GENERAL REFERENCES Channing, E., Hart, A. B., and Turner, F. J., Guide to the Study and Reading of American History, Boston, 1912. This guide in its newest edition should be in the hands of all college teachers of history. Its bibliographical references are richer than those of any textbook can be, and its pedagogical suggestions represent the latest thought with reference to college teaching. McLaughlin, A. C., and Hart, A. B., Cyclopedia of American Government, N. Y., 1913. Stanwood, E., History of the Presidency (to 1909), 2 vols., Boston, 1898, 1912. This contains party platforms and votes. The following general histories are valuable through the periods mentioned: 1801-1817. Adams, H., History of the United States, N. Y., 1889-1891. 1492-1789. Bancroft, G., A History of the United States, 6 vols., N. Y., 1883-1885. 1783-1865. Curtis, G. T., Constitutional History of the United States, 2 vols., N. Y., 1889-1896. 1789-1900. Dewey, D. R., Financial History of the United States, N. Y., 1907. 1300-1907. Hart, A. B. [editor], The American Nation: A History, 27 vols., N. Y., 1904-1908. Each volume has a separate author, and several of them are referred to in the chapter bibliographies. 1783-1860. McMaster, J. B., History of the People of the United States from the Revolution to the Civil War, 8 vols., N. Y., 18841913. 1849-1877. Rhodes, J. F., History of the United States, 7 vols., N. Y., 1891-1906. 1783-1865. Schouler, J., History of the United States, 7 vols., N. Y., 1894-1914. The following series are of especial value: for biography, the American Statesmen, edited by J. T. Morse; and for state history, the American Commonwealths, edited by H. E. Scudder, and the Stories of the States, edited by E. S. Brooks. THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN NATIONALITY CHAPTER I THE UNITED STATES IN 1783 THE history of the American people from the landing at Jamestown to the present day is one and indivisible. It is, moreover, indissolubly connected with the development of European civilization. History does not occur in epochs, and each great event is at the same time the culmination of one line of causation and the starting point of another. For the purposes of study as well as of writing, however, something less than the whole must be taken, and the attempt should be made to divide at the point where fewest threads will be broken. In a history like this, where the main interest is political, the meeting of the first Continental Congress or the adoption of the Constitution might seem to be more logical dates for separation than 1783. In fact, 1789 is to serve as the real point of departure, but to treat of the Constitution without giving the conditions and the struggles out of which it came seemed impossible; and so this book and the preceding volume overlap for the period 1783 to 1789. In addition, this first chapter attempts to summarize those conditions resulting from colonial development which are most essential for an understanding of the subsequent history. ence. The event which makes 1783 significant is that in that year IndependAmerican independence was finally achieved and formally acknowledged in the treaty of Paris. This treaty marked the failure of the attempt to govern the English settlements |