GOVERNMENT A TEXT-BOOK ON THE HISTORY AND CIVIL BY JAMES ALBERT WOODBURN, PH.D. PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY AND POLITICS IN INDIANA UNIVERSITY AND THOMAS FRANCIS MORAN, PH.D. PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND ECONOMICS IN PURDUE UNIVERSITY "The history of the world is not intelligible LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. LONDON AND BOMBAY 1906 Educ T 709.06.880 HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY GIFT OF GINN AND COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PREFACE THE purpose of this volume is to set forth the essential facts in the history of the United States and to explain the general principles of our national and local governments. It is our belief that "the history of the world is not intelligible apart from the government of the world," and also that government cannot be fully understood apart from history. Each throws light upon the other. We have therefore combined the history and government of the United States in a single volume, believing that by so doing the presentation of each will be strengthened. It is not necessary to argue the necessity of teaching Civics in our schools. The school child of to-day will be the citizen of to-morrow and should have an adequate training for the responsibilities of citizenship. The American citizen governs himself, and to do so successfully he must be familiar with the principles of self-government as contained in the Constitution of the United States and also in the constitution of his own state. It is true that Civil Government is quite generally taught in our high schools, but frequently not until the fourth year. In that case only a small proportion of our boys and girls can avail themselves of the benefits of such a course, as a large number of them conclude their school work with the grammar grades and only a comparatively few are graduated from the high school. It is safe to say that a very large majority of our pupils leave school without having had any direct and systematic instruction in Civil Government. This is the argument for placing the study of Civics in the grammar grades. In many cases this has already been done, but rarely with entire success. The obstacles are two in number. In the first place it is argued that the course of study for the grammar grades is already full and that no time, or at least not sufficient time, could be given to the study of Civil Government. In the second place it is held to be difficult to interest children of grammar school age in laws and constitutions. In the preparation of this volume we have attempted to meet these two difficulties. By lessening the space usually given to many miscellaneous and disconnected topics we have obtained space for a more adequate treatment of the important themes and movements that have been decisive in our national development, while at the same time we have set forth the principles and forms of the American government, both state and national, to an extent sufficient for the needs of pupils of the grammar grades. Both the history and the government the entire book can be completed in the two years usually given to the history alone. A further crowding of the course of study is thus obviated. Civil Government is, moreover, greatly vitalized by being taught in connection with history. Our constitutions and laws, taken by themselves, are not matters of great interest to young children, but when studied in connection with American history and with the proper historical background they take on a new life. We have aimed to connect directly in the pupil's school work the study of his country's history with the study of his country's government. Teachers of History and Civil Government recognize the interdependence of these two subjects. The Committee of Seven of the American Historical Association expressed a feeling common to many teachers by saying: "Much time will be saved and better results obtained if History and Civil Government be studied in large measure together, as one subject rather than as two distinct subjects. . . . What we desire to emphasize is the fact that the two subjects are in some respects one, and that there is a distinct loss of energy in studying a small book on American History and afterwards a small book on Civil Government, or vice versa, when by com |