这本小书要以简洁明了的风格讲述美国的成立与发展。对祖国历史的学习是件严肃的事情,作者、老师、学生都要严肃对待,甚至可以说其重要程度要超过对语言和算术的学习。因此,笔者从来没有想过要把这本教科书打造成故事书。这就是纯粹的教科书,也应该被当成教科书使用,学生要刻苦地学,老师要认真细致地教。
本书的多数读者将不会再有机会学习祖国的建立和历史。作者最希望看到的就是读者能够花时间学习真正的美国历史,而不是死记硬背通常没有太多价值也没有可靠根据的事件。为此,笔者大胆地略去了许多大家认为会使历史书增色并激发读者“对历史的热爱”的传统事件,因为它们激发的通常是对娱乐的爱。比如,通常讲述约翰·史密斯船长的冒险经历及印第安人习俗的篇章本书则代之以宪法的形成以及反对奴隶制的蔓延。此外,1760年之前的史料不详,无法做到简练、精确地描述“殖民生活”,因此必须略去此处。关于这一类的历史事件及内容,学生们可以很容易地通过希金森的《写给年轻人的历史》、艾格利斯通的《美国及其人民》、麦克马斯特的《学校历史》等书籍获得。本书在旁注里把这些书及另外一些参考资料都列了出来,并附带给出了更容易找到的仅供例证的参考资料出处。
许多学校都开两学年的美国历史课,这是惯例,并且会把第一学年全部分配给1760年以前的时期,这种安排很不恰当。首先,殖民时期被过度强调;其次,许多学生不再返学,也就没机会再学后面的部分了;第三,这一部分的学习往往会造成学生无法全面地认识美国的发展;最后,第二学年的课程多用于独立战争及南北战争的教学。更好的教学方案应该是第一学年就通读全书,辅以平行阅读,第二学年复习并重点关注宪法制定、各殖民地的独立之战、南北战争等重要章节。第二学年也可重点学习1790年之后的工业史以及政府的组建。笔者热切希望教师仅把前面有关早期历史的章节当作引言。
在语法学校有多年历史教学经验的安妮·布里斯·查普曼很热心地提出了一些建设性的意见,并且为教师们提了很棒的建议,这些都被附录在本书相应的章节中。笔者也提出了一些意见和建议,并且完善了查普曼的部分建议,这其中值得称道的地方都要归功于查普曼。同时要感谢比尤拉·玛丽·迪克斯女士对本书语言及格式体例提出的建议。笔者恳请读者,尤其是教师,对本书提出批评及建议,并欢迎指正。
PREFACE
The aim of this little book is to tell in a simple and concise form the story of the founding and development of the United States. The study of the history of one's own country is a serious matter, and should be entered upon by the text-book writer, by the teacher, and by the pupil in a serious spirit, even to a greater extent than the study of language or of arithmetic. No effort has been made, therefore, to make out of this text-book a story book. It is a text-book pure and simple, and should be used as a text-book, to be studied diligently by the pupil and expounded carefully by the teacher.
Most of the pupils who use this book will never have another opportunity to study the history and institutions of their own country. It is highly desirable that they should use their time in studying the real history of the United States and not in learning by heart a mass of anecdotes, —often of very slight importance, and more often based on very insecure foundations. The author of this text-book, therefore, has boldly ventured to omit most of the traditional matter which is usually supposed to give life to a text-book and to inspire a“love of history,”—which too often means only a love of being amused. For instance, descriptions of the formation of the Constitution and of the struggle over the extension of slavery here occupy the space usually given to the adventures of Captain John Smith and to accounts of the institutions of the Red Men. The small number of pages available for the period before 1760 has necessitated the omission of“pictures of colonial life,”which cannot be briefly and at the same time accurately described. These and similar matters can easily be studied by the pupils in their topical work in such books as Higginson's Young Folks' History, Eggleston's United States and its People, and McMaster's School History. References to these books and to a limited number of other works have been given in the margins of this text-book. These citations also mention a few of the more accessible sources, which should be used solely for purposes of illustration.
It is the custom in many schools to spread the study of American history over two years, and to devote the first year to a detailed study of the period before 1760. This is a very bad arrangement. In the first place, it gives an undue emphasis to the colonial period; in the second place, as many pupils never return to school, they never have an opportunity to study the later period at all; in the third place, it prevents those pupils who complete this study from gaining an intelligent view of the development of the American people. And, finally, most of the time the second year is spent in the study of the Revolutionary War and of the War for the Union. A better way would be to go over the whole book the first year with some parallel reading, and the second year to review the book and study with greater care important episodes, as the making of the Constitution, the struggle for freedom in the territories, and the War for the Union. Attention may also be given the second year to a study of industrial history since 1790 and to the elements of civil government. It is the author's earnest hope that teachers will regard the early chapters as introductory.
Miss Annie Bliss Chapman, for many years a successful teacher of history in grammar schools, has kindly provided a limited number of suggestive questions, and has also made many excellent suggestions to teachers. These are all appended to the several divisions of the work. The author has added a few questions and a few suggestions of his own. He has also altered some of Miss Chapman's questions. Whatever there is commendable in this apparatus should be credited to Miss Chapman. Acknowledgments are also due to Miss Beulah Marie Dix for very many admirable suggestions as to language and form. The author will cordially welcome criticisms and suggestions from any one, especially from teachers, and will be very glad to receive notice of any errors.