Influence Upon America.
If we keep these facts in mind: first, that the Navigation Act of 1651 inaugurated a trade policy that was to build up the English carrying trade at the expense of the Dutch; and second, that the accession of William of Orange as William III of England marked the end of the rivalry between the English and the Dutch and inaugurated the struggle between the English and the French, Oliver Cromwell and William of Orange become two of the most important figures in American history and therefore deserve far more attention than is usually accorded them in teaching American history.
For the further study of this phase of American history, the student is recommended to the works of Fiske and Parkman, and to the shorter treatises contained in the volumes of Hart’s “American Nation.” Especially important, however, are the two works of Professor J. R. Seeley which have several times been quoted in this paper: “The Growth of British Policy” and the “Expansion of England.”
A New Text-Book on American History By James and Sanford
REVIEWED BY JOHN SHARPLESS FOX, PH.D., OF THE UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL, CHICAGO.
The new text-book by James and Sanford is an advanced and compendious manual for use in high schools. In it the authors have escaped in large measure the fault common to some of our older texts of writing an essay on American history; on the other hand they have avoided the more grievous error of dumping a mass of undigested facts into their book. They have borne in mind the important principle that generalizations, to be useful, must be accompanied by the facts. The how and the why are explained in this text, and the authors do not assume an undue intimacy with providence.
It has been their aim, they tell us, “to give the main features in the development of our nation, to explain the America of to-day, its civilization and its traditions.” They have sought to emphasize “the achievements of men and women” in the more important fields of human activity,—the “political, industrial, educational and religious.” “Military phases of our history ... have been subordinated to the accounts of the victories of peace.” They have given unusual attention to “the advance of the frontier” and to “the growth and influence of the West”; and “particular care has been taken to state the essential facts in European history necessary to the explanation of events in America.” Unlike some of our older books,—and the parson who announces his text and bids it adieu—the authors have given no separate chapter or section to physical geography, but have called attention to the influence of geographical conditions in connection with events and conditions as they arise. In the opinion of the reviewer, this method has received a large measure of justification in the event, (e. g., pp. 92-95.)
In the matter of proportion, the authors have assigned much more space than is usual to the period following the Civil War, and considerably less to the period from 1789 to 1860; yet the latter does not suffer thereby. The book is divided into chapters (XXXI), with appropriate titles, and marginal notes indicate the contents of paragraphs. Information of a more advanced and supplementary character has been placed in smaller type, which may be omitted by teachers lacking time, or at discretion. It is not clear, however, why the Ordinance of 1787 should be relegated to this minor position (p. 189).