Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by HARPER & BROTHERS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. PREFACE. THERE are certain points in the School History of the United States now submitted to the public to which it is proper to ask the attention of teachers. The work is profusely embellished with ENGRAVINGS. These serve not only to illustrate the text, but will be of assistance in fixing on the memory many of the important occurrences mentioned. Numerous MAPS are inserted at suitable places. At the close of various marked periods in the narrative will be found GENERAL REFLECTIONS, which, it is hoped, will prove interesting and instructive to both teachers and pupils. In these sketches an attempt has been made, within the small limits that can be spared in a school-book, to outline, in the form of generalizations, the habits, industries, and character of the people, the growth of the country, and the causes as well as effects of the more prominent events in its history. In the account of those wars where simultaneous operations were carried on at widely-separated points, particularly in the Civil War, the movements of the different campaigns are, with trifling exceptions, kept together. It is believed that in this way a clearer idea of the progress of military events can be given to a young student than by a purely chronological order. The table at the end of the book, if carefully studied, will supply whatever knowledge of this sort may be deemed desirable. Questions for review will be found interspersed. With this brief statement, the history is introduced to the notice of teachers. NEW YORK, June, 1870. TABLE OF CONTENTS. V. English Discovery and Exploration previous to the year 1607....... LUTION. V. French Explorations in the West and Southwest. |