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The name America, which, by accident or mistake, was given to the Western World, fell, in the process of time, to the principal nation on the Continent, and for more than a century, the inhabitants of the United States have been known the world over as the American people.

It is the history of this people that the present volume is interested with. The author desires to tell, in brief, how the country was first settled, what motives incited the adventurers who left European civilization to plant colonies on our shores; how those colonies gradually learned that there was strength in union, and that it was to their credit before the world to be one nation; how the early fear that a Republican form of government was not adapted to a large country was dissipated, and how the whole land was gradually developed until its present position among the nations was reached.

It is interesting to note how the name America has taken hold upon the people. There has been natural growth in this respect. The colonies of France, Spain, and England, were the "American" colonies, and as the States which took their places became the chief nation on the continent, they assumed the name American at an early period. The war by which they achieved their independence was always "the" American revolution, and into that struggle the people entered in the spirit of the words of Christopher Gadsden of South Carolina, uttered in 1765, "There ought to be no New England man, no New Yorker, known on the continent, but all of us Americans." At its close, when Washington addressed the Governors of the different States to urge upon them the formation of an "indissoluble union," he referred to the people as "the citizens of America." In laying down his office at the close of his Presidential terms, he said, "The name of America, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism."

The reader of the speeches of later statesmen will

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remember how this sentiment became a general inheritance, and with what frequency the talismanic name American was used by them to stir the patriotic heart. This is especially exemplified by Webster, who said on one occasion, “I am an American, and I know no locality in America: that is my country;" and again, with even more emphasis, "I was born an American; I will live an American; I shall die an American."

Never was the sense of nationality so strong in America as at present, and one of the results is seen in the revived interest in the study of all topics connected with our history, no less than in the philosophic spirit in which they are approached.

One of the chief difficulties encountered in preparing a small history of this kind, and one which constantly presents itself, is the question, "What shall be omitted?" The difference between the various singlevolume histories of America consists largely in the selection of topics, in their arrangement, in the degree in which their statements are self-explanatory, in the underlying and controlling thought, as well as in the political, moral and social bias of the writer.

Special passages have been devoted to the manners and habits of the past, and the work has been illustrated throughout with extracts from letters, diaries, newspapers and other contemporary writings, which enliven the narrative and enable the reader to put himself in sympathy with the people who act in the history as it passes before him. Many of these appear in the form of notes, which are placed for convenient reference at the bottom of the pages to which they refer.

Among the subjects presented with a certain degree of fulness, which have been sometimes slightly considered in single-volume histories of America, are the following, which seem to lie at the foundation of a true conception of the subject.

I. The growth of the belief that the world is a globe, the discussions regarding its size, and the influence that these investigations exerted upon Columbus.

II. The efforts towards union put forth by the Colonies and the States, from 1637 to the adoption of the Constitution, and the difficulties encountered.

III. The jealousies between the Colonies at first, and States afterwards, and the Federal unions to which they belonged. The repeated threats of secession, from 1643 to 1861.

IV. The various theories of the Constitution and Government arising from differences of opinion regarding the powers delegated, by the Colonies and the States, to the Federal Governments, and the reserved powers.

V. The growth of the National or American feeling, as shown by the Declaration of Rights made by Congress, in 1765, and the more general declaration of the principles on which those rights were based, made by Virginia in 1776.

VI. The various plans for Union.

VII. The delay in adopting the Articles of Confederation and the important reasons for it. The basis on which the difficulties growing out of the nature and extent of the grants of territory to the original colonies, were finally adjusted.

VIII. The nature of the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions of 1797 and 1798, and their long and important influence.

IX. The principles of the country from the beginning regarding fugitives from service, and the enactments made by the New England Confederation in 1643, in the Constitution in 1787, and in the fugitive slave acts of 1793 and 1850, during the administrations of Washington and Fillmore.

X. The opposition of the North to war, in 1861, and the efforts to preserve peace. The specious sophistries and deceptions by which demagogues precipitated the conflict.

XI. In order to enable the reader more readily to study some of these subjects, the volume is furnished with copies of original documents not readily accessible.

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The publishers have endeavored to make the volume mechanically excellent. A clear type has been used and illustrations have been supplied in considerable numbers. In selecting subjects for these cuts, scenes of battle and carnage have been avoided, and preference has been given to pictures of noted persons, buildings and natural scenery of the different parts of the country, and to sketches illustrating the manners and work of the people at different periods.

Much labor has been expended to arrive at exactness in dates, but even the most painstaking assiduity and the best intentions are insufficient to ensure perfection in this regard when hundreds of dates are given. The reader who detects errors of this kind is requested to communicate with the publishers, in order that the necessary changes may be made, should other editions be called for.

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