COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped October, 1896. Reprinted Januarv, 1897; January, July, 1898; July, 1899; March, July, 1900; January, August, 1902. PREFACE THIS abridged edition of The American Commonwealth has been prepared to meet the wishes of a number of teachers in colleges and high schools, who think that parts of the complete work are either too difficult for their pupils, or are at any rate beyond the range of their requirements. I have accordingly omitted from the present volume most of the chapters or paragraphs which do not bear directly upon the Constitution and government of the United States or of the several States of the Union, as well as all the discussions of technical points of law, together with such observations on political questions or the attitude of political parties as seem out of place in a treatise of an educational character. Everything likely to be serviceable for the purposes of instruction has been retained. The corrections made in the last revised edition of the complete work have been inserted, and some others added, in order to bring the statements of fact (so far as possible) up to date. In the task of selecting the parts to be retained, I have received most valuable assistance from my friend, Mr. Jesse Macy, Professor of Political Science in Iowa College, whose mastery of that subject, and long experience in teaching it, make him a specially competent judge of the comparative educational value, and comparative difficulty to a beginner, of the various parts of the book. The American Commonwealth was originally written with a view to European rather than to American readers; and the reception it has had the good fortune to find in the United States has been to me equally gratifying and unexpected. That reception encourages me to hope that this concise survey of the institutions of their country may prove helpful to young Americans, not only by interesting them in the study of the Constitution as a body of living principles, but also by stimulating in them a thoughtful patriotism, and quickening their sense of the responsibility which will devolve upon them as the citizens of a mighty nation. SEPTEMBER 13th, 1896. AREA, POPULATION, AND DATE OF ADMISSION OF THE STATES. PAGE |