A POPULAR HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, FROM THE ABORIGINAL TIMES ΤΟ THE PRESENT DAY. EMBRACING AN ACCOUNT OF THE ABORIGINES; THE NORSEMEN IN THE NEW WORLD; THE ING OF SETTLEMENTS; THE GROWTH OF THE COLONIES; THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY IN THE REVOLUTION; THE ESTAB- LISHMENT OF THE UNION; THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION; THE CIVIL WAR; AND THE CENTENNIAL OF INDEPENDENCE. BY JOHN CLARK RIDPATH, AM, " Professor of Belles-Lettres and History in Indiana Asbury University; Author of Ridpath's Illustrated with Maps, Charts, Portraits, and Diagrams. NEW YORK: NELSON & PHILLIPS, 1877. PREFACE. DEAR PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES: By this, my Preface, I offer to you a New History of your country-and mine. The work is presented in the form of an abridged narrative. My reasons for such a venture are brief, but, I trust, satisfactory: First, to every American citizen some knowledge of the history of his country is indispensable. The attainment of that knowledge ought to be made easy and delightful. Second, the Centennial of the Republic furnishes an auspicious occasion for the study of those great events which compose the warp and woof of the new civilization in the West. This book is intended for the average American; for the man of business who has neither time nor disposition to plod through ten or twenty volumes of elaborate historical dissertation; for the practical man of the shop, the counter, and the plow. The work is dedicated to the household and the library of the poor. It is inscribed to the father, the mother, the son, and the daughter of the American family. If father, mother, son, and daughter shall love their country better-if they shall understand more clearly and appreciate more fully the founding, progress, and growth of liberty in the New World-the author will be abundantly repaid. |