Transcriber’s Notes:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_), and text
enclosed by equal signs is in bold (=bold=).
Additional Transcriber’s Notes are at the end.
* * * * *
The History Teacher’s Magazine
Volume I.
Number 3.
PHILADELPHIA, NOVEMBER, 1909.
$1.00 a year
15 cents a copy
CONTENTS.
WALL MAPS FOR HISTORY CLASSES, by Prof. Donald E. Smith 47
THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 48
THE USE OF SOURCES IN INSTRUCTION IN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS,
by Prof. Charles A. Beard 49
RECENT REVOLUTION IN TURKEY, by John Haynes, Ph.D. 50
PROPOSALS OF THE COMMITTEE OF EIGHT--A RESTATEMENT,
by Prof. James A. James 51
REVIEW OF THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF EIGHT, by Sarah A. Dynes 52
SUGGESTIONS ON ELEMENTARY HISTORY, by Prof. Franklin L. Riley 53
A TYPE LESSON FOR THE GRADES, by Armand J. Gerson 54
THE HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION 55
EDITORIAL 56
BEARD’S “READINGS IN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS,”
reviewed by John Haynes, Ph.D. 57
ALLEN’S “CIVICS AND HEALTH,” reviewed by Louis Nusbaum 57
AMERICAN HISTORY IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL,
by Arthur M. Wolfson, Ph.D. 58
EUROPEAN HISTORY IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL,
by Daniel C. Knowlton, Ph.D. 59
ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL,
by William Fairley, Ph.D. 61
ENGLISH HISTORY IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL, by C. B. Newton 62
CIVICS IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL, by Albert H. Sanford 63
REPORTS FROM THE HISTORICAL FIELD, by Walter H. Cushing 65
BROWN’S “AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL,” reviewed by George H. Gaston 66
CORRESPONDENCE 67-68
Published monthly, except July and August, by McKinley Publishing Co.,
Philadelphia, Pa.
Copyright, 1909, McKinley Publishing Co.
Application has been made for registry as second-class matter at the
Post-office, Philadelphia, Pa.
* * * * *
OGG’S SOURCE BOOK OF MEDIAEVAL HISTORY
Edited by FREDERIC AUSTIN OGG, A.M., Assistant in History, Harvard
University, and Instructor in Simmons College.
$1.50
In this book is provided a collection of documents illustrative of
European life and institutions from the German invasions to the
Renaissance. Great discrimination has been exercised in the selection
and arrangement of these sources, which are intended to be used in
connection with the study of mediæval history, either in secondary
schools or in the earlier years of college. Throughout, the controlling
thought has been to present only those selections which are of real
value and of genuine interest--that is, those which subordinate the
purely documentary and emphasize the strictly narrative, such as
annals, chronicles, and biographies. The extracts are of considerable
length from fewer sources, rather than of greater number from a wider
range. The translations have all been made with care, but for the sake
of younger pupils simplified and modernized as much as close adherence
to the sense would permit. An introductory explanation, giving at some
length the historical setting of the extract, and commenting on its
general significance, accompanies each translation. The index is very
full.
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY
New York Cincinnati Chicago Boston
* * * * *
PROF. CHARLES A. BEARD’S TWO VALUABLE BOOKS
Readings in American Government and Politics
_Cloth, Cr. 8vo., $1.90 net_
AND
An Introduction to the English Historians
_Cloth, Cr. 8vo., $1.60 net_
Are strongly recommended to all History Teachers who are interested in
the views upon the use of sources expressed by the Columbia Professor
in this periodical. A more serviceable handbook, on either of these
subjects, cannot be secured.
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
PUBLISHERS :: 64-66 Fifth Avenue :: NEW YORK
* * * * *
THE EVOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN FLAG
FROM MATERIALS COLLECTED BY THE LATE GEORGE CANBY
By LLOYD BALDERSTON, Ph.D.
Professor of Physics in West Chester State Normal School
This book tells the story of the making of the first Stars and
Stripes, and all that is known of the Grand Union Flag, which preceded
the present national ensign, and resembled it in having 13 stripes
alternate red and white.
The Betsy Ross story is shown to stand in such relation to the recorded
facts as to leave no doubt of the truth of its essential features.
These are, briefly, that the first flag of stripes and stars was a
sample, made to the order of General Washington, Robert Morris and
George Ross, shortly before the Declaration of Independence. The new
flag did not come into use at once, and was probably not much used
until after the passage of the famous resolution of June 14th, 1777.
The book is a 12mo volume of 144 pages, with a four-color cover design,
and four colored plates in the text, besides many illustrations in line
and halftone, including several facsimiles of Revolutionary documents.
Price, $1.00 net; Postage, 8 cents.
FERRIS & LEACH, Publishers
27 and 29 South Seventh Street :: Philadelphia
* * * * *
Forthcoming Articles
IN The History Teacher’s Magazine
Articles upon =The Best Subjects and Methods for College Freshman
Classes in History=, under the general direction of PROF. A. C. HOWLAND.
=The Character of the Questions in History of the College Entrance
Board=, by MISS ELIZABETH BRIGGS.
=The Use of the Syllabus in History Classes=, by PROF. WALTER L.
FLEMING, of the Louisiana State University.
=History Under the Princeton Tutorial System=, by a Tutor in History.
=The Neighborhood Method of Teaching Economics=, by ALEXANDER PUGH.
=Recent Historical Events=, by DR. JOHN HAYNES.
=Further articles upon Maps and Atlases=, by PROF. DONALD E. SMITH.
=Ferero’s Contributions to Roman Civilization=, by PROFESSOR HENRY A.
SILL.
=The Teacher’s Use of Hart’s “The American Nation,”= by the Managing
Editor.
=Outlines; Suggestions for Use of Libraries; Arrangement of Notebooks;
Preparation of Written Reports, etc., etc.=
* * * * *
The History Teacher’s Magazine
Volume I.
Number 3.
PHILADELPHIA, NOVEMBER, 1909.
$1.00 a year
15 cents a copy
Wall Maps for History Classes[1]
BY DONALD E. SMITH, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY,
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
There are few persons who will question the importance of a liberal
use of good maps as a supplement to and even a part of the teaching
of history in high schools and colleges, and there are few teachers
who are not perplexed by the difficulties in the selection and use
of these essential aids to the teaching of their subject. Owing to
the considerable cost of this kind of apparatus there is bound to be
the ever-present financial difficulty. Owing to the great number of
publications purporting to meet the needs of the history teacher, from
small outline maps costing less than a cent apiece to elaborate atlases
costing fifty dollars, there is a great range of choice within which
there is no little difficulty in deciding just what cartographical aids
are best for the problem at hand. As the financial question is always
dependent upon local and particular considerations, and as the actual
handling of maps is a subject in itself large enough for a separate
article, I will limit myself to the matter of the selection of the best
maps.
It is assumed, of course, that a selection has to be made. There are
few institutions wealthy enough to buy indiscriminately everything
offered for sale, and even were that generally true, an indiscriminate
use of good and bad materials could not be countenanced anyway. The
question is then, what are the most useful maps that may be made
available for schools with but limited means at their disposal.
The great merit of a wall map consists in its size, which makes
possible the depicting on a large scale of the things which can be
represented upon a map, with the further capital advantage that
such a map can be seen by a great many people at the same time. Its
superiority over the atlas lies then, not in accuracy, or wealth
of detail, but in its visibility. For this there is absolutely no
substitute; and this advantage, which for the teacher is almost the
only one, secures for the wall map a place among the indispensables in
classroom equipment. They can be made to represent anything that any
map can, though their special province is the exhibition of general
facts where minute details are negligible. In fact, the encumbering of
a large map with a multitude of names and other data is the cardinal
sin of the cartographer. The two broad classes of facts put upon maps
are political and physical, and almost always in combination, as
neither one has very much meaning without the other. Let us take up
the physical maps first, as they offer the greatest difficulties, are
the most expensive, and in consequence, are most rarely found of a
satisfactory character.
The trouble with a physical map is that it has the impossible task
of showing physical features as they are and so that they can be
seen. This is impossible, because if things are shown in their right
proportions, and if such natural features as rivers and mountains were
drawn true to scale they would appear in most cases as nothing more
than faint lines and specks upon the map. As it is absolutely necessary
that they be seen clearly at some distance, a gross exaggeration
of their apparent size is made necessary. These difficulties are
successfully compromised in a series well known in the United States,
published by the house of Perthes, and known as the Sydow-Habenicht
series. In their color scheme, omission of unnecessary details and
general mechanical excellence, they are so satisfactory that they have
come to be something like the standard maps for the continents. Their
great English competitor is Stanford’s new series of orographical
school maps, compiled under the direction of the well-known writer,
H. J. Mackinder. Of an equally high character and worked out with
somewhat greater elaboration of details are some of the maps of W. &
A. K. Johnston, and the series of physical maps published in America
by the Rand-McNally Company. Before leaving the subject of physical
wall maps, I want to say a word of commendation of the maps of Dietrich
Reimer, of Berlin, prepared by Richard Kiepert. The classical maps
of Henry Kiepert, published by the same house, are seen in nearly
every high school in the country, but the work of Richard Kiepert is
altogether too little known. Owing to the influence of mere personal
taste one should be very cautious about stating their preferences
too confidently while attempting to discriminate between a number
of different types of maps, all of which are excellent, but I feel
bound to state that I regard Richard Kiepert’s map of Central Europe
as representing the great _desideratum_ of map-making. The essential
physiographic features of that most intricate region, including the
primary and secondary axes of the continent, are exhibited with such
clearness that it is possible to use this map before a large class in
a college or university lecture course. For all ordinary purposes of
the high school, the Sydow-Habenicht map of Europe is sufficient, and
as it is the map of the whole continent, the geographical relationships
of Europe and Africa and Europe and Asia are shown, as, of course,
they cannot be with the Kiepert map, but no college class should be
denied the privilege of seeing the Kiepert map or its equivalent, and
if there is an equivalent I am not acquainted with it. Some of the maps
of the French houses of Delagrave and Hachette & Company are deserving
of wider use in this country, but our dependence on English and German
publications, for commercial reasons; is not likely to be diminished
for several years to come. These French firms apparently make little
effort to advertise their wares in the United States, so that the
difficulty of keeping track of their latest works and ordering them
when they are known, constitutes a serious obstacle to their general
use.
The second grand division of wall maps is made up of those which
attempt primarily to show forth political divisions. They fall
naturally into two further divisions; first, political maps of modern
countries as they are at the present time, and second, historical
maps which represent political divisions of the earth as they were
at different times in the past. The most accurate maps of the first
class are, generally speaking, published by the various governments
of the civilized world, particularly of those military nations whose
general staffs have, from the necessities of scientific warfare, been
driven to preparing as accurate representations of the surface of the
earth as is humanly possible. Of course, such maps record the minutest
topographical details, and to that extent are physical in character,
but for that matter, purely political maps in the sense of totally
ignoring all physical features, are becoming, happily, almost unknown.
All a political map is, then, is a map which pays relatively more
attention to the human side of geography than to the physical, and so,
as it were, looks at the face of the continent from the point of view
of man rather than nature.
There are good maps of the first subdivision almost without number, and
they are well known by people other than specialists. Those published
in England and America by such houses as Rand-McNally, W. & A. K.
Johnston, George Philip & Son, and Edward Stanford may serve as good
examples. They are quite adequate for the English speaking world and
are known to schoolmen throughout this country.
The subject of historical maps, the second subdivision in the
classification made above, cannot be dismissed quite so easily, and the
treatment of this topic should not be relegated to the end of a short
article on maps in general. In this field of cartography, England and
America are distinctly behind the peoples of the continent of Europe,
so that for maps illustrating historical geography recourse must be
had to foreign productions, particularly those of Germany. Without
any attempt to make comparisons, I must content myself with the bare
statement that the two series, Henry Kiepert for the ancient period,
and Spruner-Bretschneider for the medieval and modern period, cover the
field of European and Oriental history very satisfactorily for college
classes. The fact that in the first series all names are in Latin, and
in the second all names are in German, make these maps unsatisfactory
for general use in the high schools. In lieu of these products of the
firms of Reimer, in Berlin, and Perthes, in Gotha, there are used very
generally and with satisfaction the cheaper and cruder historical
charts of MacCoun. The color scheme in these charts is distinctive if
not beautiful, while the few minor inaccuracies are too unimportant to
affect the general usefulness of the series.
There is no space left for even touching upon the subject of economic,
commercial, and ethnographic maps; upon the arrangement, suspension,
and classification of the map collection in any given school or
department of a university; or upon the all-important topic of atlases,
a whole subject in itself, closely related to the subject of wall
maps, and even more difficult to handle properly. But these and other
matters, such as the actual handling of maps before classes, and the
treatment of the geographical factors in history, though closely
associated with the subject of wall maps, are not within the scope
of this article. I shall be content if the references given here to
particular maps prove specific enough to give practical aid to the
history teacher in building up the map equipment of his department.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Editor’s Note.--This is the first of several articles upon maps and
atlases by Prof. Smith.
“The American Historical Association, 1884-1909”
REVIEW OF DR. JAMESON’S RECENT ARTICLE.
A noteworthy article upon the origin of the American Historical
Association and its history during the past twenty-five years appears
in the October number of “The American Historical Review.” The author,
Dr. J. Franklin Jameson, is better fitted than any other man in the
country to treat this subject, and he gives us the early history of the
association with a genial sympathy that enlists one’s interest at once.
Prefacing his remarks with the statement that “no agency has been
so potent in the advancement of American historical scholarship” as
the association, Dr. Jameson points out the conditions of historical
research and pedagogy in the year 1884, in which the association was
founded. There was but one general historical journal. In all the
universities and colleges of the country there were apparently only
fifteen professors and five assistant professors who gave all their
time to history. The subject was in many cases subordinated or annexed
to other topics, including political science, English literature,
geology, German and French. Yet, despite the small numbers of those
engaged in teaching history, Dr. Jameson points out that there were
giants in those days, men who were trained when the German system of
history teaching was at its best, or who, like the great national
literary historians, had advanced far in their labors.
The specific details of the organization of the association at
Saratoga, September 10, 1884 will be of much interest to the younger
history workers. With kindliness for diverging views, Dr. Jameson shows
how early in the life of the association problems arose, the successful
settlement of which had much to do with the future of the organization.
Should the association be a small one, made up of forty or more
“Immortals,” or should the appeal be made to a wider constituency, and
all interested in history be invited to join? Should the association
accept incorporation by the nation and government aid in its work?
Should the meetings be held continuously in Washington? Should the
annual meetings with the papers read at such meetings be the sole form
of activity entered into by the association?
The solution of these and other questions, Dr. Jameson points out,
giving credit in passing to the past and present workers in the
association. He names particularly as steps in advance the gaining of
a charter from the national government, and incidentally the placing
of the papers of the association in the hands of the government for
publication.
Taking the year 1895 as a critical point, he shows that the association
had $8,000 in its treasury and current expenses of not over forty per
cent. of its income, and yet that its work did not seem to prosper.
From that year, however, the adoption of a new policy broadened the
activities of the association. The support of the association was given
to “The American Historical Review”; the American Society of Church
History was affiliated with the main organization: a Committee of Seven
on the Teaching of History in Secondary Schools was appointed, and
several years afterwards made its famous report.
Later activities have been added from time to time; a Standing
Committee on Bibliography, the Historical Manuscripts Commission, the
Public Archives Commission, the establishment of prizes for original
work in history, the start of the publication of a series of volumes
of “Original Narratives of Early American History,” the formation of
a Pacific Coast branch, the appointment of a Committee of Eight on
the Teaching of History in Elementary Schools, which has but lately
reported, and the coöperation with a British committee to prepare a
select bibliography of modern English history.
While the field of activities of the association has thus expanded, the
membership of the association has grown until now it stands at about
twenty-five hundred. Its funds amount to $26,000. It has a revenue
of $8,000 a year, and the government prints for it material which
represents an outlay for printing of about $7,000.
Dr. Jameson closes his article with the statement: “Probably no
historical society in the world is more numerous; it might perhaps be
successfully maintained that none is more extensively useful. If the
quality of all that it does is not yet of ideal excellence, it may be
that its work is done as well as can be expected from an organization
no member of which can give to its concerns more than a minor portion
of his time. At all events, it has played an effective part in the
historical progress of the last twenty-five years, and none of those
who took part in its foundation at Saratoga, in that now remote
September, need feel regret at his share in the transaction. That it
may flourish abundantly in the future must be the wish of all who care
for the interests ‘of American history and of history in America.’”
The Use of Sources in Instruction in Government and Politics
BY CHARLES A. BEARD, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR OF POLITICS IN COLUMBUS
UNIVERSITY.
What Dr. Stubbs said many years ago about the difficulty of mastering
the history of institutions applies with equal force to the mastery
of present institutions, especially in actual operation. Perhaps, in
a way, the student of government is more fortunately situated than
the student of history, for he can use the laboratory method to some
extent. He may attend primaries and caucuses, visit the State capital
or the City Hall, take a place among the spectators in a police court
watching the daily grind, or observe the selectman, perhaps a drug
clerk, superintend the construction of a town highway. But in the
class-room instruction in government and politics must perforce deal
largely with abstractions. The historians, long ago recognizing the
vice of unreality which attended them like a ghost that would not be
downed, cast about for some new method that would give more firmness
and life to their instruction. In their search they came upon the
sources, and instead of listening always to the voice of Green or
Stubbs, they stopped to hear the voices of the kings, monks, warriors
and lawyers who helped to make the history of which Green and Stubbs
wrote. The result, as all the world knows, has been marvelous. It has
brought more vividness and solidity to historical instruction. It has
done more. The very method itself, in the hands of skilled workers, has
become a discipline of the highest value. Whoever doubts it should read
Professor Fling’s article in the first issue of this magazine. Lawyers
likewise have discovered the same difficulties which the teachers of
history encountered, and, flinging away Blackstone and the text-books,
they have sought refuge in the sources alone. Perhaps they have gone
too far with the “case system”; in fact, a reaction seems imminent at
this moment; but the commentators will never recover their former sway.
Strange to say, teachers of government and politics have not yet made
any widespread use of the methods that have been found so effective
in the hands of other students of institutions, and yet in quantity,
variety and interest the sources available for their work are
practically unlimited. One of the most important groups of materials,
the government publications, can be had for the asking; and our waste
baskets are filled with the examples of another group, the fugitive
literature of party politics. Acres of diamonds have been at our door,
but our instruction in government and politics wears, in general, such
a barren aspect that keen-sighted students are aware of its unreality
and, slow-switted ones find no delight or profit in it. No word in our
curriculum suggests such innocuous futility as “civics,” and yet we are
preparing citizens for service in a democracy!
But to turn from preachments to some practical advice, which, I take
it, is what the editor wanted when he asked me to do this article. The
source materials for government and politics fall readily into four
groups.
I. There are, first, the autobiographies, memoirs and writings of
statesmen, lawyers, legislators, judges, street-cleaning commissioners,
police superintendents, and other persons who have actually conducted
some branch of our government. These books, it is true, are often
written to glorify the authors; but the solemn presentation of the
unvarnished truth was not always the purpose of the medieval monk
whose chronicle is studied with such zeal as a source. What could be
more charming or illuminating than Senator Hoar’s memoirs, Sherman’s
recollections, Blaine’s story of his service in Congress, or Benton’s
view of things? Were there space at my disposal I could fill this
magazine with the topics on which I have secured informing notes from
Hoar’s work. There are wit, and humor, and reality on almost every
page. I suspect, and whisper it here under breath, that a student who
reads it will know more about the Federal Government than one who
devotes his time to memorizing the sacred Constitution, so prayerfully
drafted by the Fathers.
II. In the second group I would place the government publications,
State and Federal and municipal. Now I am aware that this calls up
in the minds of many readers visions of the long rows of repulsive
volumes which cumber our library shelves, and I know that government
reports all look alike to careless observers. They are not, however.
Even the “Congressional Record” has pages glistening with information
on the inner workings of Congress and the play of interests in
lawmaking. It takes some courage for the busy teacher to start on
that formidable monument to the capacity of the Government Printing
Office, but, as Professor Reinsch has pointed out in the preface to
his splendid collection of materials on the Federal Government, the
process of studying the sources while irksome at the beginning soon
has the exhilarating effect on the mind that brisk physical exercise
has on the body. Only one who has turned from a vest-pocket manual of
predigested “civics” to the apparently cold and barren waste of the
“Congressional Record” can know the exhilaration of the experiment.
In the debates of the conventions in which our State Constitutions
are framed we can find materials which will illuminate every part of
our commonwealth government. Then there are the executive messages
and inaugurals--voluminous and forbidding, but even a few hours over
them with pen in hand and a plentiful supply of page markers will
yield fruit never dreamed of by the teacher who has exhausted his
ingenuity on inventing a table that will show graphically what powers
are coordinate, exclusive, and reserved in our constitutional system!
Then there are the departmental reports; I have a shelf full for the
years 1908-09, just in front of my working table. They give a lot of
precise information on the state of the civil service, the organization
of the army and navy, the work of the Bureau of Corporations, the
investigations of the Department of Labor, and the like, which I must
have to give correctness and precision to my instruction in matters
of State and Federal administration. Then they are indispensable for
reference. I am constantly having trouble in remembering whether the
pension bureau is a bureau or a division, or is in the War Department,
where it would seem to belong, or in the Department of Commerce and
Labor, or somewhere else. It really does not matter so much, for
doubtless most of our best citizens do not know where it is, especially
since, under our system of indirect taxation, they don’t feel its hands
in their pockets. Finally, there are Supreme Court decisions. Here
laymen must beware, for the lawyers have forbidden us to come in; only
one who has mastered the mysteries of real property and torts, so they
would have us believe, can understand the mysteries of direct taxation
as defined by the Supreme Court of the United States. Now, we must not
take the lawyers too seriously, but we must master the elements of law
and also learn how to get the “point” of a case, discover the facts
and separate the necessary reasoning from the _obiter_. Certainly, no
student of American government has any business teaching the subject
unless he has read and understood many of the greatest decisions of the
august tribunal that presides over our political destinies.
III. A third group of materials embraces State and Federal laws. How
many readers of this article have ever seen in one spot the yearly
output of his State legislature or Congress? How many readers who have
discussed Congressional appropriations have ever seen an appropriation
bill or part of one? How many readers who have discussed tariff and
finance have ever seen a real live tariff bill reposing in the pages
of the statutes of the United States? I always take Ash’s edition of
the charter of New York City--a portly volume of about a thousand
pages--into my class room and perform before the eyes of the students
the experiment of running through the chief titles. It helps to
keep them modest in their estimate of their knowledge of our city
government, and it is a standing apology for the innumerable question
which I fail to answer. I may mention, also, in leaving this group, the
State election law which can be secured readily from the Secretary of
the Commonwealth, and should be always in hand.
IV. The fourth group includes the literature of current and party
politics, vast, fugitive, here to-day and gone to-morrow, but of an
importance never imagined by students who have staked their hopes
on understanding our system by a study of “The Federalist.” Party
platforms, national, State, and local, campaign text-books, campaign
speeches; broadsides, cartoons, posters, and handbills; pamphlets
published by partisan and non-partisan associations; interviews in the
press; articles in magazines, and a thousand other devices by which
political issues are raised and public consciousness aroused, ought to
be watched with close scrutiny by the teacher of government faithful to
his calling. A collection of ballots should be made showing what the
voter has to do on election day, and copies of instructions to voters
should be filed away. A hundred other things will be suggested at once
to the alert teacher, so that I need not continue the catalogue, but
will close the general appeal “Back to the Sources.”
The Recent Revolution in Turkey[2]
BY JOHN HAYNES, PH.D.
For years the history of Turkey was a monotonous tale of domestic
disorder and foreign intervention. There was endless turmoil among the
warring races and religions of Macedonia, and from time to time some
dreadful outrage against the Armenians of Asiatic Turkey. The nations
of Europe were constantly seeking reparation for wrongs done to their
citizens or urging reforms for the benefit of the Sultan’s Christian
subjects. It seemed only a question of time when Turkey would be
blotted from the map by the powers of Europe.
Suddenly in July, 1908, it was announced that the constitution of 1876,
which was “suspended” after being in force a short time, had been
restored. Only the party known as the Young Turks were prepared for
such an occurrence. For thirty years they had labored for the overthrow
of the misrule of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. Their headquarters had been in
Paris, but since 1904 they had been forming revolutionary organizations
in Turkey under a central body called the Committee of Union and
Progress. The support of the movement came from the professional
classes and from progressive officers in the army, without whose help
it could not have succeeded. Some days before the proclamation of
the constitution, the Sultan learned of disaffection in the army of
European Turkey, and vainly tried to quell it. Then being informed that
unless he granted a constitution thirty thousand soldiers would march
upon Constantinople, he yielded. A new ministry was formed under Kiamil
Pasha, and many of the tools of the Sultan fled the country. In many
cities there were extravagant manifestations of rejoicing, in which
Moslems and Christians participated together.
The constitution of 1876 is the work of Midhat Pasha, the first Grand
Vizier of Abdul Hamid. It provides for personal liberty, freedom
of speech and of the press, and equality of Moslems and Christians
before the law. The Parliament consists of a Senate, whose members are
appointed by the Sultan, and a Chamber of Deputies chosen by the people
indirectly through electors. Under this constitution a parliament was
chosen and opened in December by the Sultan in person.
For a time all seemed to go well, but Abdul Hamid was plotting for the
overthrow of the new régimé which had been forced upon him. The first
sign of this was the appointment of two ministers suspected of being
hostile to the progressive program. The Chamber of Deputies voted want
of confidence in the ministry, and Hilmi Pasha was made Grand Vizier
in accordance with the wish of the Young Turks, who thus imposed a
new ministry upon the sovereign after the manner of the British House
of Commons. But this did not end the matter. For months the Sultan’s
money had been corrupting the army, and in April, 1909, the troops in
Constantinople mutinied, declaring the Young Turks tyrants. Tewfik
Pasha, a reactionary, was put at the head of the ministry. At the same
time terrible massacres of Christians, believed to have been inspired
by the Sultan, took place in Adana and vicinity.
But this counter-revolution was short-lived. The Macedonian division
of the army under Chevket Pasha soon marched upon Constantinople, took
the city without serious opposition, occupied the royal palace (Yiediz
Kiosk), and made the Sultan a prisoner. Abdul Hamid was formally
deposed by decree of the Sheik-ul-Islam, the religious head of the
Moslems, and the action was confirmed by the Parliament. A brother, who
by Turkish law, was the heir apparent, was chosen in his place, and
now rules as Mehmet V. Hilmi Pasha was restored as Grand Vizier. Many
participants in the counter revolution were executed. The new Sultan,
who was sixty-four at his accession, has lived the secluded life of a
political prisoner.
The future of Turkey is almost as much a problem as it was before this
remarkable revolution. The Young Turks, who are now in power, stand for
internal reform and the integrity of the empire. But they have to face
the fact that the great majority of Moslems are reactionary, and that
their power is dependent on the support of the army. The people as a
whole are not fitted for self-government. One of the charges brought
against Abdul Hamid was that the Turkish dominions were dismembered
during his reign, but since the revolution of July, 1908, Turkey has
lost its nominal sovereignty over Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
She has also been on the point of losing her small hold on Crete.
Though there are Christians in the Parliament and two in the cabinet,
the Young Turks do not have the complete co-operation of the Christian
population, many of whom will never be satisfied while any of Europe
remains under Turkish rule. Besides, their sincerity as protectors
of the Christians is doubted. The action of the court martial on the
Adana massacres is not satisfactory. Few Moslems have been severely
dealt with. Scores of Christian girls, who were carried away as booty
during the massacres, have not been returned to their families nor
their captors punished. The Patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church
declares that the Young Turks propose to make the Christians give up
their educational institutions and send their children to Turkish
schools. The greater part of the foreigners resident at Constantinople,
while sympathetic with the new order, are not confident of the future.
On the other hand, there are persons thoroughly conversant with Turkish
affairs who feel sure that a new day of freedom and progress has really
dawned. The future only can tell.
FOOTNOTE:
[2] Editor’s Note.--Dr. Haynes will contribute similar articles to
forthcoming numbers of the magazine.
Proposals of the Committee of Eight
A RESTATEMENT BY JAMES ALTON JAMES, OF NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY,
CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE.
Teachers of history, the country over, have for the past ten years
been grateful that the American Historical Association assumed that
history for the secondary schools offered problems in which its
members were vitally interested. In all of our schools to-day some
effect of the revolution wrought by the report of the Committee of
Seven may be observed. It was not going far afield, then, when the
same association, observing the heterogeneous condition existing also
in the presentation of history in the elementary schools, should have
proffered some assistance. At the Chicago meeting of the association,
therefore, teachers of history from elementary and high schools, from
normal schools and colleges, were invited to a conference on the
topics: (1) Some suggestions for a course of study in history for the
elementary schools; and (2) the preparation most desirable for the
teacher of history in these schools. Following the discussion, the
resolution was adopted that it was deemed desirable that a committee
should be appointed to make out a program in history for the elementary
schools and consider other closely-allied topics. In response, the
Committee of Eight was selected to consider the problems suggested and
prepare a report. Care was exercised in making up the committee to
secure a majority who should be in actual touch with the work of the
elementary schools. As originally composed, the committee consisted
of three superintendents of schools, two teachers in normal schools,
and two from the colleges. It cannot be said, therefore, that the
report finally presented after four years of labor is the result of the
working out of fine-drawn theories on the part of college men.
In fashioning the report, present conditions were kept steadily in
mind. Looking towards some uniformity in the program for history in
our elementary schools, due praise must always be accorded to the
report of the Madison Conference on History, Civil Government and
Economics, which was published in 1893, and to the supplementary
report of the Committee of Seven. In these reports we find the first
significant declarations that history is entitled to a place of dignity
in all secondary and elementary school programs. Some two hundred
superintendents of schools in different parts of the country have
submitted for the consideration of the committee what they believed
to be the best programs, and many elementary history teachers have
been consulted on various features of the report. Opportunity for
discussing the most important phases was given in a number of teachers’
associations in various sections of the country. Through these letters
and discussions the committee has obtained many practical suggestions.
The committee has attempted to present a plan of study which would
bring about concerted endeavor, avoid duplication of work in the
several grades, and produce unity of purpose. To this end, our
fundamental proposition is, that history teaching in the elementary
schools should be focused around American history. By this we do not
mean to imply that American history has to do with events, alone, which
have occurred in America. The object is to explain the civilization,
the institutions, and the traditions of the America of to-day. America
cannot be understood without taking into account the history of its
various peoples before they crossed the Atlantic. Indeed, too much
emphasis has heretofore been laid upon the Atlantic as a natural
boundary not merely of the American continent, but also of the history
of America.
The grouping of the subject matter for the several grades is as
follows: In the first two grades, the object is to give the child an
impression of primitive life and an appreciation of public holidays.
To the succeeding three grades is assigned the study of great leaders
and heroes; world heroes in the third; American explorers and leaders
in America to the period of the Revolution in the fourth; and leaders
of the national period in the fifth. In addition, there should be noted
the manners, customs, and, so far as possible, the industries of the
various sections of the country at the period under discussion.
The sixth grade, as outlined, will at first glance present the greatest
difficulties. With full appreciation of this tendency, the committee
has carefully and at greater length than for the other grades, defined
its position. It is recommended that there should be presented to
pupils of this grade those features of ancient and medieval life which
explain either important elements of our civilization or which show
how the movement for discovery and colonization originated. A glance
at the outline shows that it is not intended that the topics should
be presented as organized history. It goes without the saying that
pupils in this grade are not prepared to study scientific history in
its logical and orderly development. But, as stated in the report, they
are prepared to receive more or less definite impressions that may be
conveyed to them by means of pictures, descriptions, and illustrative
stories, arranged in chronological sequence. In receiving such
impressions, they will not understand the full meaning of the great
events touched upon, but they will catch something of the spirit and
purpose of the Greeks, the Romans, and other types of racial life.
For the seventh grade, it is recommended that the growth and settlement
of the colonies be taken up with enough of the European background to
explain events in America having their causes in England or Europe.
Here should be considered also the American Revolution.
The subject matter of the eighth grade would include the inauguration
of the new government, the political, industrial and social development
of the United States, westward expansion and a brief study of the
growth of the great rival states of Europe.
Is it not beyond dispute that much of our teaching of history in the
past has failed of proper results for the reason that pupils advancing
from grade to grade have been compelled to consider topics with which
they have grown familiar? Who has not noted the deadening effect on
the interest of pupils, especially in the history of our own country,
where the prescribed course found in many schools has been faithfully
followed, which provides a text in elementary American history for the
fifth and sixth grades, succeeded by a grammar school American history
in the next two grades? To secure continued interest, it is advised
that there be offered, in each of the several years, one distinct
portion or section of our country’s history; that this be presented
with as much fulness as possible and that the recurrence in successive
years of subject matter that has once been outlined be avoided.
While the proper distribution of historical subject matter is the prime
feature of the report, the committee would emphasize the consideration
of other items, such as the outline presented for elementary lessons on
government; the training suitable for the teacher; the correlation with
geography and literature, and the methods to be employed.
In offering the report, we are aware that a literal interpretation of
some of its phases would preclude its use in many of our schools. But
let it be borne in mind that no one of us has for a moment assumed
that there is to be a _rigid_ adherence to _detail_ in the minor
sub-divisions of each year’s work. If the report as a whole appeals
to teachers as pointing the way to a practical solution for many of
the problems now encountered, then may we look with confidence for
more satisfying results from our elementary history teaching, and as
a consequence expect more consideration for the subject itself on the
part of those who control the making of school programs.
History in the Elementary Schools
REPORT TO THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION BY THE COMMITTEE OF
EIGHT[3]
REVIEWED BY SARAH A. DYNES, HEAD OF DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY IN NEW
JERSEY STATE NORMAL AND MODEL SCHOOLS, TRENTON, N. J.
The course of study in history for elementary schools mapped out in the
“Report of the Committee of Eight” is an attempt to secure by the aid
of a national organization some uniformity in the program for history.
The personnel of the committee led us to expect an able report. The
specialist in American history, the specialist in European history, and
the specialist in the pedagogy of history for elementary grades were
all represented. Three superintendents of schools upon the committee
seemed to warrant us in anticipating that the rights of other subjects
in the elementary curriculum would be guarded, and that history would
not be permitted to absorb an undue proportion of the pupil’s time. The
presence of those closely associated with elementary schools caused
the present actual condition of such schools to be kept clearly in
mind while the work proceeded. Practical experience gained in dealing
with both the elementary teacher and the elementary pupil led them to
inquire at each step whether a proposed change were possible, while
the experience of the specialists in American history and in European
history naturally called attention to what would be _desirable_ from
the standpoint of subject-matter.
The committee presented a preliminary report for consideration and
frank discussion at three different regular meetings of the American
Historical Association held at Chicago, Baltimore and Providence
respectively. A report of what had been accomplished by the committee
at the close of its second year of work, was presented to the
Department of Superintendents at a regular meeting of the National
Educational Association for 1907. Certain features of the report
were also discussed at a regular meeting of the History Teachers’
Association of the Middle States and Maryland, held in New York City.
Suggested topics of the report were discussed by the Chicago History
Teachers’ Association and by the History Teachers’ Association of the
North Central States. From the foregoing it is easily seen that there
has been no undue haste in arriving at conclusions. It will be noted
also that all experienced teachers of history, and all superintendents
who are really interested in improving the quality of the teaching of
elementary history have had abundant opportunity to contribute toward
the improvement of the proposed course, and to object to that which
seemed visionary, impracticable, or unwise. Interest in the report has
been widespread during the past three years, and it is gratifying to
know that it is now published in a form which makes it accessible to
all interested.
The course includes a series of organized groups of topics for the
first eight years of school life. The most cursory examination of
the work suggested for the primary grades brings to view these
expressions: (1) “Historical backgrounds, (2) Stories, (3) Pictures,
(4) Construction, (5) Teacher’s list of books.” This is certainly
encouraging. It suggests mental pictures. It emphasizes vivid
impressions of concrete, objective reality. Things are to be seen,
touched, used in new combinations. The preparation of the teacher is
to be in part from _books_, not from _a book_. She is made to feel
that elementary history must be picture-making, not word-getting. A
closer examination shows that there is no repetition of subject-matter
as the child passes from grade to grade. This last feature will be
welcomed most heartily by the elementary teacher of history. Nothing
is more gratifying than to have the entire responsibility of teaching
the topics assigned to her own grade. If she is a fifth-grade teacher,
and is making her preparation for teaching a biography of Daniel Boone,
she can look back through the topics suggested by the committee to be
taken up in grades four, three, two and one, and congratulate herself
that no other teacher has touched that topic. It is her privilege to
introduce this hero with the fullest assurance that there is no danger
of trespassing upon the territory of another. If, at the close of the
work, the pupils of the fifth grade have a vivid picture of life on
the border, if they have been led to sympathize with the dangers, the
trials, the hardships of frontier life, and have gained an impression
of the importance of Daniel Boone’s service to his fellow men, she has
done a creditable piece of work. If they are bewildered, mystified,
confused and glad to leave the subject, she has no one to blame but
herself. By noting what has been done in the four preceding grades,
she has reason to expect a certain amount of skill on the part of
pupils in construction work. The pupils have already built wigwams, and
that will make it easier for them to make a hunter’s camp, or to draw
a representation of a cabin on the cattle range, or of the fort at
Boonesborough. They have had practice in interpreting pictures and in
finding pictures; they have had experience with sand-tables and in clay
modeling and in making costumes; they have been reproducing stories and
anecdotes, and taking part in discussions; consequently, she can expect
a vocabulary in which there is a meaning and significance attached to
the words used. What has been illustrated in the case of Daniel Boone
is as true of any other topic. Some topics are to be taught in more
than one grade, but in each case the committee has carefully planned to
avoid overlapping and prevent repetition.
In the fifth grade the topics are organized into twelve groups,
lettered A to L inclusive, with from three to five sub-topics in a
group. The following selections show the general scope of the work
outlined: Group D is “The Great West,” and Daniel Boone is one of
the sub-topics to be taught in that group. Group E, “The Northwest,”
contains the story of George Rogers Clark as one of the sub-topics.
Group G, “Increasing the Size of the New Republic,” contains the story
of Lewis and Clark. Group L, “Great Industries,” contains the following
stories:
Cotton--the cotton fields; the factory.
Wheat--the wheat field; grain elevators.
Cattle--cattle-grazing; stockyards.
Coal and Iron--the mines; the furnaces; the products.
In addition to these biographical stories selected from the field of
American history, the committee suggests that twenty minutes a week
for one-half of the year should be devoted to the study of civics. The
following are suggested topics to be discussed: “The Fire Department,”
“The Police Department,” “The Post-office System,” “Street Cleaning and
Sprinkling,” “Public Libraries.” The committee, in a table given on
page 126, shows how a place may be made on the program in each grade
for the study of history. That program provides only one recitation per
week in the first three grades. In the fourth and fifth grades there
would be two recitations a week. The work suggested in the report for
the first five grades could be easily accomplished in the time stated
in the program.
The committee suggests that a text-book be placed in the hands of the
pupils in grades six, seven and eight, but emphasizes the necessity of
oral work in the first five grades. They also advise the continuation
of much oral work in the sixth grade. The subject-matter of the sixth
grade includes such portions of European history as bear most directly
on American history. The topics selected for study are organized into
six groups, lettered A to F inclusive. Counting one recitation as the
unit of measurement in estimating the relative amount of time to be
devoted to each group, the committee estimates the relative importance
of the groups thus: Groups F and C have thirteen units each; group E
has twelve; group B has seven; group A has five; group D only three.
This manner of indicating the relative importance of the groups will be
of great value to the inexperienced teacher. The committee also wisely
suggests “what not to attempt” in this grade. The greater portion of
the pupil’s time in the sixth grade is to be spent upon the following
topics: “Alfred and the English”; “How the English Began to Win Their
Liberties”; “The Discovery of the Western World”; “European Rivalries
Which Influenced Conquest and Colonization.” In this grade also there
is to be instruction in civics for one-half year, twenty minutes a
week. A list of topics suggested includes the following: “Water Supply
and Sewerage System”; “The Board of Health”; “Juvenile Courts.” The
program (p. 126) previously referred to provides three recitations per
week in history for the sixth grade.
The topics of the seventh grade are organized into six groups,
all of which are connected with the exploration and settlement of
North America and the growth of the colonies, to the close of the
Revolutionary War. Enough of the European background to make clear the
significance of certain situations in America is included. The group
headings are as follows:
A--“The First Settlements (in America) of the Three Rivals of Spain.”
B--“Exiles for Political or Religious Causes.”
C--“Colonial Rivalries.”
D--“Growth of the English Colonies.”
E--“Struggle for Colonial Empire between England and France.”
F--“From Colonies to Commonwealth.”
The topics in civics are those that grow naturally out of the
instruction in history, such as an explanation of our search warrant in
connection with a study of the writs of assistance, and in addition,
topics of this character: “State Charities,” “State Schools,” “State
Penal Institutions,” “National Parks,” “Preservation of Forests,”
“Construction of Roads, Canals, Harbors.” These topics in civics are to
be covered in a time allowance of forty minutes a week for the entire
year. The number of recitations in history indicated in this grade is
eighty-seven (87), of which the last group, F, has 34, and A has only
5; B has 18; C and D have 11 each; E has 8. The work for the eighth
grade begins with the constitutional period of American history, and
closes with the problems which confront our nation to-day, due to
our rapid industrial development, commercial rivalry, and our recent
annexations. These topics are organized into seven main groups, as
follows:
A--“Organization of the United States.”
B--“The New Republic and Revolution in Europe.”
C--“Industrial and Social Development.”
D--“New Neighbors and New Problems.”
E--“Expansion Makes the Slavery Question Dominant.”
F--“The Crisis of the Republic.”
G--“The New Union and the Larger Europe.”
The committee suggests the relative amount of time to be devoted
to each sub-topic in this grade. Ninety-four recitation periods
are required to cover the work outlined, 19 of which are given
to F, 16 to B, 15 to G; C and D have 12 each, and A and E have 10
each. The committee also suggests that an average of sixty minutes
a week be devoted to civics in this grade, and that a text-book in
civics, as well as a text-book in history, be placed in the hands
of each pupil. The function of city, State and national government
should be emphasized, rather than the machinery of each. The actual
work of the government to-day, and concrete instances of civic duty
should be discussed, and a special study of such topics as “Child
Labor,” “Corruption in Politics,” “Best Methods of Work in Local City
Governments,” is advised.
Fifteen pages are devoted to a discussion of the preparation of the
teacher. The suggestions offered are helpful, and in accordance with
the best educational theories. The entire chapter, though brief, shows
clearly the need of special preparation, if a teacher hopes to make a
success of her work. The entire book is a teacher’s book. The outlines
given are not for the class-room; they are to serve as a suggestion to
the teacher, who will make her own outlines, based upon the principles
laid down in the report, and dealing with the phases of subject-matter
which the committee selected. No attempt has been made to go beyond
what is already being done in the best schools of the country. The
committee has tried to show what is possible in elementary grades. The
report will doubtless tend to improve the work in the less favored
sections of the country. The plan of work presented is a very definite
and carefully-considered plan, which is certainly entitled to a fair
trial on its merits.
[“The Study of History in the Elementary Schools--Report to the
American Historical Association by the Committee of Eight.” New York:
Charles Scribner’s Sons. 1909. Pp. xvii, 141. 50 cents.]
FOOTNOTE:
[3] James Alton James, Chairman, Henry K. Bourne, Eugene C. Brooks,
Wilbur F. Gordy, Mabel Hill, Julius Sachs, Henry W. Thurston, J. H. Van
Sickle
Suggestions on Elementary History[4]
BY PROFESSOR FRANKLIN L. RILEY, UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI.
Outline for Oral Lessons on Westward Immigration.
(Adapted to the Third or Fourth Grade.)
1. The Western Country and How It was Reached--Virginians and their
neighbors moved oftener than the colonists to the north. Attracted
by “mineral springs,” “salt licks” and “blue grass.” Buffalo paths
converge at Cumberland Gap. Wilderness Road, two hundred miles long,
from Virginia through this gap to Kentucky, made by Daniel Boone in
charge of thirty men. At first only a narrow path for horsemen and
footmen. Pack saddles, how made and used.
2. Daniel Boone, “Columbus of the Land.”--Born in Pennsylvania, father
settled in Wilkes County, North Carolina, when Daniel was about 13
years old. Early life on frontier farm, used gun almost as early as
hoe. Little log home. Married at 20; five years later he decided to
move, wanted “elbow room.” “If these people keep coming, soon there
will not be a bar in all this country.” Prospecting trip across the
mountains, with two or three backwoodsmen at the time of the French and
Indian War. Up a tree to escape from a bear. “D. Boone cilled a bar on
this tree in 1760” on a beech tree in Eastern Tennessee.
3. New Homes in the Wilderness--Nine years after killing the bear in
Tennessee he went to Kentucky to find a new home. Wild game, deer,
bear, buffaloes, wolves. Shelter of logs open on one side. “Dark and
Bloody Ground.” Indian tricks, imitating turkeys and owls. “Killed”
a “stump.” Captured by Indians. Escape after seven days. Alone in
the wilderness, 500 miles from home. Forty new settlers from North
Carolina. Capture of Boone’s daughter and two other girls by Indians
and their rescue. Elizabeth Kane and the grapevine swing. Boone a
prisoner in Detroit. Indians refuse $500 for him. His escape. Removal
to Missouri. Death and burial at Frankfort.
4. A Frontier Home--Log cabin in a clearing near the fort. Ladder
against wall for stairway and pegs in wall for clothing. Rough boards
supported by four wooden pegs for dining table. Dirt floor.
5. Life of a Pioneer Boy--Taught to imitate notes and calls of birds
and wild animals, to set traps and to shoot the rifle. At 12 he became
a fort soldier, with a porthole assigned to him. Taught to follow an
Indian trail and to conceal his own when on the warpath.
6. Suggested Topics for Other Lessons:
(1) The Story of James Robertson.
(2) The Story of John Sevier.
(3) The Story of George Rogers Clark.
(4) Stories of the French in America and the Struggle for the
Mississippi Valley.
7. Bibliography--Gordy’s “American Leaders and Heroes” (Charles
Scribner’s Sons); McMurry’s “Pioneers of the Mississippi Valley” and
Hart’s “Source Reader in American History,” No. 3, and Eggleston’s
“Stories of Great Americans” and “First Book in American History”
(A. B. Co.); Catherwood’s “Heroes of the Middle West,” and Blaisdell
and Ball’s “Hero Stories from American History” (Ginn & Co.); Aunt
Charlotte’s “Stories of American History” (D. Appleton & Co.).
Methods of Primary Instruction.
1. Oral presentation. These stories should be given by the teacher in
a simple, animated style, adapted to the mental status of the child.
They should abound in narration rather than description. Children like
action. During the first two years they should be related rather than
read.
2. Illustrations. Frequent use should be made of blackboard
illustrations. Printed pictures, objects, etc., should also be used.
3. Construction. Children should do constructive work along lines
suggested by the lessons--draw pictures, make log houses, bows, arrows,
wigwams, etc.
4. Reproduction. The stories should be frequently repeated by the pupil
until they are thoroughly mastered. They should also be reproduced in
written form as soon as the child is sufficiently advanced.
5. Note books. The children should copy their stories after they have
been corrected into their history note books. Neatness should be
emphasized.
6. Memory work. The children should memorize historical poems and
brief extracts from historical literature, which are thoroughly
comprehensible to them.
7. Reading. The children should be encouraged to acquire new facts for
themselves from books that are easily comprehensible to them.
8. Reviews. There should be frequent reviews. These exercises should
be varied as much as possible and should be often held at unexpected
times. Call on different members of the class to tell of their favorite
characters; give characteristic incidents not already related, in the
life of a person, and let the children guess who it is; let them guess
what certain pictures represent, etc.
9. Rewards. The child should be occasionally rewarded with something to
read about his favorite character. Reward the mind, but do not permit
it to be surfeited.
10. Problems. In the latter part of the primary course special
attention should be given to historical problems. See McMurry’s
“Special Method in History,” pp. 66-74.
Suggestions on Primary History.
1. Have the purpose and outline of the story well in hand before
presenting it, and let your presentation be independent of the book.
The outline of your story should be very carefully prepared.
2. Avoid complex details. Tell story vividly. “The educational value of
these stories does not depend upon literal accuracy.”
3. The sequence of events and their relations are more important than
dates. “A long time ago” means more to a child than 1492.
4. Lay special stress on ethical teaching; cut down wars and military
campaigns as much as possible.
5. Go slowly. Haste is a poor policy. A teacher may sometimes
devote weeks to a single character to advantage. Do not cram facts
indiscriminately into children’s minds.
6. Do not repeat stories to the same children from year to year.
7. For directions “How to Select Stories,” see McMurry’s “Special
Method in History,” pp. 34-40.
8. For directions “How to Tell Stories,” see Ibid, pp. 54-56.
9. For directions “How to Have Stories Reproduced,” see Ibid, pp. 57-58.
10. For a discussion of the difficulties of oral instruction, see Ibid,
pp. 59-66.
FOOTNOTE:
[4] Editor’s Note.--These and many other helpful suggestions have been
privately printed by Professor Riley in a syllabus entitled “Methods of
Teaching History in Public Schools,” University, Miss., price 25 cents.
A Type Lesson for the Grades
BY ARMAND J. GERSON.
THE SPANISH CLAIM. A Type Lesson.
Of the many complaints made by history teachers in secondary schools
regarding preparation given in the grades perhaps none contains a
greater amount of truth than the oft-repeated statement that while
pupils leave our elementary schools with a large stock of historical
terms and phrases they often lack a real grasp of their significance. I
know of a pupil who after a whole year of Sixth Grade work defined tax
as “money that is paid for tea,” and who honestly thought that George
III’s ministers were “a sort of clergymen.” Still more frequent are
the instances where the pupil’s notions of terms used are so hazy and
inadequate as not to admit of definition at all.
This condition may be variously explained. The trouble is often caused
by an improper use of the text-book, the incompetent teacher resting
content if the pupil commits the words on the pages and recites them
with some semblance of intelligence. In most cases, however, it is safe
to say that the misconceptions are the result of the teacher’s failure
to grasp the child’s difficulties, his inability to put himself into
the pupil’s place and realize the mental equipment which the child
brings to the grasping of the new ideas. Be the cause of the difficulty
what it may, the recognition of its existence must be the first step
toward its removal.
The word “claim” occupies a prominent place among the disturbers of
the peace. In the course of the history work the children become
familiar with the fact that the voyages and explorations of the
Spanish, English, French and Dutch somehow give rise to “land claims”
whose overlapping results in interesting international conflicts.
Judicious questioning, however, is apt to disclose a surprising lack
of definiteness as to the meaning of this word “claim.” In accordance
with the type-lesson method this vagueness of comprehension might
readily be avoided if the “claim” concept were developed thoroughly in
connection with the explorations of a single European nation. In other
words, the teaching of a typical claim forms the surest sort of basis
for the comprehension of land claims in general. Spain, because of the
early date of its explorations, naturally suggests itself as the type.
Let the pupil understand intensively all that we can teach him about
the Spanish claim--how far it extended, on what it was based, what it
meant--and there will be no difficulty when we come to develop the
claims of England, France and Holland.
In presenting the type lesson on the Spanish claim the teacher must
carefully distinguish and strongly emphasize the type-elements, _i.
e._, those aspects of the subject which help form a clear concept
or pattern. Chief among these type-elements may be mentioned the
following: A clear understanding of what we mean by “right of
discovery;” some notion of the distance a claim may be said to extend
beyond the point or coast explored; a definite comprehension of what
is meant when we speak of a nation “owning” land; a mental attitude
toward the rights of the original inhabitants. Reference to these
fundamentals will have to be made repeatedly when the claims of
other European nations are in their turn presented to the class, but
this mere reference is all that will be required if the type-elements
developed in connection with the Spanish claim have been thoroughly
grounded. The particular incidents of the Spanish story, pedagogically
speaking, are of less fundamental significance.
In connection with the Columbus story the class will have been brought
to see that the chief political consequence of that event consisted
in the extension of Spanish dominion. “For Castile and Leon Columbus
discovered a New World” contains an ethical principle immediately
recognized by every boy of ten. This principle contains the essence of
the whole theory of discovery and exploration, and should, for a time
at least, be allowed to remain undisputed. It might be well even to
reinforce this theory by reference to the widely accepted principle
applied by our boys and girls in their everyday life,--“finding is
keeping.” Ownership of what we find may indeed be disputed by others,
but the finder may at least be said to have a “claim” to it. It is in
this sense that Spain had a “claim” to the New World.
But a nation’s claim to newly discovered land is in many ways different
from a boy’s claim to a marble he has found. First of all, the boy
has probably picked up the whole marble and put it in his pocket.
The Spanish explorers, on the other hand, only caught glimpses of
part of the edge of a great continent. Had they a good claim to the
whole continent or could they only claim the parts they had found?
Difference of opinion on this point is very possible and may give
rise to profitable class discussion. Ignorance of the size and shape
of the continent, concentration of Spanish interest in the south, and
the decree of Pope Alexander should all be pointed out as determining
elements in the gradual defining of the Spanish claim. The work of each
of the Spanish explorers should be reviewed in this connection, and the
claim finally located on the map.
It is important, in the next place, that the pupils should devote some
thought to the question of what we mean when we say Spain “owned”
Florida, Mexico, etc. In this connection attention may well be called
to the theory of government generally held in the sixteenth century.
The modern notion of government existing for the sake of the governed
had scarcely taken form in the minds of men. The nations of Europe were
avowedly selfish. Spain “owned” America in the sense that she could
make laws for its people, dispose of its territory, and control its
resources.
Finally, a complete notion of European claims to the New World must
perforce include some reference to the rights of the natives. The
comparative rights of the natives and Europeans is fortunately not
a question upon which we are called upon to pronounce a verdict. As
an element in all colonizing activities it requires our attention,
however, and it certainly affords admirable opportunity for cultivating
our pupils’ human sympathies.
Reference should be made to the pre-eminence of the Spanish claim on
the score of priority. It is to be borne in mind that our type-lesson,
besides forming the basis for the teaching of subsequent claims, will
have still greater significance when the conflict of European nations
leads to the great international struggle for the New World. Constant
reference to maps and charts, and, more important still, the making
of claim maps by the pupils themselves, constitute an obvious, but
none the less essential, means of rendering definite and permanent
the results of the “claim” lesson. A progressive map upon which the
conflict of claims could be developed will be of particular value.
Our endeavor throughout the Spanish claim lesson should be to proceed
as slowly and carefully as possible. Much of the detail presented need
not be retained as such, but will serve its most useful purpose by
forming a setting for the salient points. The aim of the type-lesson is
to construct a firm and sure foundation for later work.
The Hudson-Fulton Celebration
From the 25th of September, when the Half-Moon and the Clermont left
their temporary berths in the Kill van Kill, in Staten Island, to
October 9th, when they reached the city of Troy, the people of the city
and the State of New York devoted themselves with remarkable singleness
of purpose to the celebration of two historical incidents of world-wide
importance: the discovery of the river by Henry Hudson in 1609 and the
successful completion of the first steamboat voyage up the river to
Albany in 1807. For months before, laymen and professional historians
and history teachers had been busy preparing for the celebration,
and the result of their work was to be seen in the parades and
pageants. Circulars, instructions, maps, pictures, and even historical
treatises, succeeded each other in almost endless succession. Of
them all, the pamphlet issued by the State Department of Education,
entitled “Hudson-Fulton Celebration, 1609-1807-1909,” and the printed
circular issued by the New York City Department of Education, entitled
“Hudson-Fulton Celebration--Suggestions for Exercises,” are especially
recommended to teachers who are looking for suggestions as to plans
for similar celebrations. Both can be had by application to the proper
authorities.
The parades and pageants which marked the week’s celebration in New
York City have been so thoroughly described in the newspapers and
reviews that it would be useless to discuss them once again in this
connection. From the point of view of the teacher, the naval parade of
Saturday, September 25th, the historical parade of Tuesday, September
28th, and the school commemorative exercises of Wednesday, September
29th, and Saturday, October 2d, were the most important and the most
significant. Though none of these was perfect in all its details,
still all of them gave to the children of the city opportunities
for visualizing conditions as they existed in the past such as no
other method could have done. Pages and pages of description, for
instance, could give the child no such idea of the difficulties of
navigation in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as the brief
view of the top-heavy, clumsy and poorly-constructed model of the
Half-Moon did. More valuable still were the exercises, largely in the
form of dramatization, in which the children of every grade, from
the kindergarten to the last year of the high school, participated,
both on Wednesday morning and on Saturday afternoon. Here the work
was the result of the children’s own constructive imagination, aided
and directed by skilled teachers and historians. Once again, as far
as possible, the children were allowed to relive their lives under
conditions which approximated those which surrounded their predecessors
during the last three centuries.
As to the permanent results of the celebration, it may be said, first,
that New York City and New York State are to-day richer than they would
otherwise have been in historical monuments and commemorative tablets
which are of constant educational value. Further, both the city and
the State have been stirred to an extraordinary pitch of civic pride
and civic activity and in both the children have participated largely.
What the past has accomplished has been thoroughly emphasized; what
the future demands has by no means been neglected. The lesson has thus
been both historical and political. As a model for other cities this
celebration will long stand preëminent. Though there were many errors
and many shortcomings, other communities will, nevertheless, find in
the exercises and in the pageants much to copy that was valuable.
Though the time and energy expended were great, the results were
commensurate.
A. M. W.
* * * * *
The History Teacher’s Magazine
Published monthly, except July and August, at 5805 Germantown Avenue,
Philadelphia, Pa., by
McKINLEY PUBLISHING CO.
A. E. McKINLEY, Proprietor.
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EDITORS
=Managing Editor=, ALBERT E. MCKINLEY, PH.D.
=History in the College and the School=, ARTHUR C. HOWLAND, Ph.D.,
Assistant Professor of European History, University of Pennsylvania.
=The Training of the History Teacher=, NORMAN M. TRENHOLME, Professor of
the Teaching of History, School of Education, University of Missouri.
=Some Methods of Teaching History=, FRED MORROW FLING, Professor of
European History, University of Nebraska.
=Reports from the History Field=, WALTER H. CUSHING, Secretary, New
England History Teachers’ Association.
=American History in Secondary Schools=, ARTHUR M. WOLFSON, Ph.D.,
DeWitt Clinton High School, New York.
=The Teaching of Civics in the Secondary School=, ALBERT H. SANFORD,
State Normal School, La Crosse, Wis.
=European History in Secondary Schools=, DANIEL C. KNOWLTON, Ph.D.,
Barringer High School, Newark, N. J.
=English History in Secondary Schools=, C. B. NEWTON, Lawrenceville
School, Lawrenceville, N. J.
=Ancient History in Secondary Schools=, WILLIAM FAIRLEY, Ph.D.,
Commercial High School, Brooklyn, N. Y.
=History in the Grades=, ARMAND J. GERSON, Supervising Principal, Robert
Morris Public School, Philadelphia, Pa.
CORRESPONDENTS.
HENRY JOHNSON, New York City.
MABEL HILL, Lowell, Mass.
GEORGE H. GASTON, Chicago, Ill.
JAMES F. WILLARD, Boulder, Col.
H. W. EDWARDS, Berkeley, Cal.
WALTER F. FLEMING, Baton Rouge, La.
EDITORIAL POLICY.
It is not the purpose of the editors of the MAGAZINE to espouse any
particular pedagogical policy. Articles may appear in the paper which
advocate new policies or radical changes of method in the school
or college curriculum; but such papers express the views of the
contributors only, and not necessarily of the editorial staff of the
paper. Rather it is their wish to make the paper a mirror of the best
thought and practice in the profession, and to this end they will
welcome correspondence and contributions upon all phases of questions
arising in the teaching of history. Let us have a frank and full
discussion of the problems facing the teacher, and of the best way
of solving the problems; not fads or hobbies, but sound experience
and strong pedagogical ideals. The editors invite the coöperation of
their readers in making the paper a “clearing-house for ideas in the
profession.”
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL HISTORY.
It may be a matter of surprise that a paper devoted largely to the
interests of teachers of history in secondary schools and colleges
should print in one number nearly five pages of matter relating to
history in elementary schools. Yet there should be no need of an
apology. Were not the several parts of the American educational system
so independent of one another, our secondary and college teachers of
history would not pride themselves upon their ignorance of conditions
in the elementary schools. Because organically or politically there
is little correlation among the three parts of the system, each part
attempts to ignore the others, rejecting suggestions concerning its
own work, and grudgingly and condescendingly giving advice concerning
the others. With a few notable exceptions, several of whom appear as
contributors to this number of the MAGAZINE, college men in America
have kept sedulously away from the problems of history teaching in the
elementary school, or if they have turned their gaze upon the schools,
it has been to seek a market for a new elementary history textbook.
Yet the elementary school needs the best thought that the nation can
give to it; not the thought of elementary school men alone, but the
clearness and directness and thoroughness which come so frequently
with college training. It is superciliousness or inertia which leads a
college instructor to say that he cannot realize the problems of the
elementary school, and then to send his children to a class taught by a
young girl fresh from the normal school or high school. It was not thus
that the schedules for history in the Prussian or French schools were
made. It is not by thus leaving the determination of policy to weaker
employees that great corporations succeed. And how much more valuable
are our children than corporate wealth!
The report of the Committee of Eight is beyond doubt the most important
feature of the year in the teaching of history in America. It deserves
to rank with the report of the Committee of Seven, and its influence
may well be even greater. The report is remarkable for its sanity, its
absence of theorizing, its understanding of the mind of the child at
several ages, its clearness and general helpfulness. Not content with
merely outlining the field of history for each grade, the committee
has realized the weakness of the teacher, and has constructed a course
of study for her, and has even gone so far as to advise the emphasis
and amount of time to be given to each subject. Schedule-makers have
previously had no advice from historians upon these points; they have
been left severely alone to fix their days and hours and subjects as
they might think best. The report changes all this by combining the
scholarly knowledge of the historian with the skill of the pedagogical
student and with the worldly wisdom of the schedule maker.
Of particular significance and originality is the arrangement of topics
by years in such a manner that the student receives something new in
each grade. Even although all the work centers about the history of
the United States, yet there is no deadening repetition year after
year. The topics are carefully selected for each grade with a view to
increasing difficulty with the advancing years of the student. Perhaps
no one feature of the report marks a more distinct advance than this
arrangement.
Not only should the report have a strong influence upon the arrangement
of the elementary history course, but it should also lead to a great
improvement in the instruction of history. Not every teacher can meet
the requirements set by the committee; the result will be a wider
adoption of the “group” or “department” system, by which the teacher
is given charge of one subject or of a group of allied topics, such as
English and history, or geography and nature study. Such a division
of labor is in accord with the tendencies of the day; it is in the
interests of superior work in all subjects; and it means increased
mental development not for the child alone, but for the teacher as
well. The report would deserve a hearty welcome if it did no more than
advance the cause of the departmental or group teacher.
It will do much more than this. It will add dignity to the work in
history; it will give school administrators an ideal of work in the
subject; and best of all, it will give the children of the nation a
course in history which will be stimulating and of definite cultural
value. Teachers of history and school administrators should unite to
see that the new plan is given a fair test under the best possible
circumstances. High school and college teachers should join with
elementary teachers in endorsing this plan for raising the standard of
history teaching in America.
Readings in Government and Politics
PROFESSOR BEARD’S WORK REVIEWED BY JOHN HAYNES, PH.D., DORCHESTER
HIGH SCHOOL, BOSTON, MASS.
This volume is an attempt to do for the student of Government what
the source book does for the student of History. Prof. Beard has
prepared it primarily to be used with his own “American Government and
Politics,” which is now in preparation, but of course it can be used
with any text-book on the subject. The selections include materials
of many kinds, among them most of the Federal Constitution (groups of
clauses bearing upon the same subject being given at the beginning
of the appropriate chapter), parts of the constitutions of various
States, decisions of the Federal Supreme Court and other courts of last
resort, arguments made in Congress, State legislatures, constitutional
conventions and political meetings, party platforms, letters, laws,
treaties and proclamations. The Declaration of Independence and the
Articles of Confederation are given in full. Each selection is preceded
by a brief introduction of a few lines which is admirable in giving a
succinct statement of the main point or points of the document which
follows.
The wide scope of the selections, both as to subjects and the sources
from which they are taken, is a testimony to the generous amount of
labor bestowed upon the preparation of the volume. On the whole,
admirable judgment has been used in choosing the material. Still some
things are absent which one might expect to find. The case of McCulloch
vs. Maryland is very properly quoted at some length, but the famous
Dartmouth College case, whose consequences were very important, is
not cited. The book would be improved by the addition of selections
designed to illustrate judicial procedure, like a charge to a jury, a
declaration in a civil suit or an indictment. Examples of different
forms of ballots might well be given, especially of the ballot used in
Oregon when laws are submitted to popular vote.
The selections, which as far as possible are taken from the writings
of men who have had practical experience in the conduct of government,
have the great merit of giving a view of government as it really is.
The seamy side is not hidden. There are documents illustrating the
corruption of the police, the tyranny of the boss, the iniquities of
the gerrymander, senatorial courtesy, corporations in politics and the
unjust assessment of taxable property.
A great excellence of this book is its being up to date. Examples of
this are selections from the Oregon law on the election of United
States Senators, from Oklahoma’s Constitution, from the “Report of the
Boston Finance Commission,” issued in 1909, and the “Report of the
Minnesota Tax Commission” of the preceding year.
This volume, which is admirably adapted to its purpose, is a distinct
addition to the resources of the teacher of Government. While the
average teacher is likely to be more hampered by the entirely
inadequate time allowed for the subject than by lack of good material,
a contribution like this of Professor Beard tends to dignify the
subject, which is all too likely to be treated as a tail to the history
kite, and to secure for it the place which it deserves in school
courses.
[“Readings in American Government and Politics.” By Charles A. Beard.
New York. The Macmillan Co., 1909. Pp. xxiii-624. Price, $1.50.]
Civics and Health
DR. ALLEN’S WORK REVIEWED BY LOUIS NUSBAUM.
Dr. Allen has presented a work which in the directness, forcefulness
and logic of its appeal for good health as a civic duty makes the book
worthy to be considered as epoch-making. To quote Dr. Allen’s thought,
changed conditions of social and industrial life have virtually
eliminated from present-day politics the inalienable rights for which
our ancestors fought and died, and in their stead has come the need to
formulate rules which will insure to every citizen the economic and
industrial rights essential to twentieth century happiness. And just as
community of interest was the incentive to attaining those political
rights in the past, so united action is necessary to secure health
rights.
Scarcely any phase of the question of public health is left untouched
in this interesting little book. From the consideration of sound
teeth as a commercial asset, through the discussion of a long list of
preventable and removable diseases and disorders, to the examination of
tuberculosis as an industrial loss, Dr. Allen has made out so strong a
case against the social losses due to disease, that one is necessarily
aroused to a new sense of public duty. And it is in this very awakening
of a slumbering public consciousness that the book will do its most
effective work. As Prof. William T. Sedgwick says in his introduction,
a reading of the chapter headings merely “will cause surprise and
rejoicing.”
The facts of the existence of the health conditions revealed in
this book are not new, but the immensity of these known conditions,
as successively enumerated here, is almost astounding. For a brief
moment in reading the book one is led to feel that it is the work of
an extremist or enthusiast, to be discounted in effect for a certain
measure of high coloring, yet a careful inspection reveals the fact
that everything is told in an honest and direct, even if at times
dogmatic, way.
Unlike the work of many pseudo-reformers, Dr. Allen’s book is
comprehensive in its scope in that it not only reveals existing
conditions, but it indicates how these conditions may be remedied and
tells of the efforts thus far made to apply the proper remedies. After
pointing out that the best index to community health is the physical
welfare of school children, Dr. Allen compares the European method of
_doing things_ at school with the American method of _getting things
done_.
No brief review can do justice to a work so inspiring that to be
instantly effective it needs but to be read widely. It is filled with
material that should be particularly at the command of every teacher,
if not of every parent, in the land. Its especial interest to teachers
of civics lies in its analysis of the relation of public health and its
consequent economic conditions to organized government and to the body
social.
[“Civics and Health.” By William H. Allen, secretary, Bureau of
Municipal Research, with an introduction by William T. Sedgwick,
professor of biology in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Boston: Ginn & Co., 1909. Pp. xi-411.]
American History in the Secondary School
ARTHUR M. WOLFSON, PH.D., Editor.
A STUDY OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
The Declaration of Independence is, in every way, an ideal document for
study in a secondary school. Every student in the class is undoubtedly
familiar with it; he has heard it quoted, in whole or in part, on
numberless occasions; he thinks he knows all about it, and yet the
teacher can easily show him that it contains vast stores of ideas which
up to the present time he has never even suspected. No document in all
American history is so easy of interpretation: the language is clear
and simple; the phraseology is direct and unencumbered; the document
is divided and subdivided so that anyone who takes the trouble can
easily analyze it. The Declaration itself is to be found in almost
every school history, and the sources and secondary authorities which
illustrate it are easily accessible and not too difficult for the
ordinary secondary school student.
Literature.
First, a few suggestions as to where these sources and secondary
authorities may be found. Of primary importance is Macdonald’s “Select
Charters Illustrative of American History--1606 to 1775;” second,
though not so good, is Preston’s “Documents Illustrative of American
History--1606 to 1863;” third, Hart’s “American History Told by
Contemporaries,” Volume II, Part VI; fourth, the “American History
Leaflets,” Numbers 11, 19, 21, and 33. Beside these the teacher may
easily discover one or another of the documents in many other places.
Of the secondary authorities, beside the ordinary histories of the
American nation, all of which contain the leading facts and incidents
upon which the Declaration is based, the teacher is referred especially
to Friedenwald’s “Declaration of Independence.” Next to that, the
most important works are Moses Coit Tyler’s “Literary History of the
American Revolution,” and Frothingham’s “Rise of the Republic of the
United States,” particularly the foot-notes. Furthermore, the teacher
and the student will find illuminating essays on the political theories
of the Declaration of Independence in Merriam’s “American Political
Theories,” in A. Lawrence Lowell’s “Essays in Government,” in Leslie
Stephen’s “English Thought in the Eighteenth Century,” and in Bryce’s
“Studies in History and Jurisprudence.” By no means all of these works
need be consulted; an examination of one or two of them will suffice.
The study of the Declaration falls naturally into three parts and
students may therefore profitably be set to work separately or in
groups on one of its three problems. First, there is the problem of
the growth of the idea of independence; second, there is the problem
of the validity and cogency of the numberless adverse criticisms of
the Declaration. Is it merely a mass of “glittering and sounding
generalities of natural right?” as Choate called it. Is it a partisan
and unfair statement? Is its political theory false and therefore of no
historical importance? Third, there is the possibility of submitting
the Declaration itself to complete and thorough class-room analysis.
Idea of Independence.
Taking each of these problems separately, let us endeavor to set in
order first, the sources which should be studied in tracing the growth
of the idea of independence in the colonies. Up to 1761, though there
had been causes for differences of opinion between the Crown and the
colonies, none of these causes had led to an open breach. In 1761
came the difficulty about the Writs of Assistance in which James Otis
took such a prominent part. Otis’ speech on the Writs of Assistance,
and especially his “Vindication of the House of Representatives” and
his “Rights of the Colonies” may therefore be studied with profit.
In them will be found the first statement of the American theory of
government. These documents may be found in Hart’s Contemporaries, in
the American History Leaflets, and in various other places. Following
then in quick succession come the various declarations of the colonies
and the various petitions to the Crown, beginning with the Declaration
of the Stamp Act Congress issued in 1765 and ending with the Olive
Branch Petition issued in June, 1775. Most of these documents can be
found most conveniently in Macdonald’s Select Charters and the teacher
can make his own selection according to his taste and the size of
his class. The only thing to be emphasized in the study of any or
all of these documents is the fact that, as Friedenwald expresses
it, in speaking of the First Continental Congress (Declaration of
Independence, p. 28), “spirited and outspoken as were the resolutions
of the Congress of 1774 in stating their demands, there is no sign
among them all that can rightly be interpreted as indicating a wish for
the establishment, even remotely, of an independent government.” The
same facts can be gleaned from a study of Tyler’s “Literary History of
the American Revolution,” Vol. I, p. 458 ff.
With the news of the rejection of the Olive Branch Petition which
reached the colonies in November, 1775, begins a new phase of the
American Revolution. Thenceforward, there is a rapid and steady growth
of the idea of political independence. The development of this idea
should be studied in such documents as the declarations of the various
colonies, especially the Virginia Declaration of Rights, June, 1776,
and in the writings of the Revolutionary leaders such as Thomas Paine’s
pamphlet entitled “Common Sense” issued in January, 1776, and the
correspondence of John Adams. The idea culminates, of course, in the
Declaration of Independence.
“Under this aspect,” says Tyler (Vol. I, p. 477) comparing the
Revolution to the Civil War, “the American Revolution had just two
stages; from 1764 to 1776, its champions were Nullifiers without being
Secessionists; from 1776 to 1783, they were Secessionists, and as
events proved, successful Secessionists.”
Criticism of the Declaration of Independence began with the
animadversions of John Adams in his letter to Pickering in 1822 and
has continued ever since. First, it has been declared that the ideas
expressed in the preamble are not new, that “there is not an idea
in it,” as Adams said, “but what had been hackneyed in Congress for
two years before;” second, that the document is partisan and that
the statement of grievances is unfair to the British Crown and to
Parliament; third, that the political philosophy contained in the
preamble is false and contrary to the facts of history.
Jefferson’s Reply.
In a short paper like this it is impossible to examine each of these
criticisms in detail. The teacher who is interested can easily find in
Friedenwald and in Tyler and in the other authorities mentioned above
full and adequate discussion of each of these charges. Here it must
suffice to say in answer to the first charge that Jefferson himself
in a letter to Madison, dated August 30, 1823, declared, “I did not
consider it any part of my charge to invent new ideas altogether,
and to offer no sentiment which had ever been expressed before.... I
thought it a duty to be, on that occasion, a passive auditor of the
opinions of others, more impartial judges than I could be of its merits
and demerits.” In other words, Jefferson’s task was not to invent, as
French publicists were prone to do on such occasions, new theories of
government, but simply to express the ideas which were the product of
the political discussion which was going on about him, and which would
be familiar and acceptable to the men in America and in Europe to whom
the Declaration was addressed.
That the document is partisan is of course true; but this is scarcely
a valid criticism. Neither Jefferson nor any of his colleagues claimed
to sit as judges between the colonies and the mother country. They were
bound merely to put their claims as strongly as they could, and then
leave the judgment of the case to “a candid world.”
Third, as long at the Declaration be studied merely as an historical
document, it matters not whether its theories be false or true; it
matters only that the student understand how completely its principles
dominated the minds of the men who had a share in drawing up the
document and the minds of men both in America and in Europe to whom it
was addressed.
The Declaration Analysed.
Coming now to the analysis of the Declaration itself, we find that it
falls naturally into three parts. First, there is the preamble in which
Jefferson and his colleagues set forth the political theory current in
the colonies in 1776; second, there is the enumeration of grievances
by which the colonists hoped to prove that the king had violated their
sacred rights, and finally there is the conclusion, namely, “That these
United Colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent
states.”
The political doctrine of the Declaration is well known. Summed up in a
single phrase, it is commonly called the Compact Theory of Government;
that is, that all men are born with certain “natural rights,” that to
secure these rights they enter by their own consent into political
unions (the compact), that when these natural rights are violated by
those whom they have set up to govern them, they have a right to throw
off the restraints of government, to enter into a new compact, “to
provide new guards for their future security.” It used to be supposed
that Jefferson derived this theory of government from the writings
of the French philosophers, of whom Rousseau was the most famous.
This idea, however, has long since been exploded. We know now that
the American revolutionary statesmen from Otis to Jefferson were
impregnated with good English ideas, that they looked to John Locke,
not to Rousseau, as their master. The teacher should therefore make
clear to his students just what the ideas of Locke were and especially
the occasion which gave them birth. It is not a matter of chance that
Locke’s Treatises on Government were issued in the period of the
Revolution of 1688 and the student should be made to understand this.
For a full discussion of the almost exact verbal relation between the
Declaration of Independence and the writings of Locke the teacher is
referred to the books mentioned at the beginning of this paper.
The Colonial Grievances.
Perhaps the most valuable class exercises in connection with the
Declaration of Independence is an analysis of the grievances set forth
in the document and the effort to find the specific acts upon which
these statements are based. Several of them refer to acts and events
whose history is obscure, but most of them can easily be traced to
their sources. For a thorough analysis of the grievances, the teacher
should go to Friedenwald, Chapters X and XI. Here we can give only
the briefest outline. Thus, for instance, a search of the Journals of
the Board of Trade will show that at least twenty important laws were
rejected or suspended by the Crown in 1773, that the consideration
of other laws was neglected sometimes as long as four or five years
(Sections 1 and 2); that the king absolutely forbade his governors in
1767 and even earlier to allow the colonial assemblies to organize
new counties in the Appalachian region unless they were willing to
deprive these counties of representation (Section 3). The facts upon
which Sections 4, 5, and 6 are based may be found in almost any school
history. The grievances stated in Sections 7 and 8 are again somewhat
obscure and cannot therefore be used with profit for class-room
discussion. The next three sections, however, refer to acts and events
which grew out of the attempted enforcement of the various acts of
parliament between 1765 and 1775 and which can therefore be found
without difficulty. Sections 12 and 13 likewise are based on facts
which any student can discover in his text book. The facts upon which
Section 14, which refers to the various acts of Parliament attempting
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.
* * * * *
Make Your Own Series
Of Historical Wall Maps for any period of history, or your own series
of maps for commercial or political geography by using colored pencil,
crayon, or water-colors, and the
McKinley Wall Outline Maps
The cost is merely nominal, and the teacher or pupil will benefit much
by studying out in detail the significant facts from maps in atlases or
text-books.
For UNITED STATES HISTORY there are maps of the country as a whole,
of the Eastern Section, the Upper and Lower Mississippi Valley, the
Pacific Coast, New England, the Middle Atlantic and the South Atlantic
States, of North America and the World.
For ENGLISH HISTORY there are maps of England, the British Isles,
France and England, Europe and the World.
For ANCIENT HISTORY there are maps of the Eastern World, Palestine,
Greece, Italy, the Roman Empire, and Gaul.
For EUROPEAN HISTORY there are maps of Europe as a whole, the
Mediterranean World, Central Europe, France, Italy, England, the
British Isles, and of the several Continents for the study of European
colonization.
For GEOGRAPHY there are maps of the world, of each of the Continents,
and of many subdivisions of the Continents of Europe, Asia, and North
America.
For ECONOMICS, HISTORY, AND GEOGRAPHY, there is the new cross-ruled,
Coördinate Paper for depicting lines of growth and development.
Price, 20 cents each
Postage extra, 10 cents for one map; 2 cents for each additional map.
Ten or more copies, 17 cents each; twenty-five or more copies, 15 cents
each; carriage extra.
McKINLEY PUBLISHING CO.
5805 Germantown Avenue
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
Correspondence
Editor HISTORY TEACHER’S MAGAZINE.
I am very much pleased with the MAGAZINE. I hope that there may be a
chance in it for discussion of the course of study of history for the
secondary school. This will not transgress the work of any committee,
as the Committee of Five was to deal with Ancient History for admission
to college. A. E. D.
Editor HISTORY TEACHER’S MAGAZINE.
What reasons would you give to a beginner in history for studying the
subject? What reasons would you give to an advanced pupil? S. S. F.
ANS.--Answers to this question will be found in any of the manuals upon
the teaching of history, such as those by Bourne, McMurray, Hinsdale,
and in the Report of the Committee of Seven. An excellent summary of
the reasons, together with references to extended treatment of the
subject, will be found in Professor Franklin L. Riley’s “Syllabus on
the Teaching of History,” privately printed by himself at University,
Miss. (price 25c.).
Editor HISTORY TEACHER’S MAGAZINE.
We are studying the history of Greece, and I want little maps on
leaflets so that each one can be familiar with the geographical
location of each country, city, or town, as we study it. Can you refer
me to any such series? D. C. A.
ANS.--Murray’s classical maps will be found serviceable for such
purposes. They can be bought at a low price, and will amply repay the
cost.
Editor HISTORY TEACHER’S MAGAZINE.
I have just been examining THE HISTORY TEACHER’S MAGAZINE. Would like
to ask if you know of a similar magazine for the grades. Can you
also advise me as to the best reference books for the grades in that
subject? A. V.
ANS.--(1) There is no magazine devoted solely to the teaching of
history in the grades. History, as well as other subjects, is treated
in “The Teacher’s Magazine” and in the “School Review.” History in the
grades will be given an increasingly important position in our own
magazine.
(2) The best reference book upon the teaching of history in the grades
is the report of the Committee of Eight, mentioned in several places in
this issue of the MAGAZINE. Miss Sarah A. Dynes has in preparation a
book upon the subject.
Editor HISTORY TEACHER’S MAGAZINE.
I would like to add my tribute to the remarkable value of the new
MAGAZINE for us history teachers. I am delighted that you recognize the
importance of American government as worthy of a place of its own in
your paper. We teachers of civics, who have been struggling for years
to give this valuable subject a place in the curriculum just because a
certain group of colleges and universities have persisted in refusing
it college entrance credit, rejoice when public recognition is thus
bestowed upon our subject. We return with fresh interest and courage
to our efforts to teach the principles of citizenship to the boys and
girls under our charge. As the basic idea of our course is citizenship,
I confess I much prefer the term “Civics” to “American Government,” in
spite of Professor Schaper’s contempt for such designation. It gives me
a much broader basis for my work than the narrower term. M. L. C.
HISTORICAL SOURCES IN PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS.
Editor HISTORY TEACHER’S MAGAZINE:
The article in the September issue of THE HISTORY TEACHER’S MAGAZINE
entitled “One Use of Sources in the Teaching of History” is interesting
both in its point of view and in the concrete illustration of the
method presented by Professor Fling. The “methods” pursued by different
teachers of history will vary largely and chiefly in consonance with
the respectively dissimilar aims held in mind by the teachers. I must
own that an experience of ten years in teaching history in the high
schools of New York City has engendered a more modest purpose than that
avowed by Professor Fling; my own aim is less ambitious than his and at
the same time, perhaps, more comprehensive; it may not be, like his,
based upon “my conception of educational theory and of the logic of
historical science”; it is, however, based upon a first-hand knowledge
of the intellectual attainments and limitations of girls and boys of
high school age.
There is, of course, a great difference in mental power between
pupils during the time devoted to Greek history and during that in
which they are studying American history and civics; there are, too,
great disparities in the children of the same grades and in different
schools, and yet I think it is a safe generalization to declare that
broadly speaking, our pupils are surprisingly immature and undeveloped
mentally, even when, as “sweet girl graduates,” or their brothers, they
leave us for the struggle of life, or for college.
The public high school, supported as it is by the money of the people,
must necessarily adapt itself to the needs of the children sent to
it; the vast majority of our pupils receive from us the “finishing
touches” of their formal education, as they do not go to college, but
plunge at once into “the world.” Such being the fact, what then should
be the aim of the history teacher? Should it be to inculcate “the
methodical search for truth,” using the phrase in the sense evidently
intended by both M. Lanson and Professor Fling?
Remembering the specific task set before us, viz.: insofar as we
are able, to fit our charges to grapple with the practical problems
of life, I am compelled to say that such a training in the study of
history as Professor Fling thinks desirable for high school pupils
would be woefully one-sided and inadequate.
We are not expected to train historians nor historical specialists;
we leave to the colleges to discover unusual natural aptitudes for
investigation and research, and we consider that in the universities
the post-graduate school finds its sphere in the training of the
historical expert; on the other hand, to the high school is given the
privilege of _introducing_ these younger minds into the domain of
history. And while enforcing the importance of accuracy and exactness
in thinking and in forming judgments of men and of events, it is not
only our task to inculcate “the methodical search for truth,” but to
throw open to the pupils the literature of the subject, to show them
how to use books to arouse their interest in scenes and countries
removed by time and space from themselves, to create, too, an interest
in the social life of times present and past, and to inspire a sane
spirit of pride in our country and loyalty to it.
The proper use of “Sources” for the accomplishment of these results
is not, then, as I have come to think, in setting such lessons as
Professor Fling suggests in the instance of the Battle of Salamis;
personally I rarely place in the hands of pupils any sources. I have
had few classes of sufficient maturity of mind to profit by such a
course. I do, however, read and explain to them such sources as I think
will serve to add reality, freshness and life to the text. Contrary
to Professor Fling, I think that the only place for the “Sources”
is in the hands of the teacher and not in those of the pupils; I do
not believe in the so-called “Source Method” of history teaching in
secondary schools; it is unsuited to the mental capacity of the pupils
and contributes only indirectly to what I consider the aims that should
control our teaching of history.
One remark made by Professor Fling is almost naïve. He says: “Two
exercises a week would be enough for intensive critical work.” Yes, it
probably would be; especially in Greek and Roman history, which in our
New York high schools is taught but three times a week; it certainly
would be sufficient in English history in those of our schools in which
it is taught but twice a week; and probably it would be sufficient in
American history and civics, which is taught four times a week!
CHARLES R. FAY,
Erasmus Hall High School,
Borough of Brooklyn,
New York City.
Editor HISTORY TEACHER’S MAGAZINE:
The library or the laboratory method of teaching history and literature
has been generally adopted. This method has some difficulties that
need to be overcome or the method will fail and consequently be
abandoned. I believe that the method must be a failure in many schools.
Dr. MacDonald has written a letter to the “Nation,” October 7, about
the inadequate equipment for teaching history and literature in
universities and colleges. In teaching science, suitable apparatus must
be made for every four pupils. In teaching history and literature in a
high school, reference books ought to be provided every four pupils in
the same subject. The difficulty in teaching history in the high school
is greater than in teaching science, as pupils pursuing different
subjects, as ancient history, medieval history and modern history,
often need the same reference books. If pupils are required to read
four hundred pages, more or less, in some history other than the school
text, a pupil may average about fifty pages a month. But not more than
ten per cent. of the number can get the books required for this reading.
I think the whole system is wrong. No definite number of pages should
be required. Instead of this plan, topics should be assigned to be
gotten up and written in note-books. Suppose the topic should be,
“Trace the course of the Visigoths from Adrianople till they blend
with the Spanish people”; or, “Give a narrative account of Napoleon’s
Russian campaign, accompanied with suitable maps.” The preparation of
these topics may require the reading of two hundred or more pages.
Each pupil, during the year, should prepare not less than four such
topics. This work for all our pupils will fill twenty-five thousand
pages of note-book work. This is too much reading and correcting for
our teachers. Therefore, the teachers ought not to undertake to read
and correct the note-books. They ought, however, to inspect them.
Each topic should he headed with a summary, and with a statement of
authorities used. I think that an oral narration of the written work
should be made by some pupil or by more than one pupil, and a criticism
or discussion by members of the class should be made.
I shall be glad to have the views of others on this important subject.
I have confined what I have written to teaching history. The teaching
of literature will require a different plan.
R. H. PARHAM.
Librarian, High School, Little Rock, Ark.
* * * * *
Translations and Reprints
Original source material for ancient, medieval and modern history in
pamphlet or bound form. Pamphlets cost from 10 to 25 cents.
SYLLABUSES
H. V. AMES: American Colonial History. (Revised and enlarged edition,
1908) $1.00
D. C. MUNRO and G. SELLERY: Syllabus of Medieval History, 395 to 1500
(1909) $1.00
In two parts: Pt. I, by Prof. Munro, Syllabus of Medieval History,
395 to 1300. Pt. II, by Prof. Sellery, Syllabus of Later Medieval
History, 1300 to 1500. Parts published separately.
W. E. LINGELBACH: Syllabus of the History of the Nineteenth Century. 60
cents
Combined Source Book of the Renaissance. M. WHITCOMB $1.50
State Documents on Federal Relations. H. V. AMES $1.75
Published by Department of History, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, and by Longmans, Green & Co.
* * * * *
A New Book on American History
By PROF. H. W. CALDWELL Of the University of Nebraska
For a number of years we have published Professor Caldwell’s books,
“Survey of American History,” “Great American Legislators” and
“American Territorial Development,” which were originally issued in
the form of leaflets consisting practically of lectures delivered by
the author. In the making of the new book we propose to make it as
nearly perfect as possible, typographically and mechanically. It has
been decided to insert maps, the book being intended for advanced work
in high schools and for students taking a special course in American
History. It is proposed to divide the book into four chapters as
follows:
CHAPTER I.--The Making of Colonial America, 1492-1763