PREFACE. Trus little volume, intended for the use of American youth, contains many facts not found in any other history of the United States. It begins with an account of the creation and of the dispersion of men, on the attempt to build Babel; and describes our ancestors, descendants of Japheth, in the wilds of Germany, as they were when the Romans conquered Gaul, before the Christian era. A brief account is then given of the conquest of England by our Saxon ancestors, and of their gradual improvement in the arts of life, down to the reformation. Then follows an account of the peopling of America, and a description of the character and manners of the aboriginals, both in Mexico and in the more northern latitudes. The origin of the Puritans, and the causes of their migration to America, are then stated. The discoveries of various parts of America made by European navigators, and the first settlements, are narrated with brevity. In the history of these settlements, of their progress, of the Indian wars, of the forms of government in the several colonies, of the revolutionary war, and of the measures which were pursued for obtaining the present constitution of the United States, the most authentic authorities have been consulted; and some facts are related from the personal knowledge of the writer. The brief exposition of the constitution of the United States, will unfold to young persons the principles of republican government; and it is the sincere desire of the writer that our citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the BIBLE, particularly the New Testament or the Christian religion. The Advice to the Young, it is hoped, will be useful in enlightening the minds of youth in religious an (v). 1* vi moral principles, and serve, in a degree, to restrain some of the common vices of our country. Republican government loses half of its value, where the moral and social duties are imperfectly understood, or negligently practiced. To exterminate our popular vices is a work of far more importance to the character and happiness of our citizens, than any other improvements in our system of education. An impartial history cannot be published during the lives of the principal persons concerned in the transactions related, or of their near connections, without being exposed to the charge of undue flattery or censure; and unless history is impartial, it misleads the student, and frustrates its proper object. Hence the following history concludes with the organization of the present constitution of the United States. If this history should be read in schools, I would not recommend that the pupil should be required to commit entire paragraphs to memory; but that he should abridge them in writing, extracting only the principal facts, and reducing them within the compass of a few lines, which may be easily remembered and recited. When the book is used only for learning to read and understand what is read, I would recommend that the pupil should have time to study his lesson before he reads to the teacher, and that he should be required to consult a dictionary for the explanation of words which he does not understand. In this case, as words often have different senses, he should be instructed to find the proper signification of the word in the paragraph in which it is used. This mode of study would accustom the pupil to exercise his mind in discriminating between the various applications of terms, and would be most efficacious in impressing upon his memory their different significations. The practice of writing books for youth in the household language of children, is proper and useful for those who are learning to read; but as soon as words of common use become familiar to the eye, children should leave the style of puerility, and read only, or chiefly, a more elevated language; or that which is used by well vii educated people in adult years. The habit of using the peculiar phrases of children and vulgarisms should be counteracted as early in life as is practicable; otherwise such phrases will never be lost, but will often infect the language of polite conversation, in every period of future life. The practice of reducing language to the capacities of children, instead of elevating their understandings to the style of elegance, may be carried to an extent not warranted by just views of improvement. History should be read with maps, which are to be found in all our bookstores and in most of our schools. New Haven, 1832. CONTENTS. Chapter 1. Origin and varieties of the human race. 2. Teutonic and Gothic nations; description of our German ancestors. 3. Saxons; their conquest of England: character, manners, 4. The peopling of America by the aboriginals. 5. Description of the Mexicans. 6. Discovery of America; voyages to different parts of North 7. Origin of the Puritans; settlement of New England. 9. Political events. 10. Military events; wars of the colonies. 11. Bills of credit. 12. Piracy in the American seas. 13. Diseases and remarkable events. 14. War of the revolution. 15. Constitution of the United States. 16. Origin of civil liberty in the Christian religion. 17. Character and institutions of the Puritans, the first founders of republican government. 18. General description of the United States. 19. Advice to the young. 20. General Washington's Farewell Address. HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. CHAPTER I. ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN RACE. SECTION 1. Of the first man. In the beginning GOD created the heaven and the earth, and the sun, moon, and stars. He created also grass, and other plants; and various animals for the use of man. And last of all he created the first man, called Adam, endowed him with rational faculties, and gave him dominion over the earth, and over the beasts of the field, the fishes of the sea, and fowls of the air. 2. Of the first woman. The first woman, called Eve, was made by GoD as a helper to Adam. Being taken from Adam's body, she was presented to him, and received as his intimate companion, to share with him the toils and the felicities of life. These were the progenitors of all the human race. 3. First employment of man. After Adam was created, GoD planted the garden of Eden, in which he placed the man to dress it and to keep it. Hence the cultivation of the earth was the first employment of man; as it is yet the principal, the most important, and one of the most honorable of all occupations. 4. Longevity of man. In the first ages of the world, men lived to a great age. Most of the early patriarchs lived to the age of nine hundred years or more, and Methuselah, the oldest of them, lived to the age of nine hundred and sixty-nine years. (9) |