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A

PARAGRAPH HISTORY

OF THE

UNITED STATES

FROM

THE DISCOVERY OF THE CONTINENT TO
THE PRESENT TIME.

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A PREFATORY NOTE.

THIS little book is intended for the use of those Americans who, at this centennial period, wish to refresh their memories as to some main facts in their country's history, and have only a few moments to do it in. The essential service of larger and fuller works, it does not pretend to render. Nor does it profess to name every event, or to mention every date, which belongs to the national growth; but only a few that are chief. It simply presents a skeleton of American history, with perhaps some bones missing at that; all the flesh for which must be found by other reading.

The brief notes in contemporaneous history which lie along the margin of the text will, it is hoped, be serviceable to the reader in furnishing something of a background. It will be noticed that the names of eminent persons are accompanied by two dates. The first is that of their birth; the second that of their death; and the insertion into the text is made at the point corre

sponding with the latter, because it is the later portion of the lives of such which commonly touches most closely the period to which they belong.

The author has not thought it needful to encumber with authorities the pages of a manual whose main merit, if any, must be its compactness. The reader must take his word for it that its statements have been drawn from trustworthy sources, and that all pains have been taken to make them accurate. That they will be found absolutely accurate, in every case, is of course more than is to be expected. But if these chronological paragraphs in the history of our country should have the effect of leading the reader on to a thorough study of the events to which they relate, under the guidance of more competent teachers, the aim of the book will have been accomplished.

E. A.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.,

April 10, 1875.

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