confederation. The fifth has a full account of the important events of the War for Independence, and the sixth gives a concise history of the Republic, from its formation to the present time. The Supplement is composed of the most important State Papers connected with that formation, such as the Stamp Act, and papers put forth by the Stamp Act Congress ; the papers presented to the consideration of the world by the First and Second Continental Congresses; the Declaration of Independence; the Articles of Confederation; and the Federal Constitution, with the admirable Farewell Address of Washington. These documents, thus grouped and preserved, will be found valuable as embodying the principles of our government. The original draft, with the amendments, of the Declaration of Independence, is given; and, in foot-notes, every charge made against the king of Great Britain, in that manifesto, is proven from History. The Federal Constitution is also accompanied by important commentaries.

The system of concordance interwoven with the notes throughout the entire work, is of great importance to the reader. When a fact is named which bears a relation to another fact elsewhere recorded in the volume, a reference is made to the page where such fact is mentioned. A knowledge of this relationship of separate events is often essential to a clear view of the subject, and without this concordance, a great deal of time would be spent in searching for that relationship. With the concordance the matter may be found in a moment. Favorable examples of the utility of this new feature may be found on page 289. If strict attention shall be given to these references, the whole subject will be presented to the mind of the reader in a comprehensive aspect of unity not to be obtained by any other method.

The engravings are introduced not for the sole purpose of embellishing the volume, but to enhance its utility as an instructor. Every picture is intended to illustrate a fact, not merely to beautify the page. Great care has been taken to secure accuracy in all the delineations of men and things, so that they may not convey false instruction. Geographical maps have been omitted, because they must necessarily be too small to be of essential service. History may be read for the purpose of obtaining general information on the subject, without maps, but it should never be studied without the aid of an accurate Atlas.

The author has endeavored to make this work essentially a FAMILY HISTORY, attractive and instructive; and the Publishers have generously co-worked with him in producing a volume that may justly claim to be excellent in every particular. With these few observations concerning the general plan and merits of the work, it is presented to the public, with an entire willingness to have its reputation rest upon its own merits.

HISTORY

OF

THE UNITED STATES.

RED JACKET.

EVERY cultivated nation had its heroic

age-a period when its first physical and moral conquests were achieved, and when

rude society, with all its impurities, was fused and refined in the crucible of progress. When civilization first set up its standard as a permanent ensign, in the western hemisphere, northward of the Bahamas and the great Gulf, and

the contests for possession began between the wild Aboriginals, who thrust no spade into the soil, no sickle into ripe harvests, and those earnest delvers from the Old World, who came with the light of Christianity, to plant a new empire, and redeem the wilderness by cultivation-then commenced the heroic age of America. It ended when the work of the Revolution in the eighteenth century was accomplished-when the bond of vassalage to Great Britain was severed by her colonies, and when thirteen confederated States ratified a Federal Constitution, and upon it laid the broad foundation of our Republic.'

Long anterior to the advent of Europeans in America, a native empire, little inferior to old Rome in civilization, flourished in that region of our Continent which now forms the south-western portion of our Republic, and the adjoining States of Central America. The Aztec Empire, which reached the acme of its refinement during the reign of Montezuma, and crumbled into fragments beneath the heel of Cortez, when he dethroned and destroyed that monarch,' extended over the whole region from the Rio Grande to the Isthmus of Darien; and when the Spaniards came, it was gradually pushing its conquests northward, where all was yet darkness and gloom. To human apprehension, this people, apparently allied by various ties to the wild nations of North America, appeared to be the most efficient instruments in the hands of Providence, for spreading the light of dawning civilization over the whole Continent. Yet, they were not only denied this glorious privilege, but, by the very race which first attempted to plant the seeds of European society in Florida, and among the Mobilian tribes,' and to shed the illumination of their dim Christianity over the dreary region of the North, was their own bright light extinguished. The Aztecs and their neighbors were beaten into the dust of debasement by the falchion blows of avarice and bigotry, and nothing remains. to attest their superiority but the magnificent ruins of their cities and temples, and their colossal statuary, which has survived the fury of the Spanish iconoclast and the tooth of decay. They form, apparently, not the most insignificant atom of the chain of events which connects the history of the Aboriginal nations of America with that of our Republic. The position of the tribes of the North is different. From the beginning of European settlements, they have maintained, and do still maintain, an important relation to the white people.

The first inhabitants of a country properly belong to the history of all subsequent occupants of the territory. The several nations of red or coppercolored people who occupied the present domain of the United States, when Europeans first came, form as necessary materials for a portion of the history of our Republic, as the Frenchmen and Spaniards, by whom parts of the territory were settled, and from whom they have been taken by conquest or purchase.

The history of the Indian tribes, previous to the formation of settlements among them, by Europeans,' is involved in an obscurity which is penetrated