Excerpt from A History of the United States for Schools The aim of the authors in writing this book has been to present what seemed to them the main historical developments in American history, the knowledge of which will enable the pupil to understand 'he social, political, and economic institutions which he finds about him in this land wherein he lives. In doing this we have tried to use simple language, to show clearly the relation of one fact to another, and to keep the story constantly moving forward. We have sought to interest not by the selection of the merely entertaining facts which are often the things of least value, but by choice of the facts that have meant something in our growth as a nation. This is first of all a text-book and not a story-book. We make no apology for the omission of many of the yarns of American his tory. If history is worth teaching at all, it is worth teaching as causal, vital, meaning history. We heartily approve of reading his tory for mere pleasure. History is, we believe, in many of its high est literary forms, most delightful and valuable mere reading, but for serious study there are certain essentials which should not be disguised or palliated by facts which are only entertaining, and not essentially significant. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.