Excerpt from Readings in American History In making the selections I have constantly kept in mind that pupils of high-school age are ordinarily but slightly interested in constitutional documents. A relatively large number of the extracts have been taken, therefore, from the journals and letters of persons who were contemporary with the events described. Books of travel have likewise been drawn upon extensively. Topics have been chosen in the various fields of human activity, political, industrial, social, educational, and religious, but, in general, more extended selections, from fewer sources, have been made than has heretofore been usual in similar collections. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.