COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped December, 1897. Reprinted October, 1898. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing & Co. - Berwick & Smith Preface It is my practice, in teaching American history, to require each. member of the class to read critically a considerable number of important documents. While such acquaintance with the sources is now rightly insisted upon as the basis of all sound historical knowledge, the difficulty of obtaining the documents desired, and the impracticability of making effective use, with large classes, of a text only one or two copies of which are available, is often considerable; and I have thought that others besides myself might be glad to have, in a single volume of moderate compass, an accurately printed collection of such documents as any one pretending even to an elementary acquaintance with the history of the United States may fairly be expected to know. The present volume covers the period from 1776 to 1861 — from the adoption of the Declaration of Independence to the eve of the Civil War. None of the documents given are "new" or "rare," but many of them have not hitherto been very accessible, save to students fortunate enough to have at hand large libraries. I have aimed to include the important documents which a systematic course of instruction, making some pretension to thoroughness, would be likely to dwell upon, while excluding everything an acquaintance with which could be demanded only of those students devoting especial attention to the subject. Selection is, after all, largely a matter of individual judgment, and I cannot anticipate that my judgment as to what is of primary importance will entirely satisfy every one who may find the book helpful; I hope, however, that no document has been included which a serious student of the period can afford to neglect. Certain classes of documents, such as tariff acts, acts relating to the organization of the various departments of government, and platforms of political parties, have been omitted altogether, as have decisions of the Supreme Court, except the Dred Scott case, and speeches in Congress, except the Webster-Hayne debate. Some of these texts are not difficult to obtain; others do not admit of use in a work of this character; while the necessity of keeping the volume within reasonable bounds will, I think, make the propriety of many omissions sufficiently evident. Of the V documents given, a large number are in the form of significant extracts only, irrelevant matter and legal verbiage being pruned away wherever possible. A few pieces of great length have been condensed. In all cases, however, omissions and alterations are indicated by the usual signs. Especial pains have been taken to reproduce the text of each document with scrupulous fidelity. To each document has been prefixed a brief introduction and select bibliography. The introduction is limited to the circumstances of the document itself; and I have thought it worth while to trace somewhat in detail the legislative or diplomatic history of the various selections. As the volume is designed for use either in connection with a narrative text-book, or as a manual to accompany lectures, no attempt has been made to make the introductions, taken together, form a connected story. The bibliographies deal almost exclusively with collateral documentary material, and the most important general discussions, and point the way to fields in which further study of the sources may be pursued. Official publications relating to American history during the constitutional period are often supposed to be a labyrinth, even for the initiated; and I shall be glad if the general bibliographical note renders the use of such matter less difficult, especially for beginners. I am under obligations to Professor N. S. Shaler for permission to use the text of the Kentucky resolutions of 1798 contained in his history of Kentucky, and to the J. B. Lippincott Company for a like permission to reprint, from their edition of Madison's writings, the Virginia resolutions of 1798. For welcome advice, and assistance of various kinds, I am indebted to Professor Albert Bushnell Hart, of Harvard University; Mr. Wendell P. Garrison, editor of the Nation; Major George W. Davis, U.S.A., of the War Records Office at Washington; and my colleague, Professor Henry Crosby Emery; while to Mr. George T. Little, of the Bowdoin College Library, I owe generous privileges in the use of books. Lastly, I should not fail to acknowledge my obligation to many students, members of my classes in Bowdoin College, without whose aid the collection of the data embodied in the present volume would have been much more laborious than it has been. WILLIAM MACDONALD. BRUNSWICK, MAINE, December, 1897. |