American History Told by Contemporaries

Book excerpt: Our historians in general deal less with Athe people than, with people, - less with the life and impressions of the average man than with the thoughts of brilliant leaders. The foundations of true historical knowledge of our past are the actual conditions of common life: of country, town, and city; of farmer, artisan, merchant and slaveholder; of church, school, and convention. It this book leads people to understand how their forefathers felt, it will have done its work.Naturally the largest episode in this volume is the building of the Federal Constitution. In this, as in other disputed questions, I have tried to give a fair representation to the various schools of thought: if some people were wrong-headed and illogical and unpatriotic, it is part of history to know what their arguments were and how they were refuted. In approaching the terrible contest over slavery the same method is adopted: the assailant, the champion, and the observer speaks, each for his own side.From the date at which this volume begins, the West assumed a life and character of its own; and this book brings out that abounding frontier life, that constructive political instinct, that force and energy, which are so notable in the development of the West and so important in our national history.Our forefathers did interesting things and left entertaining records. The story of our nation=s development is clearer for the suggestions made by these writers. They are prejudiced; they see but a part of what is going on; they leave many gaps; but, after all, they tell the story.The collection was selected and edited in 1900 by Albert Bushnell Hart, Professor of History at Harvard University, and a well-respected and published scholar