The History Teacher's Magazine, Vol. I, No. 3, November, 1909

Chapter III: Section 14: , which refers to the various acts of Parliament attempting

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to regulate colonial trade and colonial government, is based, the student can again discover by consulting his history; while the last four grievances which complain of acts done by the king since the outbreak of the Revolution can be analysed with the greatest facility.

The conclusion of the Declaration needs no special study. It follows naturally from the preamble, and from the statement of grievances which Jefferson and his colleagues now considered as proved. The irony, conscious or unconscious, of Jefferson’s use of the exact language of the Declaratory Act of 1766, always impresses the student when the comparison is made clear (Macdonald, Charters, p. 316). Another fruitful comparison is with the Dutch Act of Abjuration, of July 24, 1581 (Old South Leaflets, No. 72).

The student should be required to know exactly the language of the most significant phrases of the conclusion; indeed, certain striking and important phrases throughout the Declaration may very well be set to the students for exact memorization.

European History in the Secondary School

D. C. KNOWLTON, PH.D., Editor.

THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES AND THE TRANSITION TO THE RENAISSANCE.

Arrangement of Topics.

The order in which the main topics shall be presented to the class is settled in part for the teacher by the particular text-book in use. In fact, this feature of a book may have been an important factor in its selection. Almost every possible combination of topics may be found in the text-books now on the market, ranging all the way from the strictly chronological presentation of the events to an apparent disregard of the time element altogether. Among the former are to be found authors who, though endeavoring to follow the chronological order seek so to bind together the events of a given century or more that they may be considered as one great topic. Such attempts at generalization, however, may prove misleading to the student. Almost any book, if rightly used, allows the teacher a little latitude not only in the choice of topics, but also in the order of presentation. If the teacher skips about too much it may lead to misconception and confusion on the part of the student. If, however, the text-book and the library facilities at the command of the teacher allow of considerable freedom in respect to order, it is at the best a very perplexing question to settle. It may be a comparatively easy matter to reach a conclusion as to the order of the first few topics, say to the revival of the empire by Otto I, but from that time forward to the Renaissance so many combinations and arrangements are possible that it becomes increasingly difficult to hit upon an order which is entirely satisfactory. The Crusades, for example, may be considered before the teacher has finished the struggle between the popes and the emperors, for the most important of these movements overlap this great contest. Then there is the question of how and where to give the student some insight into English conditions so that he may understand the relation of that country to the main stream of European development. Again there is the question of just where and in what connection to present the life and culture so that it may leave the most lasting impression. There are many good reasons for leaving the presentation of the Crusades until after the struggle between the popes and emperors and then considering the life of the times especially in its connection with the rising towns. It is an easy and a natural transition from the development of trade as affected by the Crusades to a consideration of the towns themselves and town life. Conditions here can be presented in a sharp contrast to those discussed earlier in connection with feudalism.

The Thirteenth Century as a Turning Point.

It has been suggested that 1268 be selected as a turning point in the history of Europe, marking as it does the practical disappearance for the time being of the empire as a factor in politics, the beginning of the decline of the papacy, and the rise of the third estate, which is illustrated in England by the growth of the House of Commons and in Germany and Italy by the two great city leagues and the power of Venice, Florence and Genoa. If this suggestion is followed, the Hundred Years’ War and the history of the papacy in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries may serve to introduce the Renaissance if a discussion of the latter is preceded or followed by a general summary of the political situation in Europe at the opening of the sixteenth century, with special reference to those powers, both new and old, which are to dominate in the new period.

Absence of Unifying Elements.

The attempt to bridge the period between the Hundred Years’ War and the Renaissance and Reformation is attended with a great many real difficulties, which are aggravated rather than lightened by the usual arrangement of material to be found in the text-book. There is not only an apparent absence of unifying elements, but the impression created on teacher and student is that of turmoil and confusion, with here and there a situation full of dramatic interest. “Only the closest attention,” declares one writer, “can detect the germs of future order in the midst of the struggle of dying and nascent forces, ... The dominant characteristic of the age is its diversity, and it is hard to find any principle of coördination.”[5] Although the task before the secondary teacher is not an easy one, it is possible by confining the attention of the student to a few fundamental facts successfully to meet the problem.

The stories of the Babylonian Captivity and the Great Schism can be so presented that they will serve not only to accentuate the great change which was taking place in Western Europe in the formation of powerful States like England, France and Spain, but in such a manner as to make clearer the Renaissance in Italy, and the wave of religious reform which swept over Europe before this earlier movement had entirely spent its force. The student can easily appreciate the contrast presented by the condition of the papacy in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and its might in the days of Gregory VII and Innocent III.

It is more difficult just here to show how these events were connected with the Renaissance. A number of circumstances combined together in Italy to accentuate city development, not the least of which was the failure of the popes and emperors to realize their dreams of universal dominion. The final overthrow of the Hohenstaufen has already been discussed. Probably no set of circumstances contributed more to bring the papacy into disrepute and reduce them to the position of Italian princes forced to look after their own private affairs than the conditions which prevailed in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The effects, then, of the residence at Avignon and the circumstances attending the return to Rome, call for special emphasis.

Although the schism was healed by the Council of Constance, so little was done by this assembly and the other councils which followed it to reform the abuses which had crept into the Church, that it is not strange that the demand for a reform voiced by such men as Erasmus and Luther in the sixteenth century met with a warm reception in so many quarters. This great movement, which has been called the Protestant revolt, becomes clearer if the attention has been drawn to the teachings and work of Wycliffe and Huss, who even at this early date uttered words which were by no means lost. With these facts in mind, not forgetful of the decided tendencies toward the formation of strong states, each sufficient unto itself, to which reference has already been made, the establishment of national churches in the sixteenth century does not impress the student as a strange phenomenon incapable of explanation.

Europe at Opening of Sixteenth Century.

A survey of the political situation at the beginning of the sixteenth century will not only serve to deepen some of the impressions already made, but will furnish the student with a vantage point from which he can appreciate the better the great changes which were soon to follow. Such a summary should be made with a map before the class, and all should be urged to marshal the salient facts in the history of the different countries as they come up for consideration. The order to be followed will, of course, depend somewhat on the treatment of the Renaissance. The logical order perhaps would be to take the older states first and then the more recent powers, like Spain, the Ottoman Turks, Switzerland, possibly including the Baltic peninsula. The following simple outline is offered merely as a suggestion, and can be amplified at the discretion of the teacher so as to include a wider survey.

I. The Older States.
1. England.
a. Hundred Years’ War.
b. Wars of the Roses and overthrow of feudalism.
c. Establishment of the Tudors.
2. France.
a. Hundred Years’ War.
b. Louis XI and Burgundy.
3. Germany (the Empire).
a. The Interregnum (to 1273).
b. Election of Rudolph of Hapsburg and his conquest of Austria.
c. The Golden Bull, 1347.
d. Title hereditary in Austrian House, 1438-1806.
4. Italy.
a. Beginning of the Renaissance.
b. The five great States.
c. Claims of France and Spain.
II. The New States.
1. Spain.
a. Rise of the Christian kingdoms and struggles against the
Moors.
b. Union of Castile and Aragon and fall of Granada.
c. Spain in the new world.
d. Maximilian’s marriages.
2. The Ottoman Turks.
a. Appearance in time of the Crusades.
b. Invasions of Europe.
c. Conquest of Constantinople, 1453.
3. Switzerland--struggle for independence.
4. The Baltic States.
a. The Union of Calmar, 1397.
b. Independence of Sweden.--Gustavus Vasa.

It will be noted that new material is presented in this connection, as, for example, in the case of all the new powers, and also to some extent in the treatment of Germany and Italy.

Bibliography.

The text-book will probably furnish adequate material not only for the Hundred Years’ War itself, but for the gradual development of France and England in the years preceding the struggle. Lodge, in the preface to “The Close of the Middle Ages,” states some of the problems involved in a study of the period. In his concluding chapter he attempts to characterize the Middle Ages and show their relation to the Renaissance. Seignobos’ “History of Medieval and Modern Civilization” contains two well-written chapters on “The End of the Middle Ages and the Establishment of Absolute Power in Europe” (chapters xv-xvi). Summaries of the political situation at the close of the Middle Ages are to be found in most of the text-books. Chapter xxiii in Robinson, “Western Europe,” portrays conditions at the beginning of the sixteenth century. In the source books of Thatcher and McNeal, of Robinson and of Ogg are found extracts illustrating the history of the papacy during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The former marshals all the important documents together in a section entitled “The Church. 1250-1500.” Robinson’s selections are perhaps as useful as any for the light they throw on the reform movement. Froissart’s “Chronicles,” furnish abundant material on the Hundred Years’ War.

FOOTNOTE:

[5] Lodge, Close of Middle Ages, Preface.

Ancient History in the Secondary School

WILLIAM FAIRLEY, Ph.D., Editor.

SPARTA, ATHENS, THE PERSIAN WARS.

The Greek Weakness.

The fact that we are now to trace the very distinct development of Athens and of Sparta points out an essential characteristic of the Greek race: their division into rival and warring states. A fine question to arouse thought on the part of pupils is: How could little states so near together as Attica, Laconia, Arcadia and Bœotia come to differ so in their characteristics? Why were they not all developed nearly along the same lines, like the people of the United States? Let the children be brought to see that the lack of means of communication, in contrast with our post and telegraph and newspaper, goes far to explain this. This isolated development, in spite of the common language, games and festivities, was the perpetual weakness of Greece.

Sparta; Her Strength and Her Limitations.

Sparta, unlike Attica, was essentially a military State. Her chief town needed no walls because it was always an armed camp. Botsford well points out that in earlier times the Spartans were probably the superiors of the Athenians in culture and refinement; but their self-imposed discipline made them a race of soldiers. We know that the Periœci were successful artisans and traders; but the controlling passion of the little nation was military efficiency. Everything seems to have been sacrificed to that. When the classes come to the glories of the Athenian golden age, it will be well to point out that while she has her scores of names which are luminous in art, literature, science and philosophy, from the annals of Sparta the world knows mainly Lycurgus, the lawgiver, and Leonidas, the hero of Thermopylæ. If a teacher is inclined to cultivate in his pupils the idea that military glory is not to be the main concern, he may well use the Spartan record. Yet Sparta with these limitations played a mighty part in the story of the Greek struggle. Her armed efficiency more than once saved Greece as a whole when the less practical Athenian system had broken down.

The Persian Wars.

The names of the famous contests are enshrined in the world’s admiration. Aside from a formal knowledge of the fascinating struggle, deeper things are to be considered. What was the danger to Europe in this Persian attack? Persians were of the same race as Greeks. Why would it not have been well for them in their might to tack the little Greek city states on as part of a great world empire? And the secret of the success of Greece in repelling them is to be found in the essential difference between the thoughtful self-respecting Greek, and the flogged and servile Persian. We speak of the “man behind the gun.” In those days it was the “man who held the sword.”

Athenian Development.

Athens and Switzerland are popular synonyms for democracy. Yet Switzerland has only become truly democratic within the past century, and Athens never was truly so. This has been alluded to in a preceding article. What did happen in Athens was a wonderful growth from aristocratic exclusiveness toward democracy. The gains that were made brought about finally a state of things that was never approached elsewhere in the ancient world save possibly in the Hebrew commonwealth. For this advance all honor is due the men of Athens. A comparative study of the earlier constitution with the successive reforms of Solon and Cleisthenes may well be used to point out that the common people were more and more coming into their own. West, on p. 125 of his “Ancient World,” has a table of some of these constitutions which might well be completed as a blackboard exercise. It will then at once become apparent what direction reform was taking. Note, however, the weakness of the executive and the reason for it, i. e., the Greek jealousy of individual or continued power. Show how the tyranny of Peisistratos was almost the inevitable result of this weakness of the executive. The exclusion of foreign (even Greek) settlers from citizenship, save in exceptional cases, was entirely contrary to our ideas. And the existence of slavery in the person of captives in war and of poor debtors was a fatal blot on the democracy and the welfare of Athens, as of all the Greek States. The social struggle, with its various mitigations of the lot of the very poor parallels the political strife. Our children are breathing in from the papers and from current discussions the idea that our social inequalities and our contest between capital and labor are a new phenomenon. They ought to learn that such contest is almost world old. We have new elements such as the vast individual fortune and the part taken by the corporations, both unknown in old Greece, but the essential features of the struggle were the same. And the tendency of twenty-four hundred years ago as well as of to-day was and is to give larger right and opportunity to the common man.

Greek Poetry and Architecture.

Some school historians and teachers decry the effort to mingle with the political history any study of Greek art. But to the writer’s mind that would be a robbery of the children. Our modern life is so saturated with things almost purely Greek in origin that our budding citizens, who may never get elsewhere a glimpse of the origins of so much that is beautiful, ought surely to get such glimpses now.

In towns large enough to contain varied examples the teacher can show the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian styles by going with his classes to the buildings illustrative of each, or at least by telling where such may be found. In the smaller towns pictures of famous buildings may be used. (Remember that the dome is not Greek, but Roman.) In like manner the poetry of the Greeks may be used. The epic, the elegy, the lyric and their great exemplars call for mention. The drama comes a little later. Meter appears to have been of Greek origin. Some of its distinctions are worth a few minutes. And here is opportunity for correlation with the work in English literature. Our poetic forms go back to the people we are studying now. A recent writer makes the caustic comment that with most teachers correlation is “a poor relation.” Rightly viewed, it would appear that no subject better than history furnishes the opportunity for side lights on other branches of the student’s work. For here we get the beginnings of so many things that are commonplaces with us. But they were new once, and so many of the choicest of them had their birth in the little land and among the wonderful people of our present study.

A Digression.

The difference between a good history teacher and a poor one lies largely in the skill and purpose of the former in making his work vivid. Vividness is best secured by a comparison of these ancient conditions with our own. And it is a scholastic crime that a child should be allowed to run away with such a notion as this: that at Salamis the “Greek forts on the shore bombarded the Persian fleet and saved the day”; or that “the Persians steamed away in despair.” These are real examples. Such a child needs waking up. Ask him if he knows what a “Marathon runner” is, and show that by means of such runners the place of the telegraph in our modern life was taken. Pictures may be made of great service. Teachers in our great centers, who have their own history rooms, with their proper apparatus and adornments, have a great advantage here; but humbler means, like the Perry pictures, are available by all.

Carthage and the Greeks.

A topic often neglected is the Carthaginian invasion of Sicily. That was part of an age-long struggle between a great commercial empire and the peoples of different races whose main idea was not commercial supremacy. Punic trader and Spartan soldier have left small mark in the temple of fame. Yet not long ago I heard one of our modern iconoclastic historians sharply question whether it might not have been better for the world in the end if Carthage had beaten both Greek and Roman.

The Athenian Empire.

Doubtless trade plays a larger part in political development than many people think. And desire for trade and wealth was a great motive in the upbuilding of the Athenian empire out of the Delian League. It is a shady chapter, like many another island annexation. Similarly it may be said that our spoiling the Dutch of New Netherland was questionable. Yet but for that we might have had no United States. Politically speaking, out of evil good has come. It was the half-pirated wealth of Venice that led to her artistic glory. So the wealth and the political pre-eminence that Athens gained out of the Delian League gave her genius means and scope for its perfect flowering in the age of Pericles. And that will bring us to our next chapter.

English History in the Secondary School

C. B. NEWTON, Editor.

III. ADVANCE AND RETROGRESSION; THE HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR.

Progress is the keynote of the period we have now reached. The rise of the House of Commons, extending over the last of the thirteenth and first of the fourteenth centuries, the great laws of Edward I’s reign, the growth of commerce, the national spirit induced by the national triumphs at Crecy and Poitiers are some of the larger landmarks in the forward march of the English nation during the hundred years following Henry III. Even the troubled years which followed the black death, the upheavals in society and religion in the latter fourteenth century, were the throes of progress. Then, but for the brief glories of Henry V, comes a time of halting--the miserable end of the long and useless conflict with France, the turbulence and lawlessness of the baronage, the weakness of the king, all combine to bring about a period of retrogression, when the pulse of the nation beats low and the tides of progress were stayed. Soon the purging bloodshed of the Wars of the Roses and the strong hand of the Tudors started once more the healthy growth which had been checked. Some such general survey, presented, perhaps on the blackboard by a line of the kind used to indicate seismic disturbances, or given in some brief direct notes taken down verbatim, will serve as a clearer of the atmosphere, an indicator of the trend of things during this difficult period.

A Problem in Quantities.

I say “difficult” because I find myself, when I reach the great reign of his Majesty Edward I, ’twixt a veritable Scylla and Charybdis, past whom I steer with annual apprehension. I know I must take a middle course, but I have not yet satisfied myself that I have found the _best_ channel for the precious cargo that I carry. Scylla is the danger of too little detail, the devouring monster of over-definiteness; Charybdis is the equal danger of too much detail, the menace of the minutiæ which defeat their own purpose, and confound in the whirlpool of mental confusion.

Let me explain more concretely. The origin and development of the House of Commons is a highly important subject. It behooves me to impress its history as lucidly and forcibly as may be upon my class. But it is a subject beset with obscurities and difficult to make clear to an immature mind. I may ignore all the obscurities and the conflicting details, and may simply emphasize the principal landmarks--the first inclusion of the “commons” in Simon de Montfort’s parliament of 1265; the cementing of Simon’s innovation in the Model Parliament of 1295, and the separation of the upper and lower Houses early in Edward III’s reign. This is the method of some of the older text-books. It is clear cut, simple, definite. But is it true? Certainly not unqualifiedly no. My love of truth warns me that I must not make it so definite, so conveniently cut and dried, so absolute if I am to convey the historical facts. On the other hand, suppose I resolve to go into more strictly accurate detail. Shall I call forth the note-books and painstakingly explain that representatives of the shires were first summoned by King John in 1213; that two knights from each shire were called to parliament in 1254; that in 1261 three knights were summoned; in 1264, _four_; in 1265, two knights and two burgesses; in 1275, two knights; but that the practice of summoning knights of the shire and citizens of the towns did not become in any sense continuous till 1295? If I do this, I must go further and try to give some of the reasons for this desultory and varying practice, and before I am done, I have made a fine muddle in my pupils’ heads! I have shipwrecked both interest and comprehension, and I am not much nearer conveying truth than I would have been by the former method. So, too, I must beware of giving or allowing the impression that parliament was in any sense a legislative body at this period, and at the same time I must have a care lest in trying to explain its functions not always too clear to the more advanced scholar, I explain too much and mislead where I would enlighten.

The same difficulty presents itself in the effort to give the gist of the great laws of Edward I and of Edward III. Some of these laws are very hard to express simply; some of them were enacted over and over again. Yet the principles for which they stood, and their subsequent effects can hardly be overlooked. Again, as in the case of the House of Commons, I must be definite and simple, and yet not too definite or too simple.

Of course, this is nothing more than the problem of selection which confronts historians and teachers at many points, but rather more persistently at some points than others. There is no patent solution for the problem, but I believe it helps immensely to be thoroughly alive to it, and to keep two principles steadily in mind when we find the difficulty particularly acute--(1) that strong meat is not for babes, and that the finer points of a discussion such as that which concerns the growth of the lower branch of parliament should be reserved for university work; (2) that though truth may be better subserved by bringing out essentials clearly, even with over-emphasis, yet it is possible to suggest qualifications which will leave loopholes for further modification. For instance, the parliaments of 1265 and 1295 may be emphasized as the first and second steps in the beginning of the House of Commons, yet it may be explained that as early as John’s reign knights of the shire were occasionally summoned to parliament.

I have dwelt at some length on this subject because, self-evident as it may seem, it is full of pitfalls which only the utmost vigilance will avoid.

A Plea for Life and Color.

Fortunately there is plenty of stirring action to offset the tedium (to boys and girls) of laws and parliaments. Bannockburn, Crecy, Poitiers, Agincourt--what an array of names to conjure with! Let us not be parsimonious, fellow teachers, when we reach these vantage grounds of glory! Let us not be ultra-orthodox in our scientific view of history. In the reaction, the very proper reaction from the view of history which made it a mere record of wars and battles there is danger of making it a valley of dry bones. After all, it is the record of life, and the events which have stirred the imagination and aroused the patriotism of millions are not to be too lightly set aside. Let the young imagination “drink delight of battle with its peers”; let it see what was really noble as well as what was base in chivalry. Surely it is worth while that it should catch the life and color of those middle ages--so different, yet after all so human. Froissart has given us this in a form now easily accessible, or failing a complete edition of his “Chronicles,” Cheyney’s “Readings” furnish a taste (pp. 233-249), but hardly enough, for only Crecy is here described. Green, as usual, is vivid in his battle accounts--Bannockburn, pp. 213 and 214; Crecy, Calais, and Poitiers, pp. 225-230; and Agincourt, pp. 267-268. Henry V’s speech in Shakespeare’s play of “Henry V” is too splendid in its rhetoric to be overlooked. Sometimes a laggard in the class loves to declaim, and may be stirred to some interest by such a speech. Here is the chance to make him useful.

And then the story of Joan of Arc, with its unspeakable beauty and pathos, comes as a noble climax, a spiritual contrast, to the series of events the glamour of which is at best of the earth earthy in comparison with the life and death of the Maid. Gardiner’s “Student’s History” contains a very concise account of her life, pp. 310-312. The extracts from contemporary writings, pp. 289-296 of Cheyney’s “Readings” are very interesting and illuminating. Green’s account, pp. 274-279, is vivid, especially the story of her trial and death, p. 279. Reference to the great performance given in the Harvard Stadium last June by Maud Adams would add reality and interest to the study of Joan of Arc. An interesting account of this, with pictures, may be found in “Current Literature” for August, 1909, pp. 196-199.

For a very interesting detailed account of the beginnings of the House of Commons, see the extended quotation from Stubbs’s “Select Charters” in Beard’s “Introduction,” pp. 124-157.

In discussing the “black death” and its effects, it is worth while to point out the revolution wrought by modern medicine and sanitation to which is due the absence of such plagues from modern Europe. The “bubonic plague,” which still devastates India, is much like the “black death,” and the failure of the English to exterminate it in India is due to the superstitious dread and suspicion with which the natives regard all efforts toward inoculation, segregation and disinfection. In the “Readings,” pp. 255-257, is a contemporary account of the plague which not only paints it realistically, but shows its effects on labor.

Civics in the Secondary School

ALBERT H. SANFORD, Editor.

THE CORRELATION OF AMERICAN HISTORY AND CIVICS.

In the year 1906 a committee of the North Central History Teachers’ Association made an investigation of the relations existing between American History and Civics in secondary schools, their report being printed in the Proceedings of that date. A portion of the report consisted of an outline showing the possibility of correlating many topics in these two subjects. In response to numerous requests this portion of the report is here re-printed. In their conclusions, the committee recommended correlation as far as this is feasible; but they emphasized the fact that many important topics in Civics would not be adequately treated by this method, and hence should be taught separately. The arguments supporting this and other conclusions are to be found in the full report referred to above. The committee consisted of the following: Albert H. Sanford, Carl Russell Fish, Mildred Hinsdale, C. C. Bebout, and Mary Louise Childs.

An Outline Showing the Correlation of American History with Civics.

(1) COLONIAL HISTORY.

HISTORY TOPICS. CIVICS TOPICS.

A--_Local Governments._

Town Type in New England. Town Organization of To-day.

Aristocratic County Type in the County Organization in Southern
South. States.

Combined Town and Democratic Towns and Counties in all
County Type in Middle Colonies. Western States.

It is not intended that the Civics topics stated above shall be treated exhaustively; the mere fact of the existence of the organizations that correspond to the colonial types is the extent of the correlation at this point. (Reasons for this restriction will be stated later.) The important thing is that the pupil be taught not to associate these institutions exclusively with the localities in which they originated, but to regard them as the typical forms of organization of those different elements of our population which they carried, or rather under which they marched, westward.

HISTORY TOPICS. CIVICS TOPICS.

B--_Colonial Governments._

Colonial House of Representatives. State House of Representatives,
or Assembly.

Colonial Governor’s Council. State Senate.

Colonial Governor and Courts. State Governor and Courts.

Colonial Charter. State Constitution.

C--_British Empire._

Control of Foreign Affairs, Peace Control of same affairs by
and War, Indians, ungranted Congress.
land, and Commerce by Parliament.

Privy Council. United States Supreme Court.

(2) REVOLUTIONARY AND CRITICAL PERIODS.

HISTORY TOPICS. CIVICS TOPICS.

The Formation of State Governments The Existing States and State
and adoption of State Constitutions.
Constitutions.

Continental Congresses and Articles The Central Government.
of Confederation.

The Impotence of Congress. Our strong central powers.

Prominence of State Feeling. The National spirit.

Attitude of Foreign Nations. Position of the United States
to-day.

It will be noticed in (1) and (2) that the comparisons are between particular facts of our history and some of the more general features of our National government. The details of present conditions may not be understood by students who have not studied Civics separately.

(3) CONSTITUTIONAL PERIOD.

Under the topics that follow, we find the history of our present National government, seen in the formation of the Constitution and the workings of the government thus formed. The natural correlation, then, is between the event (either in the Constitutional Convention or in our later history) and that part of the Constitution which thus came about, or which forms the basis for the action of the government described.

The historical topics are not arranged in strictly chronological order, but in the sequence in which they are usually treated. In most cases no mention has been made of events which show the working of the government under a clause of the Constitution that has once been included; for instance, not all the important treaties of our history are mentioned. Enough attention should be devoted to the clause when first mentioned to fix it in the mind of the pupil. In some instances, however, there is repetition of this kind, particularly where the interpretation has changed from time to time.

A. The Constitutional Convention.

Art. Sec. Clause.
Legislative Department 1 1
1 4 2
The House 1 2 1, 3, 5
The Senate 1 3 1, 2, 4, 5
Additional Compromise provisions 1 7 1
1 9 4
Executive Department 2 1 1, 4, 5, 6
Judicial Department 3 1 1
Commerce questions 1 8 3
1 9 1, 5, 6
Surrender of powers by States 1 10 1, 2, 3
Grant of these powers to U. S. 1 8 1, 3, 5, 11
Ratification of the Constitution 7
The first ten Amendments 6 and Amdts. 1-10

B. The Administrations.

The election of President and
Vice-President, 1789 2 1 1, 2
The oath of office taken by Washington 2 1 7
Organization of Departments 1 8 18
The Cabinet, composed of heads of depts. 2 2 1
The Cabinet responsible to the President[6] 2 2 2, 3
The Treasury Department 1 9 7
The first revenue bills 1 8 1
Establishment of mint and coinage 1 8 5, 6
Census of 1790 1 2 3
Provisions for U. S. and State debts 1 8 2
6 1
The National Bank, broad and strict
construction 1 8 18
Legislation on western lands 4 3 2
Admission of Vermont and Kentucky 4 3 1
The Whiskey Insurrection 2 3
1 8 15
2 2 1
Washington’s refusal to receive Genet 2 3
Jay’s Treaty 2 2 2
Case of Chisholm vs. Georgia Amendment 11
Threatened war with France 1 8 11, 12, 13,14
Naturalization act 1 8 4
Sedition law Amendment 1
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, Preamble.
the nature of the government 1 8 18
6 2
Amendments 9, 10.
Organization of the District of Columbia 1 8 17
Election of 1801 2 1 2
Amendment 12.
Adams’s “midnight judges” 1 8 9
2 2 2
Case of Marbury vs. Madison 3 2 1
Impeachment of Chase 2 4
1 2 5
1 3 6, 7
Louisiana Purchase 2 2 2
1 8 18
Cumberland Road appropriation 1 8 7, 18
Burr’s trial 3 3 1, 2
3 2 3
Prohibition of slave trade 1 9 1
Embargo Act 1 8 3
Clay as Speaker 1 2 5
Action of New England States as regards
militia 1 8 15, 16

New England opposition to War of 1812, Preamble.
and Hartford Convention 1 8 18
6 2
Amendments 9, 10.
Treaty of Ghent (another method of
negotiating treaties) 2 2 2
Supreme Court decisions as to jurisdiction
of States and Nation--Influence of
Marshall 3 2 1
Protective tariff, 1816 1 8 1, 18
Internal improvement laws and vetoes 1 8 7, 18
1 7 2
Missouri Compromise 4 3 2
4 2 1
Election of 1824 by House of
Representatives Amendment 12.
Nullification by South Carolina Preamble.
1 8 18
6 2
Amendments 9, 10.
Public lands 4 3 2
Spoils system 2 2 2
“Gag rule” Amendment 1.
Censure and expunging resolution 1 5 3
Independent treasury 1 8 18
Succession of Tyler to Presidency 2 1 5
Annexation of Texas by joint resolution 1 7 3
Declaration of war against Mexico 1 8 11
Influence of patent and copyright systems 1 8 8
Wilmot Proviso--Squatter sovereignty
discussion 4 3 2
Fugitive slave law 4 2 3
Abolition of slave trade in District of
Columbia 1 8 17
Personal liberty laws and underground
railroad 6 2
Amendments 6, 7.
Attempted expulsion of Brooks 1 5 2
Dred Scott decision 3 2 1
4 3 2
Lincoln-Douglas debates; election of U. S.
Senator 1 3 1
Secession and Buchanan’s policy--Legal Preamble.
position of seceding States 1 8 18
6 2
Amendments 9, 10.
Lincoln’s policy in reinforcing Ft. Sumter 2 1 7
2 3
The U. S. army and navy, and the draft 1 8 12, 13, 15
2 2 1
Suspension of the writ of habeas corpus 1 9 2
Congressional taxation and bonds acts 1 8 1, 2
Legal tender act 1 8 2, 5
Emancipation proclamation 2 2 1
National bank act 1 8 18
Supreme Court decision on the nature of
the Union Preamble.
1 8 18
6 2
Amendments 9, 10.
Civil Service Act 2 2 2
Interstate Commerce and Anti-Trust Laws 1 8 3
Income tax decision 1 2 3
1 9 4
Reciprocity acts 1 8 11
Annexation of Hawaii 1 7 3
2 2 2
Free coinage 1 8 5
Restriction of Suffrage in South Amendment 14, Section 2.
Gold standard act, 1900 1 8 5
Immigration laws 1 8 3
Injunctions in labor disputes 3 2 1
Postal Savings Banks 1 8 7

FOOTNOTE:

[6] At this point the comparison between our system and the English cabinet system may be introduced; but this cannot be fully discussed until after the committee system is understood.

Reports from the Historical Field

WALTER H. CUSHING, Editor.

OXFORD SUMMER SCHOOL.

The Oxford Summer School has two souls. The student feels the influence of each from the moment he enters the examination halls--nay, as he hurries down High Street, “the glorious High Street,” which Wordsworth’s sonnet has enshrined. In spite of the groups of foreigners talking together in their mother tongues as they too hasten towards the meeting, in spite of the single women who wear English boots, and speak with the English gentlewoman’s mellifluous voice, in spite of tall blonde German students arguing vociferously but good-naturedly, in spite of the whole one thousand three hundred men and women, who are gathering together for another renewed quickening in modern thought along educational lines, one feels a throng of ghosts pressing in upon him--ghosts of memories which surge as really as does the crowd itself. One feels the spirit of To-day and To-morrow taking hold of him and the spirit of Yesterday whispering in his ears. One should be Janus-faced in Oxford, for the soul of the Past and the soul of Now beckon each in its own way. One cannot turn a corner of the high walls, or pass through a gateway, or wander through a cloister, without feeling the ineffable beauty of the past, the intangible glory of the days of Wolsey and Cranmer and Cromwell and Reginald Pole, or the later gorgeousness of Charles I and the army of Royalists who held high carnival here before their downfall. Men who have made modern thought possible, poets, essayists, historians, scientists, one touches the influence of their work at every step, as well as meeting them face to face from their portraits upon the walls of college banqueting halls or chapter houses. Everywhere one feels even a still greater power, the ecclesiastical domination, which in early days peopled this glorious city with its monks, friars, priests and bishops. One’s imaginations runs riot as he peers from a cloister walk, when the chimes are jangling. He all but sees the Benedictine Friars, and he does not need to await their coming across the soft, velvety green, under the spreading limes, or oaks, they are there, their breviaries in their hands, their heads bowed.

But while the student conjures up the men who made Oxford in the thirteenth, and fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, the men of the twentieth century are pressing against him with human force, and he finds himself crossing High Street once more with the surging crowd. He has learned to differentiate the members of the school still further. This group are Swedes; and another Danes; those men, with a scattering of women, are Socialists; the bevy of black-eyed, red-cheeked girls come from France; they are trying in three weeks to rub up their convent English. Then there are so many round-faced, round-bodied German fraus, the embodiment of comfortableness, who have come over with their theoretical husbands. And surely some of these German students seem to need just such “help-mates” to keep them attached to earth. As one sits in the gallery of the Sheldonian Theater one almost feels that a map of the social world lies below, and that the little groups of persons are types of the great nations themselves: the eager nations of Europe and America, the live nations which are searching after the solution of world-problems.

The Oxford Summer School of 1909 has undertaken to present courses in three major subjects: the contribution of medieval and modern Italy to world-civilization is its history course. In economics the discussion of industrial problems and trades-unions is drawing together large audiences, and arousing intense interest. Methods of education which shall bring a quickening to the professional world itself is a third line of thought. In connection with the historical course, the literature, science and art each finds a large place. Perhaps no former summer school has offered a more concrete and wisely-arranged program than that of this year’s summer meeting in Oxford. The delegacy has so arranged the courses that an intensity of thought gives an opportunity for most remarkable concentration in data. Three weeks is but a very short time for one to attend lectures, especially if the lectures are scattering, a subject here and a subject there. But this concentration of interest upon medieval and modern Italy, this intensive study of Dante and his contemporaries, this presentation of Italian thought, government and politics, as well as Italian art and society, give a continuity and a rounding out to the subject presented.

To illustrate the wisdom of the delegacy. The summer meeting was opened by an address by the Italian Ambassador, Marquis Di Guiliano, and from the opening words of this Italian diplomat to the present writing, the summer meeting has kept to the thought which the orator himself presented, our inheritance from Italy.

A word in regard to the delegacy. The official heads are the vice-chancellor of the university and the proctors, together with the secretary, Prof. J. A. R. Marriott, M.A., who, with his assistant secretary, Miss E. M. Gunter, are the active members of the delegates, who number twenty and represent the colleges of the university. The summer meeting is divided into two parts: First part from July 30 to August 11, and the second from August 11 to 23. The tuition for the two parts is but £1.10 and working men and women may obtain the above tickets at half price under certain conditions. Not only are the courses so arranged that the students may select companion subjects out of these two sections and focus their interests upon special work, but the work itself is so outlined and printed that syllabi may be obtained for almost nothing. Thus the student has a guide of thought with him at every lecture, as well as something to carry away. Among the great men who are lecturing at the summer meeting are the Rev. W. Hudson Shaw, already well known in the United States; A. L. Smith, Ford lecturer in English History; E. L. S. Horsburgh, B.A., whose discussions on economic problems are holding together conservative theorists and advanced Socialists in remarkable fashion, as he presents the topics relating to industrial problems. George N. Trevelyan, Rev. W. K. Stride, R. V. Leonard and Edmund Gardner are here, and other men whose manuals are also famous. Perhaps the lectures on Dante by the Rev. P. H. Wicksteed draw the largest audiences, but the great class-rooms of the examination schools are filled to over-flowing in almost every case, so enthusiastic are the students. One might throw in parenthesis here that the undergraduate calls these enthusiastic summer students “stretchers” (another word for extensionists).

It would be impossible to compare an American Summer School with the Summer School at Oxford. I have attempted to write only the first impressions that one gains in this university town. Each traveller gains a different impression doubtless, and in order to gain that impression he must come himself. My last word, therefore, to my reader is not to remember my impressions, but to plan to visit Oxford and gain his own impression, and his own individual quickening.

MABEL HILL,
Normal School, Lowell, Mass.

Oxford, England, Aug. 4, 1909.

SAN FRANCISCO GROUP.

A group of about fifty history teachers, representing the grades, the high school, and the university, and living in the vicinity of San Francisco, have formed the habit of gathering informally at luncheon from time to time, to meet socially and to discuss questions of professional interest. At the last meeting. September 18, the topic was “The Practical Value of History.” Prof. J. N. Powman opened with a stimulating essay, and was followed by a general discussion.

These meetings are useful in enabling history teachers of various grades to learn what each other man is doing, and to discover common aims. It is planned to continue them at intervals of about three months.

Brown’s “The American High School”

REVIEWED BY GEORGE H. GASTON.

In beginning his book, Dr. Brown shows that the modern high school is the third stage in the evolution of secondary education in the United States; the first being the Latin grammar school of colonial times, and the second the academy flourishing between the Revolution and the Civil War. He makes it clear that the high school was the natural consequence of the developing political, social and industrial ideas of the period. Its popularity is shown by its phenomenal growth in fifty years.

Its function as now established is well made one of the most important chapters of the book, for it is the conception of purpose that must determine its entire development, as well as the measure of its usefulness. In its relation to the elementary school it is essentially continuation and co-operation, accompanied by the many changes suited to adolescence. Having at first no vital relation to the college, it is conceded that it should prepare for State universities, where such exist, and for colleges generally, but it must also serve the best interests of those not going to college. From the peculiar nature of our republic, its function to the pupil is of such a nature and must in such a manner be discharged that culture, habits of industry, a healthy civic spirit and increased social efficiency will be some of the many rewards for the great and increasing expenditure by the State.

Following logically the function of the high school, is the discussion of the educational value of the different studies. Tradition has prevented until recently any such scientific examination of the studies pursued in the high school. As to their value in accomplishing the aim of education as he conceives it, the author gives his estimate of the various classes of subjects from the standpoint of information, power, character, social value, etc., and constructs definite programs proceeding from this study.

In the organization and management of the high school there are many real problems found in all, but their relative importance varies with the size of the school. The preparation of the teacher, his selection and efficient supervision are some of the most important considerations in working toward the standards of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools here produced and representing the most advanced practical thought concerning the essentials of a good high school.

Although not neglecting material equipment with all it means in a modern high school, it is gratifying to find it completely subordinated to the living, active side of the institution, the teacher, the principal and the pupil. His treatment of principal and of pupil reveals true pedagogical insight and genuine sympathy, but it is the teacher for whom he cherishes such advanced ideals of academic and professional training, of personality, and of experience, that he characterizes as “by all odds, the most influential factor in high school education.”

The real heart and life of the school is reached in the keen and suggestive discussions of the class exercise, character-forming government, and the recently-conceived possibilities of social development, with its numerous and serious problems, one of which only is the secret society.

There is inspiration in the high ideals of the relations between high school and community. For many reasons given, it is a timely topic for teachers and parents, and when even partially realized will aid in the solution of present problems and help to determine future development, two questions, whose impartial and fundamental treatment is a real stimulus and a safe guide.

This book deserves wide reading for many reasons. It is encouraging in spirit, but fearless in criticism, which is everywhere constructive; its style is simple and direct throughout, thus adapting itself to the attention of parents and school boards as well as the profession; it deals with questions vital to both large and small schools; its bibliographies and illustrative material in the appendices are pilots on a vast sea; and a careful reading will result in a greatly-increased faith in the present high value and the boundless future possibilities which the author cherishes in such large measure for the American high school.

[“The American High School.” By John Franklin Brown, Ph.D. The Macmillan Co., 1909.]

* * * * *

NOTES.

Professor Henry L. Cannon, of Leland Stanford Junior University, has in preparation for early publication by Ginn & Co. a book of reading references for English history, in which upon a great many topics of English history he will give references to over fifteen hundred books upon English history.

Professor Allen C. Thomas, of Haverford College, is preparing for publication by D. C. Heath & Co. a new text-book in English history, which will follow the principles already applied by the author in his School History of the United States.

Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer has published through the Macmillan Co. the first part of her comprehensive work upon the history of the city of New York. The first two volumes deal with the history of the city in the seventeenth century.

* * * * *

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