ESSAYS
IN
AMERICAN HISTORY

These essays are presented to the public inthe belief that though what they contain beold, it is worth telling again, and in the hopethat by viewing the early history of thecountry from a somewhat different stand-pointfrom that commonly taken, light maybe thrown upon places which have beensometimes left in shadow.

The time has been when it was considereda duty to praise every action of the resolutemen who were the early settlers ofNew England. In the glow of an exultantpatriotism which was unwilling to see anythingbut beauty in the annals of their country,and in a spirit of reverence which madethem shrink from observing their fathers’shortcomings, the early historians of theUnited States dwelt lovingly on the brightside of the colonial life, and passed over itsshadows with filial reticence. It is evident6that no true conception of any period is possiblewhen so studied, and it is a matter forcongratulation that at the present day thesubject can be treated with greater impartiality,and that it is no longer necessary forAmerican writers to make up for the politicaland literary insignificance of their countryby boasting either of the vastness of theircontinent or of the Spartan virtue of theirforefathers.

In the same manner, in earlier days, whenthe recollection of the struggle for independencewas still vivid, patriotic Americanswere unable to recognize anything but arbitrarytyranny in the attempts made fromtime to time by the English government togive unity and organization to the group ofdiscordant and feeble settlements, or to seeanything but what was base and servile inthe sentiments that inspired those whom theynicknamed Tories. Now, under the influenceof calmer consideration, men a

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