Short History of the United States - Edward Channing
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What does the preface say about the purpose and use of this textbook?
A short history of the United States. This is a Librevox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librevox dot org This reading by Alison Hester of Athens, Georgia. A Short History of the United States by Edward Channing. Preface and Chapter one 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 textbook writer, 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 textbook a storybook.
It is a textbook, pure and simple, and should be used as a textbook 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 of a mass of anecdotes, often of very slight importance, and more often based on very insecure foundations. The author of this textbook, therefore, has boldly ventured to omit most of the traditional matter which is usually supposed to give life to a textbook and inspire a love of history, which too often means only a love for being amused.
For instance, the Descriptions of the formation of the Constitution and 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 seventeen sixty has necessitated the emission 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 to in the margins of this textbook.
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 seventeen sixty. This is a very bad arrangement. In the first place, it gives an undue emphasis to the colonial period and 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 of the Union. Attention may also be given that second year to a study of industrial history since seventeen ninety 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.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What does the preface say about the purpose and use of this textbook?
0:00–14:52
2
How does the narrative shift to the early European discovery of America?
14:52–1:58:20
3
What sparked the first armed conflicts at Lexington and Concord?
1:58:20–3:14:33
4
How did the United States move from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution?
3:14:33–4:00:17
5
What was the Era of Good Feeling and why did it end?
4:00:17–5:09:01
6
How did the growing sectional conflict lead to the Civil War?
5:09:01–6:00:57
7
What were Lincoln’s Reconstruction policies and the early post‑war measures?
6:00:57–7:12:31
8
How did the Civil War end and what were the major post‑war developments (Draft Riots, Lincoln’s assassination, Reconstruction Acts, etc.)?
7:12:31–8:22:12
Speakers
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