American History in the Secondary School
ARTHUR M. WOLFSON, PH.D., Editor.
A STUDY OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
The Declaration of Independence is, in every way, an ideal document for study in a secondary school. Every student in the class is undoubtedly familiar with it; he has heard it quoted, in whole or in part, on numberless occasions; he thinks he knows all about it, and yet the teacher can easily show him that it contains vast stores of ideas which up to the present time he has never even suspected. No document in all American history is so easy of interpretation: the language is clear and simple; the phraseology is direct and unencumbered; the document is divided and subdivided so that anyone who takes the trouble can easily analyze it. The Declaration itself is to be found in almost every school history, and the sources and secondary authorities which illustrate it are easily accessible and not too difficult for the ordinary secondary school student.