 
 call to arms went forth, there accompanied it the announce- 
 ment of Douglas' enthusiastic support. This was a sum- 
 mons to patriotic duty of the million northern voters 
 who had just followed him to political defeat. Their time 
 had come. On April 25, 1861, occurred a remarkable 
 scene in the capital of Illinois. The members of a Repub- 
 lican legislature, once his unrelenting enemies, were now, 
 in the home of Abraham Lincoln, giving Stephen A. 
 Douglas a most enthusiastic ovation, and were hanging on 
 his words as if he were a political prophet after their own 
 heart. In a little more than a week the country was 
 startled by the news of his death. But along with this 
 went the description of the deathbed scene, in which the 
 
236 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 i 
 
 dying patriot appealed to his sons to be true to the Con- 
 stitution and the Union. This was regarded as another 
 summons to his patriotic followers to respond to their 
 country's call. How nobly the War-Democrats kept this 
 last appeal history gladly tells. No doubt these last 
 events of his life were the noblest of his career and were 
 inspired by his love of the Union, although it must be 
 admitted that the memory of his treatment at the hands 
 of slavery did not cause him to withhold his influence or 
 check his enthusiasm for the defence of the nation. Thus 
 again did slavery raise up the agents of its own death. 
 
 The Significance of Secession. — The secession conven- 
 tions of the rebelling states were the sign, looking back- 
 ward, that sectionalization was practically complete ; that 
 the interests and feelings of the North endangered the 
 existence of slavery. Looking forward, it signified the 
 determination of slavery to save itself outside of the 
 Union. Secession was not primarily for the purpose of 
 vindicating the principle of state sovereignty. It is true 
 that the act of secession sought its defence in this doc- 
 trine ; the southern leaders often put it forward with much 
 show of candor, and no doubt many honest people thought 
 the primary purpose of the movement was the defence of 
 the old Jeffersonian doctrine. This ostensible motive was 
 kept to the front by the method of secession. Frequently 
 the governor summoned, by an alarming proclamation, the 
 legislature in extra session. Usually this body, after 
 providing means for the defence of the state, called a con- 
 vention of the people which should pass upon the subject 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. 237 
 
 of secession. Thus secession was generally decreed by a 
 body of people supposed to possess the attribute of 
 sovereignty. The reason for the prominence given to 
 state sovereignty is partly explained by the fact that in 
 some states many non-slaveholders were unwilling to pro- 
 mote the interests of slavery and yet were devoted to state 
 sovereignty. Looking forward to the meaning of secession 
 as seen in its consequences, we readily see that it involves 
 war. While the South was contemplating separation, its 
 leaders were preparing for war, and yet they tried to con- 
 vince themselves and their people that war would not 
 follow. It was inevitable. The national life developed 
 between 1789 and 1860 had become so complex and its 
 organs so interdepending that it touched almost every 
 interest of life. Although sectionalization was so com- 
 plete, yet when this sought to express itself in actual 
 overt acts, it was found impossible to do so without a 
 collision of interests. 
 
 How hard the North tried to save the Union without a 
 collision of arms may be partly seen in the compromises 
 offered to slavery. The work of both houses of congress 
 during the winter of 1860 and 1861 was mainly consumed 
 in seeing how far the North would make concession. The 
 proof that the Eepublicans were willing to make con- 
 cessions in conflict with their platform is found in the 
 provisions of the Crittenden Compromise, the resolutions 
 of the Committee of Thirty-three, in the work of the Peace 
 convention, and the opening, by legislation, of the territories 
 without restrictions upon slavery. It was all in vain. 
 
238 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 The Destruction of Slavery and the Triumph of 
 
 the Nation, 1860-1870. 
 
 Significance of Slavery's Appeal to Arms. — How 
 
 different was the progress of the struggle between nation- 
 ality and democracy from the progress of the conflict 
 between nationality and slavery! In the former case, the 
 hostile forces conquered each other and entered into 
 friendly and helpful cooperation, while in the latter they 
 have grown into irreconcilable and deadly enemies. 
 
 We now enter upon the final phase of that conflict. 
 Our purpose, as before, is to indicate its general and 
 organizing features, and not to write its detailed history. 
 
 Was the South conscious of resting her hope of success 
 on the ability of slavery to cope successfully with free- 
 dom? In several respects, if she had not been blioded by 
 pride and passion, the inequality of such a struggle was 
 not difficult to see. In the first place, war is, to some 
 extent, a question of numbers. Where people are of the 
 same race and nation, numbers are a decisive factor. 
 Slavery kept population sparse by establishing economical, 
 social, and educational conditions unfavorable to dense 
 white population. We saw the stream of European emi- 
 gration deflected from the South and turned into the 
 North. Besides, there was a constant movement of non- 
 slaveholders to the free states. In 1850 three times as 
 many native southerners were living in the North as 
 native northerners living in the South. Again, it was im- 
 possible to carry all the slave states into secession. The 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. 239 
 
 moral and political support of Delaware, West Virginia, 
 Kentucky, and Missouri was thrown against slavery. Be- 
 sides, there were thousands of hardy men in the mountains 
 of the seceding states whose sympathy and interest were 
 with the Union. To them slavery had been an unmiti- 
 gated curse. While thousands of the non-slaveholders 
 went into the Confederate army, yet they readily joined in 
 the cry against the slaveholders' war as being a " rich 
 man's war and a poor man's fight." In all these respects 
 slavery had handicapped itself. 
 
 In respect to other resources, the institution had stood 
 in its own way. Slavery could not equip an army. It 
 had very few manufactories for either clothes or guns, or 
 any of the enginery of war. In a financial way, it was far 
 behind the North ; slavery was agricultural, and had rather 
 scorned those great commercial pursuits that furnish 
 ready means of expenditure. The banking capital of the 
 North in 1860 was several times that of the seceding 
 states. Slavery placed its main reliance for credit upon 
 cotton. This did promise much, but freedom had wrought 
 out many products to overbalance this raw product, whose 
 value was lessened by the fact that it had to leave the 
 South before the South could profit by it. An efficient 
 blockade reduced its value greatly. 
 
 The South had one real advantage over the North. The 
 slave remained at home and cared for the soldier's family 
 and produced the food supply of the army. This enabled 
 the Confederacy to utilize its white population to an extent 
 impossible at the North. This fact may have furnished, 
 
240 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 later in the war, an argument for emancipation. At what- 
 ever point yon may touch the conditions of successful war, 
 it will be found that slavery had been preparing for its 
 defeat from Jamestown to Appomattox. 
 
 The Revival of Nationality in the North. — The sig- 
 nal for this was the attack upon Fort Sumter. * A wave of 
 loyalty swept over the North that broke down almost all 
 differences, and there was but one resolution: a determina- 
 tion to save the Union. The causes of this reaction were 
 several : 1. The North had gone down on its knees to 
 slavery in the winter and spring of 1861, and offered terms 
 that were humiliating. These were haughtily rejected. 2. 
 The new administration was far from entering on any 
 aggressive measures, although military preparation was 
 well under way in the South on March 4, 1861. 3. Seizure 
 of national property by seceding states, and the attack 
 upon Fort Sumter, thus making the South the aggressor. 
 4. The general conviction that many southern leaders were 
 plotting against the nation while holding high office in its 
 service. 
 
 The new enthusiasm for the nation was destined to rise 
 and fall. The administration aimed to husband this 
 revival. The greatest obstacle was slavery. The major- 
 ity of northern people were not abolitionists, and had no 
 desire to interfere with the institution in the states. For 
 this reason the war had for its supreme aim the preserva- 
 tion of the Union. This is the one principle by which 
 Lincoln's conduct of the great struggle may be interpreted 
 at every point. To this end armies were organized and 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. 241 
 
 campaigns planned. It was the supreme consideration in 
 his appointments, political and military. This was the 
 meaning of his border-state policy, and even when eman- 
 cipation came, this was the test he applied to it. His 
 wisdom in this showed how thoroughly the president 
 understood his constituency. 
 
 How the Slavery Question Forced its Way to the Front. 
 — Whatever might be the opinion or prejudice of the North 
 regarding slavery, one thing was certain : slavery was 
 bound to compel consideration. The president might 
 ignore it in his planning, and congress might resolve 
 against interfering with it; yet it was the cause of the war, 
 and no great war continues long without some discussion 
 of its cause, especially if the cause continues to be a 
 determining factor. 
 
 As soon as the Union armies moved into slave territory, 
 the negroes were inclined to seek freedom within their 
 lines. What shall be done with them ? Shall they be 
 freed, returned to slavery, confiscated as property, or let 
 alone? General Butler declared them "contraband of 
 war," other generals returned them to their masters, some, 
 like Fremont, liberated them, while a few put them to 
 service in the army. The president tried to modify the 
 conduct of these generals so as to preserve harmony in 
 the war party. 
 
 Congress early passed a resolution that the only purpose 
 of the government in the war was to suppress rebellion 
 and preserve the Union. But events were moving rapidly. 
 The South used the slave in the army. He did the menial 
 
242 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 service of the camp, worked on fortifications, and in other 
 respects enabled the southern soldier always to be at the 
 front, thus giving additional strength to the rebel army. 
 It was impossible for congress and the administration to 
 ignore this. In August, 1861, such negroes were declared 
 free. There was some opposition from Democrats and 
 border-state men. They feared the example and wanted 
 slavery left entirely alone. This bill simply applied 
 Butler's idea of regarding slaves used in war as contra- 
 band. 
 
 As the burden of war constantly grew heavier, congress 
 and the majority at the North were less kindly disposed 
 toward slavery. In April, 1862, congress emancipated the 
 slaves in the District of Columbia and compensated their 
 masters. The border-state men again opposed, but were 
 defeated. The anti-slavery spirit gradually rose till in 
 August, 1862, congress confiscated the property of the men 
 in rebellion. This was practically emancipation for the 
 slaves of all rebels. While it was thus limited, yet the 
 opposition was vehement both in and out of congress, but 
 could not defeat the measure. The need of some such law 
 to weaken the power of the South was demonstrated by a 
 double sortie from the South ; Lee entered Maryland and 
 Bragg, Kentucky, in the late summer and fall of 1862. 
 
 While congress was thus striking somewhat boldly at 
 the real cause and continuance of the struggle, President 
 Lincoln was making more cautious movements in the same 
 direction. Early in 1862 he suggested that the govern- 
 ment ought to cooperate, by compensation, with any state 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. 243 
 
 which might adopt gradual emancipation. He saw great 
 gain to the Union in this, for if once adopted by any state 
 the hope of that state's joining the Confederacy was gone 
 forever, and in so far the South would be discouraged. 
 The matter of gradual and compensated emancipation was 
 put before the border-state congressmen, but they gave it 
 no support, and he was left, in the progress of war, to face 
 the problem of general and uncompensated emancipation. 
 The disasters of war were rapidly educating the North 
 up to the point of destroying slavery altogether as the 
 best means of ending the war. Lincoln's great wisdom 
 was in discovering just that point in the march of public 
 sentiment when emancipation would find a good measure 
 of justification. Nothing could move the president from 
 this determination to wait until the country was ready for 
 the great decree. It is an interesting commentary on the 
 progress of history that the people had to be driven by the 
 sore distresses of war before the slave could have his 
 freedom and rebellion be punished. Mourning had to come 
 into thousands of northern homes before the people were 
 willing to save the Union by removing the only cause of 
 its disruption. Millions of money and thousands of men 
 had been sacrificed, and hardly a beginning had been 
 made toward suppressing the rebellion. McClellan's great 
 campaign against Richmond had failed; Lee had out- 
 maneuvered him and invaded the frightened North. The 
 second battle of Bull Run was fought and lost, Harper's 
 Ferry had surrendered, and the great battle of Antietam had 
 taken place. In the West matters had gone more favor- 
 
244 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 ably for the Union. Grant was entering on his successful 
 career and had captured Henry and Donelson, fought the 
 bloody battle of Shiloh, captured Corinth, and was coop- 
 erating with the victor of New Orleans for the complete 
 opening of the Mississippi. But during the summer and 
 early September, General Bragg, at the head of an enthu- 
 siastic army, marched out of Tennessee into Kentucky 
 and made for Louisville. Buell won the race by a few 
 hours only. The exitement in the North was intense, and 
 the masses began to appreciate more keenly the stupen- 
 dous problem of saving the Union. 
 
 During these first two years of war, the attitude of 
 England and France had been anything but friendly. 
 They began by prematurely acknowledging the insurgents 
 as belligerents. This gave the South a great moral advan- 
 tage, but impressed the North as an action only too gladly 
 taken. This impression was greatly strengthened by the 
 warlike attitude of Great Britain over the Trent affair. 
 The South very early found encouragement in London in 
 a financial way, and felt that England and France could 
 hardly afford to have their supply of American cotton cut 
 off by war. This seemed to justify the South in expecting 
 some kind of intervention from them. There had been 
 much talk of friendly intervention since the opening of 
 the war, and after McClellan's failure in the Peninsular 
 campaign, this project revived; France, England, and Russia 
 held an unsuccessful correspondence on the subject. The 
 danger of foreign intervention was a constant menace to 
 Union success. 
 
NAT LOCALITY AND SLAVERY. 245 
 
 Perhaps the greatest cause of northern irritation toward 
 England, and one which most harmed and helped the parties 
 to the war, was the construction of Confederate privateers 
 in the shipyards of Great Britain. Early in 1862, our 
 minister to England protested against the construction of 
 the vessel afterward known as the Florida; and later, 
 against the building of the famous Alabama. The con- 
 duct of the British government was entirely unsatisfac- 
 tory, and did much to increase the danger of foreign 
 war. 
 
 Besides all these dangers and burdens, the loyal people 
 were bearing, at the time of the proclamation, an immense 
 financial burden that promised to grow constantly heavier. 
 When the great proclamation was issued, the internal 
 revenue tax was a million a day. When we add to this 
 the vast sum raised by tariff duties, the expenditures of 
 states^ the contributions of charitable organizations and 
 of private persons, some idea can be formed of the enor- 
 mous drain upon material resources of the country. All 
 these burdens, and even more, were necessary to bring the 
 American people to consent to the destruction of slavery. 
 
 The Significance of the Proclamation of Emancipa- 
 tion. ■ — This is partly revealed in the preceding discus- 
 sions. Its significance, as discovered in succeeding events, 
 is now to be noted. Eirst, the act completed the growing 
 separation between the administration and certain ele- 
 ments in the North who came to be known as peace men, 
 as they were inclined to sympathize with the Confederacy. 
 From now on, they began to organize to secure peace with- 
 
246 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 out regard to the means. Later, they developed a secret 
 organization known in many states as the Sons of Liberty, 
 or Knights of the Golden Circle. Many conservative 
 people, while not sympathizing with these malcontents, 
 yet drew away from the administration and supported the 
 Democratic party in the fall elections of 1862. While the 
 result, so nearly disastrous to the administration, 1 was not 
 entirely due to the proclamation, yet it furnished the 
 " stock " arguments of the campaign. An abolition war, 
 negro equality, negro emigration to the North with its 
 disastrous effects on the white laborer, a government for 
 white men, were some of the catch phrases that made 
 opposition votes rapidly in the border free states. There 
 was just enough in the war policy to give the color of 
 truth to such statements. 
 
 A second significance is found in the fact that, while 
 the proclamation divided the North, it unified the South. 
 All classes of southern whites despised the free negro. 
 The poor whites felt now that the negro would likely rise 
 in the scale of importance if the North should win. If a 
 great English statesman could look upon it as an act of 
 vengeance, we can hardly expect the slaveholders to char- 
 acterize the act with gentler terms. One great cause of 
 exasperation was the plan to employ the slaves as soldiers. 
 This ultimately turned out successful, as many thousand 
 colored troops enlisted. This furnished the Confederate 
 
 1 New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois went Demo- 
 cratic, leaving only a majority of about twenty in the House. New 
 England and the border slave state saved the Union. 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. 247 
 
 authorities with another powerful argument in appealing 
 to their people for a vigorous support of the war. 
 
 The proclamation, in a third instance, almost completely 
 removed the danger of foreign intervention, especially by 
 England. The government of England did not dare face 
 its own people, to say nothing of the rest of the world, 
 with a proposition to favor a confederacy of slaveholders 
 gainst a nation devoted to the destruction of slavery. 
 
 In addition, the emancipation of the negro introduced 
 new problems, political and social. When the war is over, 
 what then ? The burden of war was so great that men 
 hardly halted to consider the grave questions which were 
 thus forced upon the nation. What shall be the status 
 of the freedmen ? From many points of view it was a 
 fearful question, considering their condition. 
 
 Finally, the emancipation of the slave was the beginning 
 of the end of the struggle between slavery and nationality. 
 This removes the last important obstacle to our becoming 
 a great nation such as the fathers of the republic little 
 imagined. When the Union is restored, only the effects 
 of slavery will stand in the way of a new national spirit. 
 
 Leading Military Events Making Good the Proclama- 
 tion of Emancipation and the Restoration of the Nation. 
 — The one common content of the events of the war is 
 their bearing on the restoration of the Union. Up to the 
 proclamation, all events tended more or less unconsciously 
 to force slavery into the contest, while many persons strove 
 consciously to eliminate it. After the proclamation all 
 events carry, as a part of their content, the fortunes of 
 
248 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 both slavery and the Union. The following events may- 
 be regarded as directly affecting this double result, without 
 an understanding of which the result is not intelligible. 
 
 1. The campaign for the capture of Vicksburg and the 
 opening of the Mississippi. This occupied a portion of 
 1862 and the first half of 1863. The result was to finally 
 sever Arkansas and Texas from direct relations with the 
 rest of the Confederacy, in addition to the loss of a large 
 army and vast military stores. The Mississippi states 
 now had direct communication with the Atlantic seaboard. 
 
 2. While Grant was capturing Vicksburg, Buell and 
 Bosecrans were driving Bragg out of Kentucky back into 
 the mountains of Tennessee. The leading battles were 
 Perryville and Stone Biver. Thus driven out of these 
 two great states after so bold a sortie to the North, the 
 moral effect was depressing to the South. 
 
 3. Just as Grant was receiving the surrender of Vicks- 
 burg, and Eosecrans was pushing Bragg out of Tennessee, 
 General Meade had checked the tide of Confederate inva- 
 sion at Gettysburg. This was the first great victory in 
 the East since Antietam, while the Confederates could 
 point to Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. The victory 
 at Gettysburg, while incomplete and short of what the 
 North had a right to expect, had more than the saving of 
 Washington as its result. It demonstrated to the South 
 that the insurgents would receive no more substantial aid 
 from the border states. Not even the provocation of 
 conscription could compel its opponents to join the Con- 
 federates. Of course, Lee's army was greatly dispirited, 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. 249 
 
 and desertions rapidly increased. For the time being, 
 these important successes discouraged the efforts of the 
 peace men, both North and South, who tried to secure a 
 cessation of hostilities on terms less than the restoration 
 of the Union. 
 
 4. The tide of Union victory was somewhat checked in 
 September, 1863, when Bragg so nearly annihilated Kose- 
 crans at Chickamauga, and cooped up the remnant of his 
 army in Chattanooga. The siege was raised by aid from 
 the victors at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. The Confederate 
 army was defeated in those brilliant and almost unmatched 
 charges up Lookout Mountain and on Missionary Ridge. 
 
 5. When General Grant went East, he put General 
 Sherman in command of the great army in the West. 
 By July, 1864, Johnston, after a series of most brilliant 
 retreats, was driven into Atlanta. Hood succeeded him, 
 and had his army defeated. Hood now turned North, and 
 was so disastrously defeated in December by Thomas at 
 Franklin that his army never rallied from the blow. In 
 the meantime, Sherman was making his famous march to 
 the sea. Little opposed, Savannah, Charleston, and other 
 places fell. On his return, Johnston, who had been re- 
 stored to command, was driven back into North Carolina. 
 This march kept reinforcements from Lee at Richmond, 
 and served to demonstrate the inevitable collapse of the 
 Confederacy. 
 
 6. Early in 1864, General Grant was placed in com- 
 mand of all the armies of the Union. With Meade and the 
 army of the Potomac, he began a campaign which ended 
 
250 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 only at Appomattox, April, 1865. In this series of battles, 
 Lee's army simply battered itself to pieces. The resources 
 of the Confederate states were exhausted. At no point in 
 the war was the nakedness of slavery so apparent as in 
 these last days. The vast strength of the Union forces, 
 their splendid equipment in arms, food, and clothing, were 
 arguments in favor of freedom and against slavery more 
 powerful than were ever set forth by the logic of states- 
 men. With an energy hardly paralleled in history, the 
 South had concentrated her forces, political and military, 
 and kept up the movement till her very life was burned 
 out. Her institutions literally collapsed, and there was 
 left only the disorganized heap of ruins. 
 
 Other Events from the Proclamation to the Close of the 
 War. — War can never be an end in itself. Hence it 
 must have a non-military motive ; it must aim at political 
 or other ends. In a great struggle like the Civil War, the 
 relation between military and political events is always 
 interactive. The following are some of the events which 
 influenced the war itself, and were in turn modified 
 by it. 
 
 1. It has already been shown how the financial burdens 
 of the war argued for the abolition of slavery. The finan- 
 cial measures taken after this great event aided in promot- 
 ing military success, and thus in saving the Union. The 
 establishment of the national banking system was the 
 most important of the later financial measures. It was 
 strongly opposed, but passed early in the spring of 1863, 
 and gave the United States a helpful piece of financial 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. '251 
 
 machinery; and more than all, it gave greater confidence 
 in the financial strength of the country. 
 
 2. The critical political event of this part of the strug- 
 gle was the presidential election of 1864. The Confeder- 
 acy had much faith in the defeat of Lincoln. This hope 
 rested on several things. One was the probable split in 
 the Eepublican party. There was much dissatisfaction 
 with the administration's conduct of the war. The aboli- 
 tionists had not forgiven Lincoln for delaying emancipation 
 till the country was ready for the measure. The radical 
 leaders were impatient with his conservatism on all ques- 
 tions, and especially now over questions preliminary to 
 reconstruction. Some of the more hot-headed issued a 
 manifesto setting forth their opposition. Many disap- 
 pointed office-seekers joined the opposition which tended 
 to concentrate upon Secretary Chase as the rival candidate 
 for the presidency. Ohio early declared for Lincoln, and 
 Chase withdrew from the field. The malcontents met in 
 convention at Cleveland, May, 1864, and nominated General 
 Fremont. The attitude of the Democrats and the hope- 
 lessness of success led him to withdraw. In proportion 
 as the politicians opposed Lincoln, it seemed that the 
 people rallied to his support. From all parts of the Union 
 and from all kinds of bodies came an emphatic demand for 
 his renomination, which took place at Baltimore and on a 
 platform that strongly endorsed his administration, declared 
 against making compromises with the rebellion, and in 
 favor of an amendment abolishing slavery. The Peace 
 Democrats captured their party in the Chicago convention 
 
252 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 and declared the war a failure, called for a convention of 
 states to settle the difficulties between the Confederacy 
 and the Union, and denounced the president for trampling 
 on the Constitution and the rights of the people. This 
 was another way of saying that the Union ought to be 
 saved with slavery. General McClellan was nominated, 
 but in his letter of acceptance he took issue with some 
 parts of the platform. The rapid and successful progress 
 of war made a peace platform and a war candidate seem 
 ridiculously absurd. The election gave Lincoln an over- 
 whelming popular and electoral vote ; all the states voting, 
 except three, went for Lincoln, — a sufficiently emphatic 
 endorsement of his war on slavery. 
 
 Digging Slavery up by the Roots. — The proposition 
 of the Confederacy in the last months of the war to 
 employ negroes as soldiers, not only revealed the utter 
 exhaustion of the South, but demonstrated their loss of 
 faith in the possibility of saving the institution. It is 
 interesting and significant that Lee offered to make no 
 stipulations with Grant about slavery when arranging 
 terms at Appomattox. Although slavery was passing 
 away by the logic of events, yet its very roots must be 
 pulled up. This was accomplished by amending the Con- 
 stitution. 
 
 President Lincoln had, by an exercise of "the war 
 power," struck a deadly blow at slavery ; but it was felt 
 that the result, to be a finality, must be stamped upon the 
 Constitution itself. In February, 1865, congress sent the 
 thirteenth amendment to the people. It was ratified and 
 
NATIONALITY AND SLAVERY. 253 
 
 officially proclaimed by December 18. This amendment 
 put the principle of the anti-slavery clause of the Ordi- 
 nance of 1787 and the Wilmot Proviso into the Constitu- 
 tion. While most of the states lately in rebellion accepted 
 this amendment, they proceeded to legislate in a way 
 which showed a determination to hold the negroes in a 
 sort of slavery. The worst of these laws pertained to 
 employment, labor contracts, and vagrancy. 
 
 When the congress, elected in 1864, met in 1865, the 
 Republican majority was furious over the so-called at- 
 tempts to nullify the thirteenth amendment, and the 
 apparent encouragement given to those states by President 
 Johnson. The disastrous effects of southern legislation 
 upon the negro were partly overcome by the friendly 
 interposition of the Freedmen's Bureau. In June of 
 1866 congress passed the fourteenth amendment, which 
 embodied the ideas of the " civil rights " bill and provided 
 penalties for limiting the suffrage of any class of citizens. 
 This was not ratified till July, 1868. In the next year 
 the final amendment growing out of the Civil War passed 
 congress and went to the states for their approval. This 
 was proclaimed in March, 1870, and denied to the United 
 States and to the states the power to refuse suffrage to 
 any one "on account of race, color, or previous condition 
 of servitude." Thus was completed, by constitutional 
 amendment, the process by which the nation annihilated 
 its greatest enemy, and the United States now began that 
 career of unrivaled national prosperity on which it might 
 have entered in 1840 had not slavery blocked the way. 
 
254 ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 While many of the results of the struggle of nationality 
 and slavery were negative, yet, in general, a new national 
 consciousness was born in this life-and-death struggle 
 which prepared the nation to enter with greater vigor 
 upon its new career. What this new movement is, and 
 what its dominant and controlling principle is, does not 
 belong to the present discussion to determine, but that 
 there is a new organizing principle controlling its events, 
 all the preceding discussions lead us to believe ; also that 
 its discovery and application in the teaching of the new 
 period after 1870 is of vital importance, pedagogical as 
 well as historical. 
 
THE ELEMENTARY PHASES OF HISTOKY 
 
 TEACHING. 
 
 — ° ■» g 3 6 3 e 
 
 THE SENSE PHASE OF HISTORY. 
 
 The General Problem. 
 
 That which is logically first in a subject comes last into 
 the possession of the unfolding mind, and that which 
 comes chronologically first to the growing mental powers 
 stands logically last in the subject. But every fact that 
 occupies the line between these two mental points looks 
 back to that which precedes as means, and forward to that 
 which follows as end. This is the justification for the ar- 
 rangement of the subject-matter in this book. No one can 
 intelligently determine what the method of history work 
 should be without first discovering the logical relations in 
 the subject-matter itself. The subject in its scientific form 
 stands as the goal toward which every lesson must point, 
 no matter where the material is found along the line 
 between these two points. It is in this spirit that the 
 lower phases of history study are to be considered. Not 
 that the lower forms have no value in themselves, but 
 
256 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 rather that their relations to the higher phases of the 
 study constitute their greatest pedagogical significance. 
 
 If we approach the question from the side of mind, we 
 find the law of dependence holding between its forms of 
 activity. The senses furnish material for the imagination, 
 and both supply matter for the understanding, and the 
 latter for the reason. The phase of history already dis- 
 cussed pertains to those attributes, relations, and laws fur- 
 nished mainly by the understanding and reason. From 
 the point of view of mind, therefore, we have yet to dis- 
 cuss the material of history in its relation to these lower 
 forms of mental life, — the senses and the imagination. 
 This is really another double problem. Here we are 
 again to show how the material of history is transformed 
 by, and also transforms, the lower mental activities. 
 
 Nature and Purpose of Sense History. — Does history 
 have a Sense phase ? Let us see. History deals with the 
 thought and feeling of a .people. A people's thought and 
 feeling are expressed in outward acts. These acts are 
 sensuous and physical ; they can be seen, heard, and felt. 
 But it may be said that while the events of history were 
 objects of observation to persons who lived when and 
 where they occurred, they can never be present to the 
 senses again. It is true that, for the most part, the field 
 of historical happenings is beyond the reach of the senses. 
 It is just as true, also, that the child, up to the time he 
 reaches school, has been observing and participating in the 
 acts of men. While the acts observed in this period of 
 the child's life are not the individual acts he will study 
 
THE SENSE PHASE OF HISTORY. 257 
 
 in after days, yet so great is the transforming power of 
 the imagination that it can take the deeds of man pre- 
 sented to the senses and bnild from them pictures of the 
 deeds of all people of all times. Now, the events that 
 thus occur in the presence of the pupil's senses belong in 
 the domain of all the institutions of human society. He 
 is born into and remains a member of the family. He 
 early learns the connection between occupations and his 
 supply of food and clothing. At six he enters school, and, 
 it is quite likely, before this he has been to Sunday school 
 and church. If he is an average boy, long ere this he has 
 taken an active personal interest in a political campaign. 
 There thus seems to be a pretty wide field here which the 
 pupil has already entered. Why should not this work, 
 spontaneously begun, be taken up and carried further by 
 the teacher? It would seem that a fuller and a more 
 systematic study could be commenced when the pupil first 
 enters school. It might be well to let this spontaneous 
 process go on for two or three years longer, till the class 
 has covered all Sense work in geography except that which 
 relates to man. Such an arrangement would permit the 
 teacher to combine this last part of Sense geography with 
 Sense history. The two subjects, in material and point of 
 view, are practically the same. 
 
 In order that we may accomplish definite results, the end 
 toward which we work must be clearly in mind. A defin- 
 ite purpose will, also, direct in the selection of the material 
 for work. The answer may be given in terms of discipline 
 and of knowledge. 1. On the side of discipline : (a) the 
 
258 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 primary object is to confer the habit of judging men's 
 thoughts and feelings through their acts ; (b) a secondary 
 end is to give the mind the habit of careful observation — 
 the habit of finding truth in objects present to the senses. 
 2. On the side of knowledge : (a) the primary object is to 
 give the mind material out of which the imagination may 
 construct pictures of historical events ; (b) the secondary 
 purpose, or rather result, is to give a more thorough knowl- 
 edge of local institutions. The primary end on the side of 
 discipline is peculiar to history. ISTo other subject, in all 
 its phases, puts the mind to the test of finding man's head 
 and heart in his acts. This is a power conferred by the 
 study of history at every point. It should not be lost sight 
 of in the Sense phase ; for it seems very appropriate that 
 when the mind begins to struggle with this problem, its 
 material should be in its very presence and be sensuous 
 and simple. A result, rather than a purpose, will be to 
 give the mind the habit of studying objects that appeal to 
 the sense. This is not peculiar to this kind of history 
 work, but is rather a mental result to which many subjects 
 contribute. The primary end aimed at on the side of 
 knowledge in this phase of the work grows out of the rela- 
 tion between the Sense and the Representative phases of 
 mental life. Because of the close dependence between 
 them, it is right to say that Sense history has its highest 
 significance in the fact that it gives the mind the material 
 that makes possible the next stage of the work, — a stage 
 in which the mind is busy in constructing pictures of the 
 past. Most of the events of history are of this kind, — 
 
THE SENSE PHASE OF HISTORY. 259 
 
 Representative. Their mastery by the higher powers of the 
 mind largely depends on the clearness and fullness with 
 which the imagination can picture them. Now, the skill 
 of the imagination partly depends on the material furnished 
 the mind through the senses. It seems right, therefore, 
 to say that the primary aim here is to prepare for the sec- 
 ond phase of history study. Since the events dealt with 
 in Eepresentative history must reach the mind through the 
 language of books or of teachers, it is right to say that this 
 first phase of work prepares the mind to put meaning into 
 the language, by means of which events are described to 
 the imagination. It is no unusual thing for the pupil not 
 to be able to put content into the words of the history text. 
 He feels that a recitation must be made, and his only re- 
 source is to commit the language of the lesson. In such 
 cases the book fails to arouse the pupil's imagination, be- 
 cause the content of the book is foreign to any of his pre- 
 vious experiences. In other words, the pupil has not been 
 properly prepared for the ideas and vocabulary of the his- 
 tory text. From this point of view, we seem justified in 
 holding that the primary purpose in Sense history is to 
 prepare the mind for the second phase of the study. This 
 makes it clear that a knowledge of local institutions is a 
 result, rather an end, or it may be regarded as a means 
 to the primary end ; this means that local institutions are 
 to be studied only in so far as they prepare material for 
 the imagination. The knowledge of affairs could hardly 
 be the primary aim in this kind of work on account of the 
 degree of mental strength. 
 
260 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 The Material foe, Sense History. 
 
 The matter presented is intended to be merely suggestive 
 — to indicate the lines of work which this phase of history 
 opens up to the teacher. This work presupposes two 
 things : 1. That the pupil has been in school two or three 
 years and has finished the Sense phase of geography, except 
 that part dealing with man and his institutions. 2. That 
 the teacher sees the intimate connection between Sense 
 political geography and Sense history. 
 
 In opening up a new field of study to the immature 
 mind, the point of beginning is a question of some impor- 
 tance. If the subject is a difficult one, the part taken first 
 is determined by the principle that the mind deals most 
 easily with material familiar to it through frequent and 
 intimate experience. With which institution should the 
 child begin his observation? In obedience to the principle 
 stated we must find that institution in which the acts of 
 man fall easiest within the limits of the child's powers, 
 and that one where customs and ideas have entered most 
 fully into his everyday life. The institution that has fur- 
 nished him the widest range of concrete and sensuous ex- 
 perience must furnish the material for the first series of 
 lessons. 
 
 These conditions seem to be most fully met by the 
 family. Into this institution the pupil was born eight or 
 nine years ago. He has differentiated himself from the 
 rest of his young friends by recognizing himself as a mem- 
 ber of a certain family, and has put them into groups on 
 
THE SENSE PHASE OF HISTOKY. 261 
 
 the basis of family connections. His wants and desires have 
 been supplied by the family, and around it and its mem- 
 bers his affections have twined themselves. These facts, 
 and many more akin to them, seem to point to the family 
 as the form of institutional life with which the work may 
 most easily and profitably begin. The question is now 
 what the family furnishes for his observation that will aid 
 in the study of social life of a past age — will aid in pictur- 
 ing their life of customs and deeds, and in making infer- 
 ences from these as to their thought and feeling. The 
 following topics point the way toward the answer : 
 
 1. The relationship between parents and children. The 
 main ideas here are the parents as lawgivers and the chil- 
 dren as obedient subjects. The pupil can see himself under 
 a rule of action common to each member of his related 
 group, and must see some of the results that attend obedi- 
 ence and disobedience. These are ideas that he will meet 
 many times, and in Bible history he will be called on to 
 construct a system of government built out of the family 
 tie. Whenever the family is met, he should picture the 
 home and its relationships. 
 
 2. Eelation of the family to food, clothing, and shelter. 
 This will bring the pupil to study a subject that has touched 
 him very intimately. The common duties that he has to 
 perform, as a member of the family, can be traced so that 
 he will see their relation to his physical wants. The lesson 
 of mutual dependence can also be learned, — how the physi- 
 cal and social good of each is linked to that of the whole. 
 The position of each member of the family as to ownership 
 
262 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 in property, and the law and custom of his community 
 bearing on the distribution of the property among children, 
 furnish interesting and valuable topics. 
 
 3. Eelationship between families. This subject opens 
 the whole field of observable social life. The study of cus- 
 toms — particularly those pastimes and games in which 
 people engage for pleasure — will be an inviting field to 
 the young pupil; and, all unconsciously, he will lay up a 
 vast fund of material out of which he will construct the 
 social life of the past, particularly that part of it pertain- 
 ing to the boys and girls of the olden time. 
 
 Intimately connected with the family is the industrial 
 life of the community. We have seen that the pupil has 
 had a wide range of experience relating to food and cloth- 
 ing, — the most tangible results of industry. He has felt 
 his dependence upon them in the study of the family ; hence 
 it seems very easy to make the transition from the study 
 of social, to the study of industrial, life. This new field 
 opens a wide range of simple observable facts. Here are a 
 few lines that may be worked out : 
 
 1. The kinds of occupations and their relation to one 
 another. The lesson of mutual dependence can be taught 
 here again, but on a much wider scale than it was illus- 
 trated in the family. 
 
 2. Effect of different kinds of occupations on the habits 
 and customs of the people. 
 
 3. The protection of property by law. From the pupil's 
 own observation, a study must be made of the process by 
 which this is done. This would include the arrest and 
 
THE SENSE PHASE OF HISTORY. 263 
 
 temporary imprisonment of the accused, summoning wit- 
 nesses, the trial, and the punishment. In dealing with a 
 concrete case, in which trial and punishment follow as a 
 means to protect property, a good opportunity is offered to 
 judge of the thought and feeling of men as expressed in 
 their acts. What did the owner of the property and his 
 neighbors do when the theft occurred? Why? The an- 
 swer must come in terms of their thoughts and feelings. 
 How does the accused man feel, and what does he think ? 
 How do you know ? Why should he be -tried, and what is 
 the purpose of fining and imprisoning him? The pupil 
 may not be able to penetrate and fully interpret all these 
 acts ; but this is so vital an act of mind in all historical in- 
 vestigation that the pupil cannot begin too soon, and push 
 it as far as his strength will allow. 
 
 The study of the school at first hand, so as to get his- 
 torical material, is more difficult — less concrete — than in 
 the institutions already examined : 1. Something of the 
 intention of his parents in sending him to school may be 
 brought out, — its industrial significance, perhaps ; but cer- 
 tainly nothing of its higher significance can be inferred by 
 him. 2. The idea of the free character of the school must 
 be presented to him, with as much of its significance as he 
 can master. 3. The different grades of schools and their 
 wide distribution will suggest what an ambitious person 
 may do. 4. How the teacher is selected and paid, and the 
 pupil's relation to him in the school. 
 
 The institution we call the church is, in most of its 
 phases, beyond the child's power. But even here some- 
 
264 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 thing may be done by observation and study : 1. The kinds 
 of religious denominations and their feeling toward one an- 
 other. In a general way, the pupil may see that the people 
 separate into sects because of a difference in thoughts. 
 2. The purpose of the church and Sunday school determined 
 from the acts they do. 3. The social customs connected 
 with the church. 
 
 There is another very important and still more fruitful 
 field for Sense work in history, — the political. ' The fol- 
 lowing points may be helpful in suggesting where material 
 in this field may be found : 
 
 1. Every neighborhood furnishes the pupil examples of 
 men set apart by some process to perform the duties of 
 local government. The mode of selection, the purpose, and 
 duties of such officers should be brought under the pupil's 
 observation. 
 
 2. If he lives in town or city, there is still greater op- 
 portunity for Sense study ; the policeman in uniform, the 
 mayor, the assessor, the men who work in the streets, — 
 each of these calls for attention and has its own lesson. 
 
 3. Political events, especially those connected with state 
 and national campaigns, furnish abundant and valuable 
 material for the. end we have in view. Besides, by the con- 
 crete and sensuous character of the events, they have moved 
 his feelings very intensely — much more so than the events 
 in the other phases of life. The boy, and the girl too, for 
 that matter, has not lived very long until his sympathies 
 have been deeply enlisted in a political campaign. The 
 chances are that long before ten years of age he has partici- 
 
THE SENSE PHASE OF HISTORY. 265 
 
 pated in more than one political demonstration. What- 
 ever may be said abont the desirability of a child partici- 
 pating so early in political prejudices, it is certainly true 
 that it gives him an abundant supply of material to aid in 
 putting content into events of a kindred nature which he 
 will soon be dealing with, — events that can only appear to 
 him in the realm of imagination. All the glitter and show, 
 pomp and parade, noise and music of a campaign are not 
 lost on a boy. They have a value for him far beyond the 
 immediate present. Think of the gorgeous picture that 
 flashes before his senses and impresses itself upon his mem- 
 ory : brass bands, large numbers of great decorated wagons 
 drawn by spans of spirited horses, and filled with grace and 
 beauty, great men riding in state, — governors, senators, 
 statesmen, and orators, — uniformed ranks with stately 
 tread, long lines of brilliant torches, the flash and flare of 
 fireworks, the roar of cannon, the billows of human huzzas, 
 triumphal arches, and banners with inscriptions ! 
 
 Two boys — one has never seen this picture or the like, 
 while the other has been a part of it ; which of them can 
 picture most fully and vividly a Eoman triumph, the cele- 
 bration of a king's coronation, the greeting that Columbus 
 received on his first return to Spain, the arrival of the 
 royal governor in Virginia, the processions that paid honor 
 to Washington as he passed through the land, the grand 
 review in Washington at the close of the Civil War ? There 
 can be but one answer. Again, this observation of a politi- 
 cal demonstration on the part of the pupil gives the teacher 
 a rare opportunity to cultivate the historic judgment. 
 
266 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 What were his feelings ? Why did he participate in the 
 parade ? What was the purpose of the other people in tak- 
 ing part, and what was their feeling? Prove the answer. 
 How did the persons who staid at home and refused to 
 join the demonstration feel? Prove it. By questions, 
 the pupil may be led to analyze the outside show and the 
 inner significance of a political demonstration. 
 
 The conclusion seems to be that whether the pupil gets 
 his sensuous experience from study and observation directed 
 by the teacher or gathers it spontaneously from contact 
 with men and events, it will have a very great influence 
 over his after study of history. 
 
THE REPRESENTATIVE PHASE OF HISTORY. 
 
 The General Problem. 
 
 Nature and Immediate Purpose. — Any attempt to draw 
 sharp lines of separation between the phases of history- 
 based on the phases of mental activity will result in harm 
 These phases are not rigidly distinct. They transfuse — 
 each is found in the others and is necessary -to their high- 
 est form. The Representative phase of history looks two 
 ways, — back to Sense material, and forward to Reflective 
 work. We know that one purpose of Sense history is to 
 furnish the memory an abundance of rich material upon 
 which the imagination can draw in the process of creating 
 in pictured form the history of our country. While it is 
 true that in the first phase of the work the mind is mainly 
 absorbed in sensuous events which it mainly uses in the 
 second, yet as the pupils go through life the senses are 
 open and the material is used at every stage. So, too, 
 the judgment, in some of its forms, is present in the first 
 two stages of the work as well as predominant in the third. 
 
 The immediate purpose of the Representative phase of 
 history is to give the mind that peculiar form of activity 
 which its stage of growth calls for. As the mind passes 
 from immaturity to maturity, it enters a phase of activity 
 in which Representation seems to be very active. At this 
 
268 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 period the mind delights in image-making — takes more 
 interest in this form of exercise than in any other, and 
 more interest now than it will at any other time in its 
 development. It ought, therefore, to be given all the 
 opportunity it craves for this form of exercise. In history 
 this may be done by causing the mind to transform into 
 pictures of historical events the material it gathered in 
 Sense history. To cultivate — stimulate and strengthen — 
 the imagination is the immediate end to be held in view in 
 this second stage of the work. 
 
 There is, as there must be in all nature, a beautiful har- 
 mony between this form of mental activity and a peculiar 
 form of historical phenomena. There is not only a phase 
 of mind activity that we may designate as the Representa- 
 tive, but there is a form of historical material that fits into 
 this side of the mind's life and is adapted to stimulate it. 
 We have seen all along the way that history has to deal 
 with two sets of parallel phenomena, an inner and an outer, 
 — ideas and events. The latter is sensuous and external, 
 and can be reproduced in imagination with all the attri- 
 butes that characterized it in its sensuous form — just as 
 it appeared to the eyes and ears of the men who witnessed 
 it. So true is the imagination to the senses, if it has an 
 opportunity, that one may become so absorbed in the pic- 
 ture it paints as to feel for a moment that he stands in the 
 very presence of the scenes recounted — it may be, as a 
 participant in them. When we reflect upon the fact that 
 every great wave of human thought and feeling has 
 expressed itself in external phenomena that may thus be 
 
REPRESENTATIVE PHASE OP HISTORY. 269 
 
 vividly reproduced by the imagination, it becomes evident 
 that this phase of historical knowledge must play an impor- 
 tant part in the study of any part of this subject; and it 
 may well become our immediate purpose on the side of 
 knowledge to give the imagination possession of this form 
 of historical material. 
 
 This phase of the study has been called, not inappro- 
 priately, the Story side of history. The name is significant 
 because it emphasizes that which charms us most in the 
 real story, — the movement of a stream of pictures which 
 the story sets going in our imagination. These charm us 
 by the ease with which they come and go, and by the rich- 
 ness and variety they present. The characters are concrete 
 — they are given a sensuous setting. This is not unlike 
 what happens in the Representative or Story side of his- 
 tory ; the pupil becomes consciously interested in the acts 
 and actors that history reproduces, as it were, before his 
 very eyes. It is this side of the objects presented that 
 interests and absorbs him rather than the possible rela- 
 tions which may be revealed by the judgment under the 
 direction of the teacher. 
 
 The conclusion must not be drawn that imagination is 
 the only form of mental activity in this kind of work. 
 This would be far from the truth. The judgment is 
 always present, even when the imagination is at its best. 
 Neither one excludes the other, but they are mutually 
 helpful. The historical form of the judgment — in which 
 it infers thought and feeling from acts — is really depend- 
 ent upon the imagination for its material. Thought and 
 
270 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 feeling cannot be inferred unless the imagination calls the 
 deeds back to life again. In its turn the work of the judg- 
 ment reacts upon the pictured scene and not only makes it 
 more vivid, but more permanent as well. Let us call up 
 the picture of the battle of Bunker Hill at the close of the 
 second retreat. How different is the scene inside and out- 
 side of the breastworks ! As the imagination pictures the 
 hill-slope strewn with British dead and wounded, and the 
 Americans comparatively unhurt behind their rude fort, 
 the judgment seeks an explanation in the relation which 
 the ' fort bears to the parties in conflict. What is the 
 effect on the picture of the judgment passing from fort to 
 British and from fort to Americans as it searches for the 
 explanation? There can be but one result, — a stronger 
 and more lasting picture of the scene. The parts of the 
 picture are no more the simple, independent parts they 
 were when the imagination first began to light up the scene, 
 but now they are tied together forever by the relation of 
 contrasted results due to the same cause. It seems to me 
 that it will always be an aid to the imagination for the 
 judgment to go rumaging among the parts of its pictures 
 to find relations. 
 
 If the above be true, this question may be raised : Why 
 not make the search for these relations by the judgment 
 the immediate purpose, on the side of knowledge, for which 
 the second phase of history is studied? Three reasons 
 point rather to the immediate purpose as stated above : 
 1. The mind at this stage makes pictures more easily than 
 it searches for relations. 2. The picture work is more 
 
REPRESENTATIVE PHASE OF HISTORY. 271 
 
 interesting and absorbs attention and effort more easily. 
 3. This phase of historical material must come into the 
 mind's possession as the basis for higher work. It seems 
 desirable, therefore, that picture-making should character- 
 ize the work at some time. If it is not done in this period 
 of the child's life, it will stand in his way when the teacher 
 is turning the emphasis of conscious effort toward the reflec- 
 tive side of the work ; it will then mean that the pupil 
 must do the work that could have been better done at an 
 earlier date — that he must now expend a portion of his 
 energy in filling out the picture side of events instead of 
 concentrating all his power on the discovery of relations. 
 Many illustrations of the disadvantage such a pupil must 
 labor under may be given, but the case is so plain that it 
 hardly needs more than a statement to be accepted. 
 
 The Remote Purpose. — The above point brings us face 
 to face with the question of the remote ends to be gained 
 by the Eepresentative phase of history work. Of course, 
 the mind cannot rest with this kind of work and attain 
 either the greatest degree of strength or the highest form 
 of knowledge the subject is capable of yielding. If the 
 pupil is conscious of an end in this work, it is very likely 
 that he thinks only of the immediate end on the side of 
 knowledge. He is not conscious of a remote end. What 
 if the teacher is in the same predicament ? In order that 
 the pupil may do the picture-making side of his work well, 
 the teacher must be living under the inspiration that comes 
 from an end that is outside of and beyond the little piece 
 of work that she may be laboring upon. There is little 
 
272 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 hope for pupil or teacher if the latter does not see in this 
 phase of work the steps on which the pupil is to climb to 
 higher realms. The remote end must always control the 
 immediate, for the latter is means to the former. How 
 shall the means be handled ? How shall the picture-mak- 
 ing phase of work be carried on, — in what spirit, along 
 what lines, and to what extent in any line ? Now these 
 questions cannot be answered unless the teacher sees how 
 this work is to issue in power to gain more and higher 
 knowledge — unless the remote end is constantly before 
 the mind as the guiding light. 
 
 In discussing the remote ends to be reached by this kind 
 of history teaching, it is hardly necessary to distinguish 
 between discipline and knowledge. Either the kind of 
 mental exercise or the form of knowledge to be reached 
 will perhaps serve equally well as remote ends to guide 
 one in leading the pupil so that he gets the best discipline 
 in this phase of the work, and at the same time lays the 
 best foundation for the new work. 1 
 
 Material for Representative History. 
 
 What the pupil is able to do in this kind of work is 
 partly determined by what he has done in the Sense phase, 
 while the way in which the material is to be handled is 
 largely conditioned by the ends to be gained. It will be 
 
 1 It is quite possible that the distinction between teaching for dis- 
 cipline and teaching for knowledge is a mechanical one, and that the 
 teaching for highest discipline is precisely the teaching that gives the 
 highest knowledge. 
 
REPRESENTATIVE PHASE OF HISTORY. 273 
 
 taken for granted, in the following discussion, that the 
 pupil at this age, nine or ten, has had quite an extended 
 observation of local institutional life, — at least, such as 
 was indicated under the preceding phase of history work. 
 The amount and kind of it will point us toward the begin- 
 ning-place in the new field. 
 
 How to find the Starting-point. — In order that we 
 may lead the pupil by easy transitions from the sensible 
 present into the midst of the pictured past, it is necessary 
 to locate the point at which the new phase of work is to 
 open. How far back into the past of our history shall we 
 go, — back a generation or two, back to the colonial days, 
 or back to the European homes of the colonists ? The 
 remote purpose of Representative history probably points 
 to colonial life as the proper beginning-point. This pur- 
 pose requires that the study of Representative material 
 shall prepare for that phase of the work in which the 
 judgment begins to appear as the predominant form of 
 activity. To perform the function of an efficient means, 
 this work must deal very largely with the same set of facts 
 that will be studied again from another point of view. It 
 may be urged that this remote end calls for pictures of the 
 colonists in their European homes. There are two con- 
 siderations against this : European social life is not an end 
 in American history, but is studied for the light it throws 
 on colonial life ; again, European social life contains so 
 many elements not needed to explain colooial life that it 
 presents a picture entirely too complex and too strange for 
 this stage of work and this stage of the pupil's mental life j 
 
274 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 it is too far removed from the types of institutional life 
 which have fallen under his observation. 1 
 
 If colonial life is accepted as the starting-point of the 
 new phase of work, we may now turn back and ask how the 
 transition is to be made easy in passing from the work 
 of sense to this new field of the imagination. Are there 
 means by which the transfer of attention and interest may 
 be easily and effectively made ? Can the mind of the 
 pupil be given a new motive that will carry him over into 
 the new field ? The teacher must be able to answer these 
 questions in the affirmative, for it is of vital consequence 
 to the pupil at least to feel that there is some connection 
 between the facts studied that makes it appropriate to 
 proceed in a given order. Disastrous results come to him 
 from jumping around here and the»e without reason or 
 motive being apparent — disastrous to the pupil's habit of 
 thought and to a true idea of the nature of history. The 
 line of transition, therefore, must connect at one end with 
 the pupil's experience, and at the other with the new field 
 of work. 
 
 The pupil has hardly reached this age without having 
 had his curiosity excited by some hint or story to the 
 effect that the place where he now resides has not always 
 been the abode of his kinsmen or of the people of the 
 same race. He has, no doubt, heard stories and may have 
 
 1 If it is held that the pupil may take only those elements of Euro- 
 pean life bearing on American history, the answer may be made that 
 the work would better begin with these elements in their colonial en- 
 vironment. 
 
REPRESENTATIVE PHASE OF HISTORY. 275 
 
 seen evidences of the existence of the red man in the place 
 where now are farms, villages, or cities. He perhaps 
 knows that the face of the country, in that distant time, 
 was uncultivated and likely covered with dense forests. 
 Then again, he has a general idea that his parents, or 
 more likely his grandparents, came from the eastward, and 
 perhaps that there has been a general movement of the 
 white people from the East toward the West. If this 
 material is not at hand through experience and contact 
 with people and things, then the teacher must furnish it 
 through familiar conversation with them, or lead them to 
 search at home and among friends for such evidence as 
 may be at hand to indicate the presence here of another 
 race and the absence of the white one, and of the proces- 
 sion of the latter from the Atlantic toward the West. 
 These lessons would very appropriately come at the close 
 of the work on the Sense phase. The matter of these les- 
 sons is peculiarly adapted to make an easy transition 
 from Sense to representative work, from the fact that the 
 material itself is partly subject to observation and partly 
 to representation, while in its meaning it points almost 
 entirely to the past. 
 
 This material suggests very naturally that the back- 
 ground of the great complex picture should be an idea 
 of this country before the arrival of the white man as 
 the teacher can give. This should contain a general 
 notion of the country as covered by great forests filled 
 with animal life, such as the first settlers found here, 
 and on which the Indians partly subsisted. The natives 
 
276 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 themselves will form an important part of this back- 
 ground, — their appearance, modes of life, and other ideas 
 and customs. It is not meant to suggest any detailed 
 study of the Indians, as the subject might well tempt 
 one to do with pupils at this age, for they do not form 
 an essential and permanent feature of our historical life. 
 The aim here is to create a background so the pupil can 
 see step by step the progress of the whites to the west- 
 ward, and at the same time will have in mind some condi- 
 tions that will make clear the conflicts between the white 
 and red men, and why the latter were gradually driven 
 westward. 
 
 With this part of the story done, the teacher is con- 
 fronted with another question : Where shall the account 
 of the life of the colonies begin, and how shall the work 
 be distributed ? Let us look at the last question first. 
 The people who came to America were not entirely homo- 
 geneous in institutional life; in fact, we may find four 
 pretty distinct types, — English, Dutch, French, aud 
 Spanish. Somewhere in this phase lessons must be 
 given to the last three types, but not at the beginning, 
 for they are too foreign — too far removed from the 
 child's experience to serve as a beginning-place. Among 
 the thirteen colonies we have four pretty well-marked 
 classes, — the Puritan of New England, the planter and 
 slaveholder of the South, the Pennsylvania Quaker, and 
 the Dutchman of New York. Any picture of colonial life 
 without the shadings and variety of at least these four 
 forms would be very incomplete. In excluding the French 
 
REPRESENTATIVE PHASE OF HISTORY. 277 
 
 and Spanish from the beginnings of this phase of the 
 work, the first question has been narrowed to this : Which 
 phase of colonial life selected offers the best conditions 
 for a beginning-point ? The answer lies, perhaps, between 
 the New England and southern life. Since the Quakers 
 came to America so much later than the others, it would 
 seem awkward to begin with them, and the Dutch are 
 farthest removed. As between the remaining groups the 
 difference in time is so small as to constitute no argument 
 in favor of the southern group, the choice must fall on 
 New England, at least for northern pupils, for the reason 
 that the contrast between the observation and experience 
 of the pupils and the life of New England is not so wide 
 as in the case of the other colonies. 
 
 We now have another question to clear up : Which 
 phase of New England history shall furnish material for 
 the first round of Eepresentative work ? Shall we follow 
 the order of the leading events, beginning with the arrival 
 of the Mayflower, and move on down toward the Revolu- 
 tion, or shall we go to the home life of this simple, earnest 
 folk and get as close as possible to their everyday expe- 
 rience, and then follow out each institution in order of 
 difficulty? The Sense work points to the latter line as 
 most appropriate at this stage of the pupil's knowledge 
 and strength. The emphasis which he placed on the social 
 side of the Sense work gave him material out of which he 
 can more easily construct the same form of life among the 
 peoples of the past. It ought to be added, however, that 
 at a later stage of the Representative phase, the leading 
 
278 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 events of New England's history should be taken up and 
 followed out in order of occurrence, for the immediate 
 purpose of filling the imagination with full, vivid pictures 
 of them, The nature of these events — Indian wars, dis- 
 putes about claims, banishment of Roger Williams, estab- 
 lishment of representative government, New England 
 union, persecution of the Quakers — removed them much 
 farther from the pupil's experience than the simpler facts 
 of family and industrial life. Besides, there is no par- 
 ticular gain to the pupil in following the order of events 
 unless he can catch the meaning of the order. 
 
 Forms in which Representative Material may be 
 
 Presented. 
 
 Here is another question : In what form shall the work 
 be presented to the pupil ? Shall it be given in the ordi- 
 nary narrative-descriptive form, modified to suit his capa- 
 city, or shall this beginning work be woven into the form 
 of a story ? There are really three ways of getting this 
 Representative material before him : 1. The story that 
 centers around an ideal person. 2. The story whose 
 center is a real historical personage. 3. The story that is 
 built about events and institutions as the center. 
 
 The Story of the Ideal Historical Person. — The choice 
 between these is first between the first two and the last. 
 The young are more easily interested in persons than in 
 events and institutional customs. The marshaling of 
 historical facts around an interesting personage — ideal 
 
REPKUSKNTAT1VE PHASE OF HISTORY. 279 
 
 or real — gives them a coloring and depth of interest that 
 can be supplied in no other way. These facts become 
 invested with a portion of the interest and the attributes 
 of life that attach to the person whose career and expe- 
 riences are being followed. But events and persons in 
 general do not find the same response from the primary 
 pupil. They may find some, but these do not, in the 
 nature of things, come so near the child's experience 
 gathered from his environment. So that it would seem 
 to be best, ordinarily, to begin with the story. Perhaps 
 there is a choice between the two classes of stories. Let 
 us see by trying the same test, — the child's experience. 
 Which comes nearer this, the ideal or the real historical 
 person ? Perhaps this depends upon their nature. It is 
 not clear that an ideal historical personage who thinks 
 and acts like mature men and women would have much 
 advantage over the real characters in history. But sup- 
 pose the hero or heroine was a boy or girl whose plane of 
 thought and living was not much beyond that of the pupil. 
 It seems quite clear that such an ideal historical character 
 might be the center of a story that would stand much 
 nearer the pupil than any story the teacher could build 
 around the full-grown man or woman of history. This 
 does not mean that no historical facts beyond the grade of 
 the pupil's observation may be gathered around the his- 
 torical boy or girl. For the opposite can be and has been 
 done in the case of Ten Boys on the Road from Long Ago 
 till Now. The truth is that the real child takes an inter- 
 est in things far beyond his ability to understand their 
 
280 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 connections. By being interested in adult people he be- 
 comes interested in the doings of adult people. For this 
 reason the historical story whose center is an ideal boy 
 or girl may introduce facts and events pertaining to the 
 various customs and institutions of human society, provid- 
 ing these are associated with persons in whom the ideal 
 boy or girl has a natural interest. In the little work 
 alluded to above, we see it illustrated in the case of each 
 of the ten characters. It is plain in the case of the Aryan 
 boy when he participates in the rude worship of his fam- 
 ily or follows the migrations of his kindred down into the 
 plains of Indus. Again, what real child will not sympa- 
 thize with the ideal lad, Ezekiel, when he calls out to his 
 mother from the anguish of his little heart, as he sees 
 his father dragged to jail: "How shall we get father 
 back again? " It even makes a different impression upon 
 the adult mind, because of the personal interest in Ezekiel, 
 than would the account in the ordinary text of the perse- 
 cution of the Puritans in the time of James I. Here are 
 great questions brought down to the child's own level 
 without losing entirely their real historical significance. 
 When Ezekiel's father comes back from the harsh treat- 
 ment of the prison, what need is there to search for other 
 causes of the Puritan migration to New England ? In 
 other words, great facts of history may be made to fasten 
 themselves into the minds and hearts of our pupils, because 
 these facts are seen to have fastened themselves into the 
 hearts and thoughts of boys and girls in whom the pupils 
 have an interest. This is based on a universal law of 
 
REPRESENTATIVE PHASE OF HISTORY. 281 
 
 human life, — that life begets life ; sympathy calls forth 
 sympathy ; conditions and experiences not too foreign 
 calls from the human heart the same thoughts and feel- 
 ings that are experienced by the parties who live under 
 the conditions and undergo the experiences. This prin- 
 ciple is the explanation of much of the success or failure 
 of the history work in primary and secondary schools. 
 
 What is contended for in this phase of Representative 
 history is a presentation that parallels such geographical 
 stories as the Seven Little Siste7 t s, Each and All, and 
 Little Folks of the Other Lands. Some very meritori- 
 ous beginnings have been made in other fields of history, 
 as may be seen with reference to the list of books bearing 
 on this phase of the work ; but very few writers have taken 
 advantage of the rich field of colonial life, for the benefit 
 of American boys and girls. There is hardly lacking a 
 single element to make such a story absorbingly interesting 
 to primary pupils. Such an account would reveal how 
 boys and girls lived in that far-off time : what they ate and 
 by what means it was prepared at its various stages, and 
 from whence it was obtained ; what sort of clothing for the 
 body and the covering for the feet, and the instruments 
 and methods by which each was prepared ; what sort of 
 homes, how built and furnished ; what the sons and daugh- 
 ters of that time did to help on the family life; what their 
 pastimes and pleasures were ; their opportunities for study 
 and the character of the books they read or heard read; 
 how these young friends participated in the affairs of the 
 other institutions or took an interest in those who did ; a 
 
282 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 thousand absorbing features could be discovered in colonial 
 history, by the skillful story-teller, to lend their charms to 
 such a book or to such a story told at first hand to the 
 pupils by the teacher. It must not be inferred that be- 
 cause books dealing with this sort of material are scarce 
 that the work may not go on. In fact, there are hundreds 
 of teachers who can present the material in an oral form 
 so as to seem much more real and excite more interest than 
 if presented in a story read. In the first place, it must lose 
 something in being read — being given second hand. In 
 the second place, there is a naturalness and directness in 
 the oral story that is missing in the read one. Besides, 
 many more teachers can tell a story fairly well than be- 
 lieve they can. The greatest difficulty is overcome when 
 the right sort of material is collected and the nature and 
 purpose of the work is appreciated. 
 
 It has already been stated that American colonial history 
 furnishes some very appropriate material for this work. 
 What more unique and interesting characters could be 
 woven into an historical story than a Puritan boy and girl ? 
 The wealth of incident here would be the only serious 
 drawback. The hard struggle of the first families against 
 climate and hunger ; how a few families formed a town 
 which grew by additions ; how the church and the school 
 occupied much of the children's time ; what their experi- 
 ences were with the Indians; how they felt and acted 
 toward them, and what an Indian war meant j how these 
 Puritan families in the town got their living; what pas- 
 times were regarded as innocent and what as injurious ; 
 
EBPBESENTAT1VB PHASE OP HISTORY. 283 
 
 how the little town dealt with offenders against law and 
 custom ; the high respect and esteem with which all held 
 the minister of the village ; the Puritan boy must go with 
 his father and his neighbors to the fishing-grounds and see 
 how this important supply of food is obtained and witness 
 the entire process by which it is prepared for use and for 
 the market, and then visit with the merchant ships the 
 lands where the fish are exchanged for other products and 
 for ready money. Such a story might very appropriately 
 cover the period from 1630 to 1660 and be succeeded by 
 another covering the Quaker agitation, the trouble with 
 Andros, and the witchcraft delusion, and perhaps some 
 scenes from King William's war. In the first half of the 
 eighteenth century we must have a story that gathers 
 around it the great struggle between the English and the 
 French for possession of the fur-trade and the fishing- 
 ground along the Atlantic. Into this could be woven the 
 growth of smuggling and piracy, and how finally the col- 
 onists carried on smuggling in the face of such laws as the 
 Sugar Act, and how many of them built up vast industries 
 on this illicit trade. 
 
 In deep and striking contrast with the stories of New 
 England life, as seen through youthful eyes, would stand 
 the experience of a planter's son and daughter. What dif- 
 ferences of environment ; life on a plantation instead of in 
 a town; few associates instead of the society of many; 
 private instruction instead of the schools, and then a long 
 journey to college or a trip abroad for the son; the pres- 
 ence of negro slaves ; now the pupil may follow his hero to 
 
284 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 the dock and see the newly arrived slaver and her cargo; 
 he may hear the bargaining between owner and master; 
 and finally may watch the landing of the dusky freight in 
 which his hero is to have a personal interest ; he may visit 
 the quarters and see how they are fed and clothed; follow 
 them in the performance of their duties in the field or 
 around the house ; and thus catch an insight into the spirit 
 with which they perform their allotted task ; he may be 
 permitted to hear the crack of the slave-driver's whip. No 
 doubt the young planter will reveal in his conduct the pride 
 of his family in their ancestors, their broad acres, and the 
 large drove of negroes ; no doubt he will also reveal his 
 feeling of social superiority over the children of the over- 
 seer and the non-slaveholder. What materials for an ab- 
 sorbing story — nothing like it in the rest of America ! 
 
 We must not forget the boy with the broad-brimmed hat 
 and drab clothes who came over with William Penn and 
 witnessed the great treaty. There is still another boy, liv- 
 ing up on the Hudson, whose name is Knickerbocker; he 
 founded the Empire state, and had many interesting expe- 
 riences very different from our other boys. Of course there 
 is no reason why this form of the story should end with 
 the colonial period. Indeed, the periods of history that 
 follow furnish even more abundant material than the colo- 
 nial — especially of military heroes. 
 
 We have outlined, in this brief way, a field of work in 
 colonial history that is practically unoccupied, and which 
 eventually would yield rich results if cultivated by skillful 
 hands. The amount of time required to do this work will 
 
REPRESENTATIVE PHASE OF HISTORY. 285 
 
 depend, in part, upon the age of the pupil and the skill of 
 the teacher. If but one year is spent upon the Sense phase 
 of the work, then two years, at an age, say, from seven to 
 nine, may profitably be given to the story in this form. 
 
 The Story of the Real Historical Person. — While the 
 pupil has been enriching his imagination, for a year or so, 
 by work after the kind indicated above, he has been ex- 
 tending his observation upon men and institutions and has 
 been gathering that strength which inevitably follows an 
 increase in years. He is then stronger from age, from ex- 
 perience, and from the possession of much historical mate- 
 rial. In the order of the difficulty next comes the second 
 form of historical story, the one in which the material 
 is grouped around a real historical figure, — the man of 
 flesh and blood. This is hero study still, but of a little 
 different sort. The hero now is a man, or at least soon 
 grows to be one. The facts and events will, therefore, 
 present life in its sterner aspects. Where shall we find 
 our heroes, and who shall they be ? In this aspect of the 
 work, the teacher will be overwhelmed with the abundance 
 of the material. From Columbus to the Columbian Expo- 
 sition the heroes and heroines are abundant. Here is a 
 partial list which may be suggestive as to what is possible 
 in this field. 
 
 Discoveries and Settlements. 
 
 1. Columbus and the Finding of America. 
 
 2. Americus and the Naming of America. 
 
 3. Cortez, the Conqueror of Mexico. 
 
 4. Champlain, the Father of New France. 
 
286 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 5. La Salle. 
 
 6. Marquette. 
 
 7. Joliet. 
 
 8. Henry Hudson and the Half Moon. 
 
 9. John Cabot, who first saw the Continent. 
 
 10. Sir Francis Drake, who sailed the Spanish Main. 
 
 11. Sir Walter Raleigh, who tried to plant a Colony. 
 
 12. Captain John Smith, the Founder of Jamestown. 
 
 13. Pocahontas, the Indian Queen. 
 
 14. Captain Miles Standish, the Pilgrim Soldier. 
 
 15. Squanto and Samoset, the good Indians. 
 
 16. Winthrop, the long-time Governor of Massachusetts. 
 
 17. Roger Williams, the Founder of Rhode Island and the 
 
 Friend of Massachusetts. 
 
 18. King Philip, the bad Indian. 
 
 19. Captain Kidd, the Pirate. 
 
 20. Peter Stuyvesant and the Defence of New Amsterdam. 
 
 21. Nathaniel Bacon and his Men. 
 
 22. William Penn and the Great Treaty. 
 
 23. Governor Andros, the Tyrant of New England. 
 
 The Period of Revolution. 
 
 1. General Montcalm, the Defender of Canada. 
 
 2. General Wolfe, the Hero of Quebec. 
 
 3. George Washington, the Undaunted. 
 
 4. Nathaniel Greene, the Strategist of the Revolution. 
 
 5. General Stark and his Green Mountain Boys. 
 
 6. Israel Putnam and the News from Lexington. 
 
 7. Daniel Morgan and his Sharpshooters. 
 
 8. Mad Anthony Wayne and the Storming of Stony Point. 
 
 9. Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox. 
 
REPRESENTATIVE PHASE OF HISTORY. 287 
 
 10. General Herkimer and the Relief of Fort Stanwix. 
 
 11. Paul Jones and his great Sea Fight. 
 
 12. Paul Revere, the Courier of the Revolution. 
 
 13. Daniel Boone, the Pioneer of Kentucky. 
 
 14. George Rogers Clark and the Campaign against Vincennes. 
 
 15. Samuel Adams, the Firebrand of the Revolution. 
 
 16. Patrick Henry, the Orator of the Revolution. 
 
 17. Benjamin Franklin and his old brown Coat. 
 
 18. La Fayette, the Friend of Washington and America. 
 
 19. Light Horse Harry, the Cavalry Captain. 
 
 20. Story of Jennie McCrea and Burgoyne's Allies. 
 
 21. How Colonel Washington made his Mark at the Battle of 
 
 Cowpens. 
 
 22. Robert Morris, the Financier of the Revolution. 
 
 This stage of work can be made to yield some valuable 
 pedagogical results, so far as the spiritual life of the child 
 is concerned. In the discussions upon the educational 
 value of interpretation and other logical processes, we saw 
 a peculiar ethical value resulting from a study of motives 
 to action in men, parties, and nations. But in the work 
 described above there is added another element, namely, 
 admiration for that which is heroic. No more powerful 
 formative influence can take hold on the heart and mind of 
 the pupil than a splendid heroic character. The life of the 
 child grows toward the life he studies and admires. He 
 will consciously strive to realize in his own conduct what 
 attracts him in the conduct of his hero. If the admiration 
 is strong, the pupil may look upon all his acts — good or 
 bad — as worthy of imitation. No doubt the unconscious 
 
288 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 influence of such study is even greater than the conscious. 
 It reaches into the life of the pupil in a way that eludes 
 the teacher and parent, — ■ both wonder where certain opin- 
 ions and actions originate without being able to discover 
 the cause ; even the pupil cannot explain it, for he is not 
 conscious in many instances of following any one in his 
 conduct. 
 
 Hero worship partly explains the attraction which youth- 
 ful minds find in the cheap novel. Surely, the teacher 
 should be as wise as the novelist, and may be wiser than 
 some novelists, for in a measure the teacher may select the 
 characters presented for study and moral guidance. In 
 making this selection the teacher will be guided by the 
 ethical welfare of the pupil, and will certainly not feed the 
 young imagination and emotions upon abnormal examples 
 of either goodness or wickedness ; and while it is no doubt 
 wise that gentle, generous, noble, self-sacrificing, and patri- 
 otic characters should constitute the predominant themes 
 for study, yet it remains true that real life for which 
 the pupil is preparing will present many characters just 
 the opposite of what it is possible to select for him from the 
 pages of history. In the affairs of life it will be just as 
 necessary for his own good and that of his country that he 
 should courageously condemn the low and base as praise 
 the noble and brave. 
 
 Can hero study be made to stimulate not only admiration 
 for the good, but condemnation for the bad ? In two ways, 
 it seems to me, this result may be reached. First, by 
 watching a hero in his struggle against the wrong. This 
 
REPRESENTATIVE PHASE OF HISTORY. 289 
 
 increases admiration for the hero. Second, by presenting 
 the opposite sort of hero now and then, so that the pupil's 
 hatred for cowards, traitors, thieves, and self-seekers may 
 be strengthened, and his appreciation of the noble qualities 
 of men may be stronger by seeing the evil results that flow 
 from men of opposite character. Under certain limitations 
 ignoble conduct excites greater respect and admiration for 
 its opposite, and may cause the pupil to resolve to avoid it 
 and practice, and otherwise promote, the positive virtues. 
 This can be successfully accomplished by the wise lead- 
 ings of the teacher. Not much of the interpretation of 
 the conduct of noble characters is necessary, for their lives 
 speak a language directly to the heart ; but the negative 
 character, like Arnold or General Charles Lee, must be 
 handled with more care. Their lives illustrate how per- 
 sons of great ability in high places may be dominated by 
 selfish ends and bring great injury upon themselves, their 
 friends, and their country. But too many such cases 
 weaken the pupil's faith in human nature, — a most disas- 
 trous result, as far as the pupil is concerned. For this 
 reason, as well as for the truth of history, the teachers 
 must see that the positive rather than the negative hero 
 occupies the greater share of this portion of history work. 
 The Story Side of the Event. — This represents the 
 third form of the historical story and also the third phase 
 of Representative history. It has been remarked, in other 
 connections, that the events have a sensuous side which 
 lends itself to reproduction in imagination. The pictur- 
 able incidents of an event furnish the material for weaving 
 
290 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 about it a story. The age and experience l of the pupil — 
 say, from ten to fourteen — permit an interest in the pano- 
 rama of the event for its own sake. There will not be the 
 same need of leaning upon an ideal or real historical per- 
 son as before. However, the transition from the second 
 Story form to the third should be gradual. The transition 
 may be easy and natural, for the real historical personage 
 participates in events, and it becomes only a transfer of 
 emphasis from one element in the moving scene to another. 
 
 There is no need of repeating here what has been said 
 about the possibility of reproducing events — picturing 
 them in imagination. It may not be amiss to say that 
 some features of events yield themselves more readily to 
 reproduction than others ; in general, those which appeal 
 to the eye, attract the ear, and touch the feelings of the 
 observer are the ones most susceptible of vivid reproduc- 
 tion. This general rule may be pretty safely followed in 
 the preparation of a story, if it be constantly remembered 
 that events and their various features are so many signs 
 of thoughts and feelings. 
 
 Immediately, with respect to knowledge, the object in 
 view is to give the pupil possession of the picture side of 
 the leading events of American history, so that he may 
 know how American history appeared to the people who 
 made it, and at the same time have some appreciation of 
 their thoughts and feelings. Pictures of events may not 
 
 1 Even if the pupil has not had the preliminary training in the 
 other forms of the story, yet he has been gaining some from reading 
 and much from observing the movements of events around him. 
 
REPRESENTATIVE PHASE OF HISTORY. 291 
 
 be a high form of historical knowledge, but they certainly 
 do enrich the mind of the possessor. They give to it not 
 only richness of imagery, but a variety that confers life 
 and elasticity. The very presence of imaged events must 
 make the mind vastly more fertile than it would otherwise 
 be, and will give it the power of self -employment and self- 
 entertainment. There is a vast difference between young 
 persons who have abundant mental resources and those 
 whose minds are empty. To give the young people the 
 power to call up in brilliant and imposing review the pro- 
 cession of events from the beginning of American history 
 to the present is a task worthy of the highest pedagogical 
 skill, especially when one thinks of the consequences which 
 may flow from it. 
 
 On the side of mind, the immediate purpose of this sort 
 of story-making is to train the imagination — to give it 
 power and facility in performing its functions. No richer 
 opportunity of cultivating the sensuous imagination will 
 ever come to the pupil; no other subject will furnish it 
 more exercise than this phase of history. 
 
 Eemotely, the purpose here is to prepare for the begin- 
 nings of that form of history work in which the processes 
 and products of the understanding are the characteristic 
 features. This portion of the Story side of history forms 
 a natural transition to the reflective or logical phase. In 
 the first place, it deals with the same individual facts and 
 events ; and, in the second place, the action of the judgment 
 in the form of inference comes into play as a constantly 
 growing factor. The remarks already made concerning the 
 
292 PHASES OF HISTOKY TEACHING. 
 
 dependence of the advanced form of history work upon the 
 picture form of it had particular reference to the picture 
 side of the event. Both the unfolding mental life of the 
 pupil and the relation of dependence between the phases 
 of history work demand that the teacher shall look beyond 
 this particular form to that higher toward which the pupil 
 is moving, and that the present work shall be constantly 
 modified to meet these more remote ends. It requires little 
 effort to see the great gain to the pupil who has covered 
 the leading events of American history in this way when 
 he comes to the more thoughtful work. 
 
 There need be little discussion as to where appropriate 
 material is to be found. It is abundant all along the way, 
 from Columbus to our day. It will be safe generally to 
 follow the order of events as presented in some good text 
 on American history. While the sequence of events is 
 now to have weight, yet the teacher is not to try to cover 
 each of the events by a story, but rather is to make a 
 selection of events determined partly by their importance 
 and partly by the ease with which the facts permit of this 
 kind of treatment. But so far as the materials for the 
 story are concerned, the ordinary text furnishes little more 
 than a dry outline. In most cases it is not adapted to this 
 sort of work. Generally it is a skeleton narrative, while 
 it ought to be narrative-descriptive, not only exhibiting 
 to the imagination interesting movements of men and 
 events, but also presenting an abundance of concrete acts 
 and other details, which reveal, to some extent, the thoughts 
 and feelings behind them. On the other hand, it is no un- 
 
REPRESENTATIVE PHASE OF HISTORY. 293 
 
 common mistake for history text-books to do too much for 
 the pupil 1 by giving what he ought to discover by interpre- 
 tation. The pupil is thus deprived of his right to think 
 out for himself what he is easily capable of doing, and what 
 he must be allowed to do, if he is to get growth out of this 
 subject. Instead of permitting independent effort, the text- 
 book often gives him a ready-made solution, as would be 
 said in arithmetic, and his only apparent work is to memo- 
 rize it and give it back to the teacher in the memorized 
 and unassimilated form. Such a text-book deprives the 
 teacher of the opportunity of testing her skill in setting 
 problems in history to the pupil. Lacking this stimulus 
 she assigns the lesson in terms of paragraphs and pages 
 instead of ideas. Of course, this may be avoided if the 
 teacher makes her own story of the event. 
 
 Illustrations of Material and Method of Work. — An 
 example of the Story side of the event will explain more 
 fully the nature and purpose of this transitional phase, 
 and at the same time illustrate the method to be employed. 
 Let us take the Boston Tea Party. This presupposes that 
 the pupil has dealt in like manner with the Stamp Act, the 
 Congress of 1765, the Boston Massacre, and other related 
 acts. We want the pupil to look, as it were, on the Boston 
 Tea Party, and see it just as it occurred. If the teacher 
 has the power to make him feel the jostle of the crowd 
 and hear the voices of the multitude so vividly that he 
 loses himself for the time being, so much the better. 
 
 1 A truer statement of this defect is that the text-book does too 
 little for the pupil by doing too much for him, 
 
294 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 Early one morning, in the middle of December, 1773, on 
 all the roads leading to Boston, for a distance of twenty 
 miles around, were to be seen men singly and in groups 
 making their way to town. Let us look at these people. 
 They are engaged in earnest conversation ; some of them 
 speak loudly, and shake their heads and fists. As the dis- 
 tance grows shorter, people are seen on foot ; the numbers 
 increase till it seems that all the country villages are 
 emptying their people, on that cold day, into Boston. As 
 these two thousand country and village people approach 
 the city they find it all astir ; the shops and stores are 
 closed ; men are gathered in groups discussing the question 
 whether the tea shall be landed or not ; messengers are 
 running to and fro over the city, and a general movement 
 toward the "Old South Meeting-House " is noticed. There, 
 at ten o'clock, the vast crowd assembles to hear the answer 
 of the owner of one of the vessels, whether he will take 
 his cargo of hated tea back to England. The meeting 
 organizes by the election of a Moderator, and Mr. Eotch, 
 the vessel owner, tells the meeting that the collector of the" 
 port refuses to let him go back with his tea ; the meeting 
 then orders him to hurry to the governor and get his per- 
 mission to pass by the guns of Castle William. While the 
 anxious owner goes in search of the governor, who has 
 gone away to his country seat to avoid the crowds, the 
 great mass meeting adjourns till the afternoon. 
 
 At three o'clock, it seemed that all the town tried to get 
 into the " Old South Meeting-House," crowding its seats 
 and galleries, standing in its aisles and around the entrance, 
 
REPRESENTATIVE PHASE OF HISTORY. 295 
 
 — seven thousand people tried to hear and see what was 
 said and done. The meeting comes to order, hears patri- 
 otic speeches, and passes resolutions not to allow the tea to 
 be landed. Great enthusiasm is excited when one speaker 
 asks "how tea would taste in salt water," and another 
 said : " Now the hand is to the plough, there must be no 
 looking back." Closest attention is given to the earnest 
 advice of Josiah Quincy, as he counsels moderation and 
 prophesies of the great struggle near at hand. Samuel 
 Adams, of course, was listened to in that winter's after- 
 noon. Night comes on and lights are brought in, but no 
 answer is at hand from the governor, and yet the people 
 wait. There was a feeling " as the cold night darkened 
 without, that the last scene was about to be enacted." At 
 6.15 Eotch came in and told the breathless audience that 
 the governor would not let the tea go back. The people 
 began to murmur against Eotch, but Samuel Adams arose 
 and said : " This meeting can do nothing more to save the 
 country." This seemed to be a signal, for immediately the 
 war-whoop of the "Mohawks" startled the audience; it 
 was answered from the galleries ; the whole audience now 
 shouts its approval, and pours itself out into the streets 
 and noisily follows the " Mohawks " to the wharf and there 
 witnesses their work. See the Indians clamber over the 
 sides of the vessel; whooping and brandishing their toma- 
 hawks, they rush down to the hold and up comes the boxes 
 of tea — two hundred and forty of them — and are thrown 
 into the sea. The w r ork was hardly done before the swift 
 couriers were hastening with the news to leading Massa- 
 
296 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 clmsetts towns. All New England was thrilled by the 
 news as it sped by one means or another from province to 
 province. On the next day, Paul Revere, the courier of 
 the Revolution, rode away to New York and Philadelphia 
 to carry the tidings of that day's work. At every farm- 
 house, village, or city he told the story. There was great 
 rejoicing, ringing of bells, bonfires, speeches, toasts, — and 
 all in honor of the patriots of Boston. Philadelphia had 
 two meetings in celebration of the event, and at the last 
 one, attended by five thousand people, sent a formal vote of 
 thanks to the Bostonians. The news was carried far to the 
 southward, and even from the Carolinas came back words 
 of approbation and good will. 
 
 After a fashion, the above paragraph indicates the kind 
 of pictures the pupil should find in a text-book or in the 
 teacher's stories adapted to this stage of history work. 
 What shall the pupil do with this sort of material ? In 
 the first place, he should not commit the language. In the 
 second place, if the teacher wishes the pupil to solve the 
 problem before the recitation, then the lesson will be 
 assigned in terms of the thoughts and feelings of the 
 people ; while, if the teacher wishes the solution to be 
 thought out in the class, the lesson will be assigned in 
 terms of the picture. To accomplish the latter purpose, 
 the teacher assigns the lesson about as follows : 1. Read 
 over the story of the Tea Party till you can see, with your 
 eyes shut, the acts of the people from beginning to end. 
 2. Tell the number of great scenes in the picture, and 
 describe the acts of the people in each great scene. These 
 
REPRESENTATIVE PHASE OE HISTORY. 297 
 
 directions will prepare the pupil for the real struggle that 
 is to take place in the recitation, — the passing by infer- 
 ence from the deeds of the people to their thoughts and 
 feelings. But if the former plan is pursued, the direc- 
 tions may take a form like the following : 1. What con- 
 clusions can you draw from seeing so many country people 
 on their way to Boston at the same time ? Prove your 
 answer from their acts. 2. How were the people of the 
 town feeling over the question of the tea ? Give reasons. 
 3. What is the meaning of the meeting of the country and 
 town people all together, hearing and applauding the same 
 speeches, voting the same resolutions, and participating in 
 the destruction of the tea ? 4. Did not the persons who 
 destroyed the tea feel guilty of wrong-doing ? Prove your 
 answer. 5. Why was the news carried so quickly to the 
 Massachusetts and other New England towns ? 6. Why 
 was Paul Revere sent to New York and Philadelphia with 
 the news of the Tea Party, and what is the meaning of the 
 responses that greeted him and the people of Boston ? 
 7. Did the governor of Massachusetts agree with the 
 people ? Prove the answer. 8. What do you infer as 
 to the effect of the work of the Tea Party on England ? 
 Why? 
 
 These questions, or others of a similar import, should be 
 put to the class before or during the recitation. If used in 
 assigning the lesson, they will force the pupil to go through 
 the language to the ideas expressed — will force him to 
 go down below the surface play of events into the hearts 
 and minds of the people. This would cause the pupil to 
 
298 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 study and re-study the story of the event, and would, no 
 doubt, leave him in possession of as full a picture of the 
 scene as if the lesson had been assigned in terms of the pic- 
 ture. How many of these questions can the pupil answer ? 
 Nearly, if not quite, all of them. How many can he find 
 formally answered in the above sketch ? He should find 
 none, or at most a very small number. Suppose the text 
 should indicate somewhat in detail the answers to these 
 questions. What difference would it make to the pupil ? 
 All the difference between the work of an active sharp- 
 ened judgment and the monotonous grind of the memory ! 
 Why not give the pupil an opportunity to think a little in 
 history ? 
 
 It will be noted that in this transition phase attention is 
 being directed to the content of the acts put forth. Now, 
 while this is still Story work, yet the work of stimulating 
 the historical judgment must be kept in mind and must 
 become more and more prominent as the student grows 
 stronger through discipline and knowledge. 
 
 One more illustration will be given, — somewhat more 
 difficult, and taken from the text of Montgomery's Lead- 
 ing Facts of American History. This will serve to show 
 how the teacher may use the material found in certain 
 text-books and adapt it to this phase of the work. 
 
 "General G-age, having learned that the colonists had 
 stored a quantity of powder and provisions for the use of 
 their militia, at Concord, about twenty miles from Boston, 
 sent a secret expedition to destroy both. The soldiers 
 were instructed to go by way of Lexington, and there 
 
REPRESENTATIVE PHASE OF HISTORY. 299 
 
 arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who were known 
 to be stopping with a friend in that village. The London 
 papers boasted that the heads of these two prominent 
 ' rebels ' would soon be on exhibition in that city j but, as 
 Gage found out, Adams and Hancock were not the kind of 
 men to lose their heads so easily. 
 
 "The British troops left Boston just before midnight of 
 April 18, 1775. Paul Eevere, a noted Boston patriot, was 
 on the watch, and as soon as he saw his friends' signal 
 lanterns hung out in the steeple of the Old North Church, 
 — a church still standing, — he galloped through the 
 country giving the alarm. When he reached the house in 
 Lexington where Hancock and Adams were asleep, a man 
 on guard cried out to him, 'Don't make so much noise.' 
 1 Noise ! ' shouted Revere ; ' you'll have noise enough before 
 long : the " regulars " are coming.' 
 
 "Just before daybreak of April 19, the ' regulars' marched 
 on to the village green of Lexington, where a number of 
 1 minute men' had collected. ' Disperse, ye rebels,' shouted 
 Pitcairn, the British commander. No one moved ; then 
 Pitcairn cried, ' Fire ! ' A volley blazed out, and seven Ameri- 
 cans fell dead. Advancing to Concord, the soldiers de- 
 stroyed such military stores as they could find ; at Concord 
 bridge they were met by the patriots. Both fired ; it was 
 the true opening battle of the Eevolution, — several men 
 fell on each side. There the first British blood was shed ; 
 there the first British graves were dug. The 'regulars' 
 then drew back, leaving the Americans in possession of the 
 bridge, and began their march toward Boston. 
 
300 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 "But the whole country was now aroused. The enraged 
 farmers fired at the British from behind every wall, bush, 
 and tree. The march became a retreat, the retreat some- 
 thing like a run. When the ' regulars ' got back to Lex- 
 ington, where Lord Percy met them with reinforcements, 
 they dropped panting on the ground, their tongues hang- 
 ing out like those of tired dogs. From Lexington the 
 ' minute men ' chased the British all the way to Charles- 
 town. Nearly three hundred of the ' red-coats/ as the 
 Americans nicknamed the English soldiers, lay dead or 
 dying on the road. 
 
 " Percy had marched gaily out of Boston to the tune of 
 ' Yankee Doodle,' played in ridicule of the Americans, 
 but it was noticed that his band did not play it on re- 
 entering the town — they had had quite enough of all that 
 was ' Yankee ' for that day. 
 
 "The next morning the British army found themselves 
 shut up in Boston. The Americans had surrounded the 
 town on the land side, and in future no expedition could 
 leave it in that direction without a fight. The siege of 
 Boston had begun." 
 
 The lesson on this may be assigned with reference to 
 two ends : picturing clearly and vividly the scenes enacted, 
 and interpreting the scenes, — getting into the minds and 
 hearts of the contestants. 
 
 If the class have not heard or read this story before, 
 then the first lesson ought to be assigned in terms of the 
 picture. Some directions like the following may be used : 
 1. Read over the lesson till you can see all the movements 
 
REPRESENTATIVE PHASE OF HISTORY. 301 
 
 from Boston to Concord and back again. 2. Picture Paul 
 Revere on the watch — tell what you would have seen had 
 you stood by. 3. Go with Paul Revere as he alarmed the 
 country, and tell what he did and said, what the people — 
 fathers, sons, mothers, children — did and said, and what- 
 ever else might have been seen and heard that night. 
 4. Picture the skirmish on Lexington Green and at Con- 
 cord Bridge. 5. Work out all the features of the retreat 
 to Lexington. 6. What did the Yankee boys see and hear 
 who hid behind the stone walls and watched the minute 
 men chase the regulars from Lexington to Charlestown ? 
 
 7. What differences did General Gage see between the 
 British soldiers as they marched out and as they returned? 
 
 8. What do you see in and around Boston the next day ? 
 Other elements of the picture may be brought out by ques- 
 tions formulated to suit the case. 
 
 While the narration and description of events given 
 above are better adapted to this form of study than that 
 given by most texts of this grade, yet it is very desirable 
 that the teacher suggest to the pupil the necessity of en- 
 riching certain scenes by reading other and fuller accounts. 
 By this means, different members of the class will be able 
 to contribute different details to the pictures ; two gains 
 will be made, — fuller pictures and the habit of looking 
 further than the text for facts. 
 
 If the pupil, for any reason, can do more and stronger 
 work than the above questions call for, the teacher may in 
 addition require an interpretation of the acts pictured, as 
 far as the pupil's ability will permit. The following ques- 
 
302 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 tions and directions will illustrate what is meant : 1. What 
 was the purpose of both English and Americans with ref- 
 erence to this expedition? Prove your answer from the 
 text and from the acts of the participants. 2. Which party- 
 changed its purpose? Prove by citing facts. 3. What 
 conclusions do you reach from the fact that the expedition 
 was intended to be secret and yet was watched ? What 
 other facts support your conclusions ? 4. What were the 
 feelings of the people when Paul Eevere aroused them out 
 of their sleep ? Why do you think so ? 5. Could Paul 
 Revere have aroused enough farmers to defeat the British ? 
 What inferences, then, are safe to make ? 6. Contrast the 
 thoughts and feelings of the British regulars on leaving 
 Boston with their thoughts and feelings on returning. 
 G-ive reasons. 
 
 It ought to be clear that no memorizing of the text of 
 the above account can meet the requirements indicated by 
 the above questions and directions. In truth, the pupil 
 would never be tempted to memorize words if it were not 
 for the teacher. The teacher, by her assign ment of work 
 and method of conducting the recitation, forces the pupil 
 to commit the language of the text. No normal child takes 
 pleasure in this unless it is found to be the easiest way of 
 " getting the lesson." The illustrations given will indicate 
 the method to be followed to break up the habit when once 
 formed and also to prevent its formation. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to draw the contrast between this 
 method of dealing with events and the method usually fol- 
 lowed. Tried by any standard, one merits recommendation 
 
REPRESENTATIVE PHASE OF HISTORY. 303 
 
 and the other condemnation. What if the pnpil had two 
 years of this work, — touching the leading events of 
 American history, — as a preparation for the organization 
 of that history into such a system as has been indicated in 
 the first part of this book ? Certainly he would be in a 
 position to begin earlier than is usual the work of organiz- 
 ing the material of history in the form of a system. This 
 would also relieve him of the double task of gathering the 
 new material of the subject, while he ought to be expend- 
 ing all his energies in interpretation and other organizing 
 processes. 
 
 We have now come full around again to the last phase 
 of history study, — that phase where the student's knowl- 
 edge ends and the teacher's knowledge begins. 
 
304 
 
 HISTORY BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 
 
 Primary Grades. 
 
 1. Ten Boys on the Road from Long Ago to Now. Lee Sf 
 
 Shepard. 
 
 2. Stories of Heroic Deeds. American Book Co. 
 
 3. Swiss Family Robinson. Ginn 8f Co. 
 
 4. Pilgrims and Puritans. Ginn 8f Co. 
 
 5. Ten Great Events in History. American Book Co. 
 
 6. Stories of Our Country. American Book Co. 
 
 7. Eggleston's History of the United States. American Book 
 
 Co. 
 
 8. Gilman's Discovery and Exploration of America. Inter- 
 
 State Pub. Co. 
 
 9. Gilman's Colonization of America. Inter-State Pub. Co. 
 10. Gilman's Making of the American Nation. Inter-State 
 
 Pub. Co. 
 1.1. Grandfather's Stories. American Book Co. 
 
 12. American History Stories, Nos. 1-4. I. N. Harlan (Indi- 
 
 anapolis). 
 
 13. Pioneer History Stories. First Series. Public School Pub. 
 
 Co. 
 
 14. Glasscock's Stories of Columbia. D. Appleton Sf Co. 
 
 15. Pierson's History of the United States (One Syllable). 
 
 Geo. Routledge 8f Sons. 
 
 16. Pierson's Lives of the Presidents (One Syllable). Geo. 
 
 Routledge &f Sons. 
 
HISTORY BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 305 
 
 Grammar Grades. 
 
 1. Pratt's American History Stories, Nos. 1-4. Educational 
 
 Pub. Co. 
 
 2. Pratt's Columbus. Educational Pub. Co. 
 
 3. Pratt's Pizarro. Educational Pub. Co. 
 
 4. Pratt's Cortez and Montezuma. Educationcd Pub. Co. 
 
 5. Pratt's Great West. Educational Pub. Co. 
 
 6. Pratt's Stories of Massachusetts. Educational Pub. Co. 
 
 7. Children's Stories of Adventure and Discovery. 
 
 8. Children's Stories of American Progress. 
 
 9. Poor Boys who have become Famous. 
 
 10. Sewell's Paul Jones. 
 
 11. Higginson's Young Folks' History of the United States. 
 
 Lee 8f Shepard. 
 
 12. Butterworth's Young Folks' History of America. Lothrop 
 
 &Co. 
 
 13. Coffin's Building of the Nation. Harper &f Bros. 
 
 14. Coffin's Boys of 76. Harper 8f Bros. 
 
 15. Coffin's Boys of '61. Harper &j Bros. 
 
 16. Coffin's Old Times in the Colonies. Harper &/ Bros. 
 
 17. Coffin's Nights on the Battlefield. Estes 8f Lauriat. 
 
 18. Hawthorne's Grandfather's Chair. Houghton, Mifflin &f Co. 
 
 19. Page's Two Little Confederates. 
 
 20. From Colony to Commonwealth. Ginn &f Co. 
 
 21. Fiske's War for Independence. Houghton, Mifflin &f Co. 
 
 22. Brooks' Historic Boys. Putnam's Sons. 
 
 23. Brooks' Historic Girls. Putnam's Sons. 
 
 24. Abbott's Peter Stuyvesant. Dodd, Mead &j Co. 
 
 25. Abbott's Paul Jones. Dodd, Mead &/ Co. 
 
 26. Abbott's Daniel Boone. Dodd, Mead &f Co. 
 
306 PHASES OF HISTORY TEACHING. 
 
 27. Scudder's Boston Town. Houghton, Mifflin fy Co. 
 
 28. Rolfe's Tales from English History. Harper &c Bros. 
 
 29. Rolfe's Tales from Scottish History. Harper Sc Bros. 
 
 30. Rolfe's Tales from Chivalry. Harper Sf Bros. 
 
 31. Washington and His Country. Ginn Sf Co. 
 
 32. Chivalric Days. Putnam's Sons. 
 
 33. With Lee in Virginia. Scribner's Sons. 
 
 34. Scudder's George Washington. Houghton, Mifflin Sf Co. 
 
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