& CO., PHILADELPHIA, 66 NORTH FOURTH STREET; WILLIAM GARRETSON & CO., Gift F.R. Mosher 1949 PREFACE. N this book the author seeks to present correct and desirable information respecting the beginning, growth and management of our government. Conscious of the impossibility of crowding into a single volume half that ought to be known of our institutions, he still thinks that enough may be presented in one book, if properly arranged and closely digested, to make it a welcome and useful companion, and to thereby meet his object. The plan adopted is to first set the reader to thinking about the nature of our Republic, and his duty as a citizen under it. Prepared for further inquiry, if not impressed with higher notions of his privileges, he is asked to look at those little colonial pictures which dotted the Atlantic coast, and were the starting-points of our national existence. With a fair conception of them he will have a key to many subsequent political mysteries. Especially will he know why the drift set in toward a Great American Republic and the manner of men into whose hands its destiny was to fall. He will thence follow naturally the building of the same in its geographic or territorial sense, till it spanned the continent. This was acquisition. But it must be built politically. Here then he is introduced to a brief history of the events which led to the formation of the Constitution and to its adoption by the old thirteen States. This is followed by a division of our vast areas into Territories and their introduction into the Union as States. In building industrially a view is had of our wonderful progress in population, agriculture, commerce, manufacture, education, the arts and sciences, and of our still more wonderful wealth of native resource, whose development is being encouraged by freedom of action and urged by the enterprise of our people. Passing from a built Republic to its ruling or governing, the first consideration is that of Federal Machinery or Method-how Presidents, Congresses, Cabinets, Courts and Department Officers are made, what they are all for, and what they do. The next considera tion is the States-how they are governed, where they stand in the midst of the central fabric, and what each contributes in the way of population, industry and wealth to the National whole. Not the least important feature of ruling is that which is in great part political. Here is given, in a brief, impartial manner, a history of all the political parties, together with the measures which divided them in Administrations, Congresses and Campaigns. The author has thought this would be refreshing to elderly people, a source of valuable information to the young, and especially desirable to those of any age who wished to prime themselves for debate or fortify their personal convictions by reference to public men and measures. This branch of the subject really gets to be a history of the Administrations and Congresses. To complete the plan, a view is taken of the leading vital questions of the day. They are up for discussion now, and will be for some time. Knowledge respecting them is desirable and proper. They are not discussed from any party or personal standpoint, but are treated historically. Only the facts connected with each are presented, and these the reader may deal with as he pleases. This is also true of the history of the respective candidates for President and Vice-President, with which it has been deemed proper to close the volume. Their prominence at this juncture, the influence they exert on parties, and, through them, on the government, make acquaintance with their lives a matter of duty. While the plan, thus outlined, is such as seemed most helpful to the writer in gathering and grouping his facts, and to the reader in making his study an orderly progress, the effort has been constant to use only the most reliable and unprejudiced data at command. The historic and legal authorities consulted and used are the recognized standards. As to debates in Congress, statistics, and kindred facts, the author has, in general, gone to original sources, using freely National and State records and reports. Ofttimes for close arrangement of matter he has followed some one of our many annuals, among the best of which is reckoned Spofford's "Treasury of Facts." Trusting that his plan will meet with popular approval and that his treatment of the various and interesting subjects will serve to convey in a pleasant and instructive way the information gathered and printed in the book, he ceases a labor begun and ended in a conviction that no higher nor better knowledge can get abroad than that which qualifies a man for the duties of active, wise and patriotic citizenship. |