In the preparation of this volume I am indebted to many friends for advice and coöperation in obtaining material. In the search for present-day conditions I have drawn heavily upon many correspondents including school superintendents, textbook authors and publishers, as well as those engaged in criticising school histories. To all who have aided, I would here express my sincere gratitude. I have particularly profited by the guidance and constructive criticism of Professor Arthur M. Schlesinger of Harvard University, who first called the subject to my attention, and who is chiefly responsible for whatever merit there is in this study. I am indebted for many helpful suggestions to Professor Ernest Horn of the University of Iowa, to Professor Carl Wittke of Ohio State University, and to Dr. Richard J. Purcell of the Catholic University of America. These acknowledgments would not be complete without mentioning my obligation to my sister, Anne E. Pierce, for assistance at all stages in the preparation of the manuscript, and to my mother, whose spirit of coöperation has proved a constant source of inspiration.

B. L. P.

CONTENTS

[PART I]
STATUTORY REGULATION OF THE TEACHING OF HISTORY
[I.]The Periods of Beginnings[3]
[II.]Nationalism and Localism in History Legislation, 1860-1900[12]
[III.]Laws for the Expansion of the History Curriculum,1900-1917[43]
[IV.]The Effect of the World War on Laws for TeachingHistory[70]
[V.]Disloyalty Charges Against Teachers Since 1917[111]
[PART II]
THE ACTIVITIES OF PROPAGANDIST AGENCIES
[VI.]Attempts to Control Textbooks[135]
[VII.]The Attack on History Textbooks Since 1917[206]
Appendices[301]
Bibliography[339]
Index[355]

PART I
STATUTORY REGULATION OF THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

“The law is only a memorandum ... and as fast as the public mind is opened to more intelligence, the code is seen to be brute and stammering. It speaks not articulately and must be made to.... The history of the State sketches in coarse outline the progress of thought, and follows at a distance the delicacy of culture and of aspiration.”

Emerson, Essays and English Traits.

PART I
STATUTORY REGULATION OF THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

CHAPTER I
The Period of Beginnings

Statutory prescriptions of history as a specific subject in the American public school had their beginning in the years between 1827 and 1860; yet the way for such enactments had been charted by earlier educational legislation. For example, in 1642 the Massachusetts Puritans provided that every child be taught enough “to read and understand the principles of religion and the capital laws of the country,”[1] and returning to the subject in 1647, expressed their belief that education would serve to “thwart that auld deluder Sathan” whose “cheife project [was] to keep men from ye knowledge of ye Scriptures.”[2]