Part II is headed, “The Organization of the American Government. The

Form”; and gives what is usually found in manuals of civil government. This is compressed into one hundred and twenty pages, and while non-essentials are excluded, it does not appear that any important topic is neglected. Four chapters are devoted to local government, and one chapter to party organization. Some of the topics discussed are: “The President as a Political Personality,” “The Supreme Court and the People,” “The Citizen and His Country,” “The Sphere of Municipal Activity.”

The third part deals with “The Functions of the American Government. Its Services.” Here the author describes the government, national, State and local, in action. Included here are such topics as “Laws,” “Taxation,” “Money,” “Commerce,” “Elections,” “Corporations,” “Labor,” “Crime,” “Charity.” The treatment of controverted problems is dispassionate and conservative, and free from dogmatism. The method is to state the origin of the problem, indicate suggested solutions, and lead the pupil to reach his own conclusion in the light of the facts.

At the end of every chapter is a list of “suggestive questions.” Unlike the pedagogical apparatus found in many text-books, these questions are really useful. They are well calculated to lead the student to pursue the subject farther, by research and by independent thought. Many of them involve the application of principles to concrete instances, and are useful to train the judgment. Properly handled, they will enable the student to experience the pleasure of independent discovery, and thus serve one of the main purposes of all education.

In general, the problem of proportion is well solved. At first glance, one is tempted to criticize the relatively brief treatment of Part II and the large space given to Part III. But the suggestive questions at the ends of chapters will enable the teacher to treat of the organization of the government as fully as he desires, while some of the chapters dealing with the functions of government may be omitted without violating the unity of the subject. To the present reviewer, however, the arrangement is very satisfactory, for he believes that teachers have erred in sacrificing the live activities of government to the dry details of form. If, instead of compelling pupils to master the functions of the Fourth Assistant Postmaster-General, or to learn the appellate jurisdiction of each of the courts, we could lead them to watch a State purify its elections or a city secure a water supply, fewer of them would find civil government “dull.”

The criticisms that may be made are of minor importance. School books should be bound in part leather. The book would be more usable if the paragraphs were numbered. An occasional misstatement appears, e. g., that only eleven colonies were present in the First Continental Congress (p. 45). Chapter IX, a narrative of the expansion of American territory might well be omitted, as belonging more properly to another subject.

The index is adequate. The appendix contains some useful documents, including the New York law of 1892 for the prevention of bribery, and the provision of the California Constitution which permits cities to frame their own charters.

President Nicholas Murray Butler has indicated in the following sentence the ultimate object of civics teaching: “He who truly understands the meaning of liberty and the meaning of law, and the relation of one to the other, is ready to face his full duty as an American citizen.” To impart this understanding, the present volume seems especially well fitted. The high responsibility of citizen training rests upon the teacher and cannot be shifted, but he should find in this book a most serviceable tool.

[“Advanced Civics. The Spirit, the Form, and the Functions of the American Government.” By S. E. Forman, Ph.D. New York. The Century Co.]

* * * * *

The History Teacher’s Magazine

Published monthly, except July and August, at 5805 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa., by

McKINLEY PUBLISHING CO.

A. E. McKINLEY, Proprietor.

=SUBSCRIPTION PRICE.= One dollar a year; single copies, 15 cents each.

=POSTAGE PREPAID= in United States and Mexico; for Canada, 20 cents additional should be added to the subscription price, and to other foreign countries in the Postal Union, 30 cents additional.

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=ADVERTISING RATES= furnished upon application.

EDITORS

=Managing Editor=, ALBERT E. MCKINLEY, PH.D.

=History in the College and the School=, ARTHUR C. HOWLAND, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of European History, University of Pennsylvania.

=The Training of the History Teacher=, NORMAN M. TRENHOLME, Professor of the Teaching of History, School of Education, University of Missouri.

=Some Methods of Teaching History=, FRED MORROW FLING, Professor of European History, University of Nebraska.

=Reports from the History Field=, WALTER H. CUSHING, Secretary, New England History Teachers’ Association.

=American History in Secondary Schools=, ARTHUR M. WOLFSON, Ph.D., DeWitt Clinton High School, New York.

=The Teaching of Civics in the Secondary School=, ALBERT H. SANFORD, State Normal School, La Crosse, Wis.

=European History in Secondary Schools=, DANIEL C. KNOWLTON, Ph.D., Barringer High School, Newark, N. J.

=English History in Secondary Schools=, C. B. NEWTON, Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, N. J.

=Ancient History in Secondary Schools=, WILLIAM FAIRLEY, Ph.D., Commercial High School, Brooklyn, N. Y.

=History in the Grades=, ARMAND J. GERSON, Supervising Principal, Robert Morris Public School, Philadelphia, Pa.

CORRESPONDENTS.

HENRY JOHNSON, New York City. MABEL HILL, Lowell, Mass. GEORGE H. GASTON, Chicago, Ill. JAMES F. WILLARD, Boulder, Col. H. W. EDWARDS, Berkeley, Cal. WALTER L. FLEMING, Baton Rouge, La.

ORGANIZATION.

The days of isolation are passing. It is no longer possible for college professors to conduct classes and give lectures upon subjects unrelated to the student’s ability or to his year in the college course. All the world knows what each instructor is doing; questionnaires quiz him about methods and subjects; associations require him to talk about his work and consciously to face its problems.

Neither is it possible for a high school teacher to drag listlessly along, or arrange his history topics as he wishes. College entrance requirements, the criticism of the high school inspector, the rising standards of State educational systems, are holding him to more definite and more accurate work. He has not the earlier liberty to be careless and slovenly; he has still in almost all cases the liberty to do his work well in the way best suited to himself and to his class.

History teaching to-day is entering upon the period of conscious endeavor, and neither college professor nor high school instructor can afford to ignore this fact. By far the strongest element in raising the standards of history teaching has been the historical associations and the organizations of history teachers, which, during the past twenty years, have faced many problems of the history teacher. It is well nigh impossible for all of us to solve all these problems individually, although some of us may solve some of them. We need the comparison of ideas and of experiences which can be gained in the organizations; we need the inspiration coming from association with the strongest minds of the profession; we need the personal acquaintances which grow out of such meetings.

The alma mater,--generous, inspiring, appreciative,--of historical study and teaching in America, is the American Historical Association. For twenty-five years its stronger members have given of their strength, its weaker members have received inspiration, and its younger members have been encouraged to higher work by its appreciation of their labors. Its membership is open to all interested in the study, the writing, or the teaching of history, upon the payment of a small fee. The best work which the association performs for its members is the holding of the annual meetings, which are not only opportunities to hear learned or practical discussions of historical questions, but also a means through which the history teachers and writers of the country can be brought in personal contact with one another. It is this social element, say all who have attended the meetings, which constitutes their most valuable feature. Members of the association receive a quarterly magazine, “The American Historical Review,” containing original contributions to historical knowledge, and reviews of recent historical works in all the modern languages; and also two volumes of annual reports of the association. For the convenience of members living in the extreme West, a Pacific Coast branch has been organized, the members of which meet annually in the West, but they receive all the publications of the parent society.

Not history teachers alone, but all interested in the subject, are eligible to membership in the national association. Not so with the principal sectional organizations,--the New England, the Middle States and Maryland, and the North Central history teachers’ associations. These are designed primarily for the stimulation of those engaged in teaching the subject; their meetings discuss not so much the content of history and its sources, as the form and method of presentation, the choice of subject-matter, and the relation of history teaching in the school to that in the college. The associations have arranged to exchange publications, so that the teacher who is a member of any one of the associations receives the publications of each of the others.

A third form of associations is that made up of State associations of history teachers. In some cases these have grown out of the sectional bodies, but in most cases they are an outgrowth of the State teachers’ associations. The State associations are now growing in numbers and in membership. They are accomplishing much good, not only in raising the State standards, but also by turning attention to the study of local history in the State schools.

Local conferences of history teachers are now meeting in a number of cities. The most recently-formed is the San Francisco Conference; the oldest, probably, is the New York City Conference. Such meetings are often of a social nature, including informal round table discussions of topics of current interest to the history teacher.

The existence and growth of these local and general societies show that there is a strengthening of interest in history, and that the work of the history teacher is becoming more conscious and more highly organized. They indicate also that under new standards the comparison of ideas and the stimulus of personal intercourse are needed to hold the history teacher to his work. There is no excuse for back-sliding with these associations in the field; and if local organization has not yet been perfected in any district, the success of the local conferences already organized should lead to the founding of many more.

In another column of this number of the MAGAZINE will be found a partial list of history associations and conferences, together with the names and addresses of their secretaries. This list will be printed each month; and it is hoped to make it a complete directory of history teachers’ associations in the country. Readers who are interested in joining any of these organizations should correspond with the respective secretaries.

Shall not the school year 1909-1910 be made notable by increased usefulness and enlarged membership of all these associations?

The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Meetings

In commemoration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the societies, the joint meetings of the American Historical Association and the American Economic Association, to be held in New York, December 27 to 31, will be the occasion for a more elaborate program than has been arranged for previous meetings, and the participants will include not only the officers and members of the Associations, but many other persons of local, national or international standing. New York, in many respects an ideal convention city, and accustomed to entertaining associations of all kinds, is outdoing its record in order to make this meeting of the historical and economic bodies memorable in their history.

In addition to the American Historical Association and the American Economic Association, a number of allied societies will hold meetings at the same time and place. Among these bodies are the American Political Science Association, the American Statistical Association, the American Sociological Society, the American Association for Labor Legislation, the American Social Science Association, the American Society of Church History, the Bibliographical Society of America, and the Mississippi Valley Historical Association. There will be a Conference of Local and State Historical Societies and a meeting of the Public Archives Commission. The New York State Teachers’ Association will also be in session at Columbia University on these days, and will hold at least one joint meeting with the American Historical Association. There will be meetings of the working committees and boards of the several societies, and a conference of the editors and correspondents of THE HISTORY TEACHER’S MAGAZINE.

Such an association of active organizations is a worthy tribute to the work of the two parent societies during the past twenty-five years; but it is not the members of these societies alone which will join in celebrating the anniversary. Public-spirited citizens of New York, national officials, including the President of the United States, and many representatives from foreign states and learned societies abroad will have a part in the general or special programs.

It is not possible here to give in detail all the announcements already issued concerning the meetings. For convenience it is necessary to group them into three divisions: Meetings of a general nature, arranged by New York citizens as a recognition of the worth of the associations, and joint public meetings of several societies; meetings of the several societies in which matters of special interest to their own members are discussed; and social meetings and events prepared by the local committees of arrangements in which the liberal hospitality of the city is well shown.

The general program will open on Monday afternoon with a joint meeting of the Sociological, the Statistical, and the Social Science Associations in the Metropolitan Building as guests of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, at which will be delivered the presidential addresses of the presidents of the three societies. In the evening of the same day there will be held the principal public meeting arranged by citizens as an official welcome to the associations. The meeting will be held in Carnegie Hall, and addresses will be made by Chairman Joseph H. Choate, President Taft, Governor Hughes, Mayor McClellan and Dr. Nicholas M. Butler. Tuesday morning and afternoon will be devoted to joint meetings at which will be given the presidential addresses of the Historical, the Economic, the Political Science, and the Labor Legislation Associations; these will be delivered respectively by A. B. Hart, D. R. Dewey, A. Lawrence Lowell and Henry W. Farnam.

The detailed programs of the several societies contain a long list of topics to be treated by trained specialists. Only the more important can be mentioned. The Tuesday evening meeting of the Historical Association, held at the New York Historical Society Building, will be devoted to a discussion of the work of historical societies in Europe. Delegates from England, Germany, Spain, France and Holland will describe their respective national historical activities. The Wednesday morning joint session of the Historical and Political Science Associations will have as topic “British Constitutional and Political Development, with Special Reference to the Centenary of Gladstone,” and papers will be read by Ambassador Bryce, Prof. Dennis, of Wisconsin; Prof. Wrong, of Toronto; Mr. Porritt, and by Mr. Fisher, of Oxford.

Thursday, December 30, will in many respects be the most valuable for the history student. Morning and afternoon there will be conferences at Columbia University upon special historical topics. In the morning the following conferences will be held: Ancient History, Prof. Westerman, of Wisconsin, chairman; Medieval History, in join session with the American Society of Church History, Prof. Emerton, of Harvard, chairman; American History, in joint session with the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, to discuss the Westward movement, Prof. Paxson, of Michigan, chairman; Conference of Archivists, Prof. Ames, of Pennsylvania, chairman. In the afternoon the conferences will be continued: Modern European History, with Prof. Robinson, of Columbia, chairman; American History, Ethnic Elements in United States History, Prof. Greene, of Illinois, chairman; Conference of State and Local Historical Societies, Prof. Sioussat, of the University of the South, chairman.

Historical conferences will be held also on Friday morning as follows: American History, the Contributions of the Romance Nations to the History of America, Prof. Shepherd, of Columbia, chairman; History in the Secondary Schools, with reports upon history in French and German schools, and preliminary report of the Committee of Five, Prof. Salmon, of Vassar, chairman; History in the Grades, with discussion of the report of the Committee of Eight, Prof. James, of Northwestern University, chairman. The program for each of these conferences has been carefully outlined and a series of short papers will be presented followed by a general discussion. In addition to these meetings for the discussion of historical subjects proper, many allied topics will be treated in the sessions of the other associations.

Prof. Johnson, of Teachers’ College, Columbia University, is directing an exhibition of aids to the visualization of history, mentioned in another part of this number of the MAGAZINE which promises to be one of the features of the meeting. Columbia University Library will exhibit plans for libraries, and architectural plans of interest to members of State and local historical societies.

But, after all is said about the scientific and technical conferences, it must be admitted that the greatest value of the annual meetings is to be found in the personal friendships formed and renewed, and in the purely social features of the meetings. In this respect New York is preparing to give the members of the associations a most hearty welcome. The headquarters of the associations will be in the Waldorf-Astoria, and many of the meetings will be held in the several assembly rooms of the hotel. On Monday luncheon will be tendered the members by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; on Tuesday, Columbia University will give a luncheon, and Tuesday evening a club dinner will be given at the University Commons, and later in the evening a smoker. On Wednesday there will be a breakfast for members at the Waldorf-Astoria; a tea at the residence of Mrs. Clarence W. Bowen, and in the evening a reception and entertainment at the Waldorf-Astoria by the Ladies’ Reception Committee of New York, Mrs. Robert Abbe, chairman, at which a number of historical tableaux will be presented. On Thursday, Teachers’ College will entertain the members at luncheon, and in the evening Mr. and Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt will give a reception at their residence. In addition to these features of entertainment of all the associations, there will be luncheons and social meetings for many of the smaller groups composing the larger societies.

From a scientific, a popular, and a social standpoint the New York meetings should be a marked success. The several local committees have worked unremittingly upon the many details of program and entertainment; and with metropolitan zeal and generosity they have outlined the most interesting program the associations have known.

American History in the Secondary School

ARTHUR M. WOLFSON, PH.D., Editor

THE CONSTITUTION--ITS ANTECEDENTS, ITS FORMATION, AND ITS ADOPTION.

The study of the Constitution of the United States involves two more or less distinct processes. If the student is to comprehend it perfectly, he must consider it, first, as an historical document, studying its antecedents, the process of its creation, and the method of its adoption; second, he must consider it as it exists at present, the ground plan upon which our national institutions have been reared, and under which the Government of the United States is still being operated.

A generation ago the opinion was almost universally received that our present constitution was the result of the superhuman skill of the two or three score men who sat and deliberated in the State House in Philadelphia from May 25th to September 17th, 1787. Even Gladstone, whose knowledge of history and politics should have taught him better, seems to have lent himself to this theory, for in contrasting the English and the American Constitutions, he declares that, “As the British Constitution is the most subtle organism which has proceeded from progressive history, so the American Constitution is the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.” To-day this theory has been entirely abandoned. For this reason, the student must be brought to consider the Constitution as an historical as well as a political document, seeking its origins in the institutions of England and the English colonies, acquainting himself with the personality and the theories of the men who sat in the Convention, following the debates and the newspaper discussions which in every State were the preliminary steps to its ratification.

For the boys and girls who have studied their English history and their Colonial history with care and intelligence, only a brief review of the antecedents of the Constitution will be necessary. Nevertheless, this review should not be neglected. Once more the teacher should insist upon the fact that the roots of American civil and political institutions are to be found in English soil. Transplanted to America in the seventeenth century, these institutions were affected and modified by local conditions, but in their origin they were essentially English. The study of the Constitution should therefore begin with a brief reconsideration of the English system of government, its origin and development, especially in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Far more important than the system of government, however, was the system of law and the theory of the right of the individual to freedom from unjust impositions by the government which the colonists inherited from the mother country. Not until the student is able to state again, and accurately, the fundamental principles of Magna Carta, of the Petition of Rights and of the Bill of Rights should the teacher proceed to the consideration of other subjects, for the very language of these documents will appear again in the first nine amendments to our present Constitution.

Next, the teacher should review with his students the history of the establishment of the various groups of colonies, their forms of government, the various methods of colonial legislative, executive, and judicial procedure, the rights and duties of the governor, the method of election and the powers and functions of both houses of the colonial assemblies, the rights and duties of the judiciary: one and all, these served as models which were freely studied and adopted by the members of the Constitutional Convention.

Most important of all precedents, however, were the colonial forms of union. Beginning with the process of amalgamation which is to be observed in the history of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, proceeding through the history of the New England Confederation, “a consociation for mutual help and strength in all their future concernments,” through the history of the Albany Plan, the acts of the Stamp Act Congress, the Committees of Correspondence, the Continental Congress, and the Articles of Confederation, the student should be made to see that the Constitution of the United States is but the last step in a century and a half of political development. In the Articles of Confederation of the United Colonies of New England (Article 8), for instance, is to be found the germ of the constitutional provision for mutual rights of citizenship and for the return of fugitive slaves and criminals. In the Albany Plan we find at least two provisions which in later days were to be incorporated in the Federal Constitution: (1) that a single officer should be charged with the general administration of the affairs of the union, and (2) that representation should be proportional, not equal, among the members of the union.

The study of the Articles of Confederation should, of course, be thorough and exhaustive. Too many teachers are content to leave their pupils with a hazy notion of the form of government submitted to the States in 1777 and finally adopted in 1781. Because so much is regularly said about the defects of the Articles, so much about the perfection of the Constitution, the teacher must be warned and warned again against the almost universal custom of belittling the importance of this instrument of government. With all its imperfections, it is nevertheless true, considering the troublous times during which it was in operation, and the spirit of separatism which existed among the States, that this earliest bond of union among the States served as a strong link without which the present Constitution would never have come into existence. Under these Articles, the States severally entered into “a firm league of friendship with each other for their common defense, the security of their liberties and their mutual and general welfare.” They guaranteed that “the free inhabitants of each of these States ... shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several States”; “that full faith and credit shall be given in each of these States to the records, acts, etc., of every other State.” The provisions of the Articles concerning the three departments of government should also receive careful attention, especially the executive and judicial departments, because it is here that most high school students are left with exceedingly vague and inaccurate conceptions. A thorough analysis of the document will show that while there were abortive provisions for the creation of a separate executive and an attempt to establish a limited national judicial department, all real power was vested in the Congress. Congress gathered to itself all the active functions of government, and yet even it could take no definite action unless the delegates from at least nine of the States consented, and none of its acts could be enforced except through the good will and the active coöperation of the separate States. In these two circumstances and in one other, namely: that Congress had no power to regulate interstate commerce, lay the serious, the fatal weakness of the Articles of Confederation. Nor did there seem to be any way of remedying conditions, for no amendment could be made to the Articles unless every State consented. Three times the attempt was made, but each time it failed, and the experiment of a union among the States seemed doomed to failure.

Then, in 1786, upon the invitation of Virginia, delegates from five of the States met at Annapolis to consider the subject of interstate trade without consulting the members of Congress. Instead of taking any action, however, this convention issued an address to the States inviting them to send delegates to a convention to meet in Philadelphia May, 1787, “to devise such further provisions as shall appear to them necessary to render the constitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union.” Though many States still hesitated, as a result of this address, delegates from all the States except Rhode Island met at the appointed time in what came to be known as the Constitutional Convention.

Having led his pupils thus far in the study of the history of the Constitution, the teacher is now prepared to discuss with them the second stage of its story. First he will need to insist, and that unrelentingly, that they become acquainted with the names and the personality of at least the most prominent members of the Convention: Washington and Madison and Randolph, from Virginia; Franklin and Wilson and Gouverneur Morris, from Pennsylvania; Hamilton and Lansing, from New York; Gerry and King, from Massachusetts; Ellsworth and Sherman, from Connecticut; the two Pinckneys, from South Carolina; and Patterson, from New Jersey. The personality of these men, their plans and preparations, are all of profound importance; each contributed something, positive or negative, to the new instrument of government.

The history of the convention itself falls roughly into three stages: during the first month the delegates were busy presenting their plans of union, each party attempting to enforce its will upon the minds of the others. Then followed a month during which the parties gradually came to an agreement, each waiving some of the things which it regarded as essential in return for concessions upon the part of the others. Finally, during the third month, though the debates still went on, they were occupied mainly with the settlement of details, none of which was of primary importance. If this threefold division of the work of the Convention is kept in mind, the teacher will find it comparatively easy to bring order out of the apparent chaos of the deliberations of the three and a half months’ session at Philadelphia.

Taking each period in its order, we find that during the first month there were two radically opposed opinions in the Convention. On the one hand, were those who believed that a strong central government should be established; on the other, those who believed that all that was necessary or proper was that the Articles of Confederation should be amended by giving to Congress more power, and by creating a strong executive and a judicial department. The plans of the first party were set forth in the Virginia Plan, which was probably drawn up by Madison and presented to the Convention by Randolph; those of the other in the New Jersey Plan, which was presented by Patterson. Each of these plans should be carefully and thoroughly studied. Beside them, the student will do well to acquaint himself also with the proposals laid before the Convention by Hamilton and by Pinckney.

After a month of debating propositions and counter-propositions, the differences narrowed themselves down to the single question of what should be the method of representation in Congress. For a time it seemed as though no agreement could be reached upon this subject. Then came the compromise offered by Ellsworth and Sherman, of Connecticut, which the Convention finally adopted--the first great compromise of the Constitution. Next followed the debate between the Northern States and the Southern States upon the question as to what should be the basis of representation. This, too, was finally settled by what is known as the second compromise of the Constitution. Finally there remains to be studied the debates over the questions of the slave trade, and foreign and interstate commerce. Here again the Convention divided on sectional lines, till the difference was settled by the third great compromise of the Constitution.

Now the Convention entered upon its third stage. Debates and differences of opinion were still frequent, but they related almost entirely to questions of detail, not to fundamental principles, so that by September 17th the Convention was able to adjourn after having transmitted the Constitution to the Congress of the Confederation for action.

With the work of the Convention behind us, there remains the third stage of the history of the Constitution to be studied. Instead of acting finally upon the document, after a brief period of deliberation, Congress on September 29th submitted it to the States for ratification. This ratification was not accomplished without difficulty. Opposition to the new form of government was active, often virulent. The grounds for this opposition should be carefully studied. Unless we understand it clearly, we shall be in no position to understand the basis of the constitutional strife which raged in the United States for the next seventy years, which culminated when the eleven Southern States finally seceded from the Union. The objection to the new Constitution was based first upon the feeling that the central government outlined in the Constitution was too strong and would ultimately overshadow and destroy the State governments; second, upon the fact that the Constitution contained no Bill of Rights, and that therefore the sacred rights of the people for which they had fought in the Revolution might be interfered with. The first objection was finally overcome by the argument and by the feeling among the people that life in America would soon be impossible unless a stronger federal government than then existed could be established; the second, by the promise that a series of amendments embodying the principles known as the Bill of Rights would speedily be adopted. Thus the Constitution was finally ratified, and in April, 1789, the new government went into operation.

The further history of the Constitution belongs to a later period of American history and is therefore outside the limits of this article. It remains only, then, to indicate to the teacher the sources where he may profitably seek further information on this subject. For the story of the development of the English Constitution, specific references can hardly be given, any one of the half dozen standard text-books on English history should be adequate for the study of this subject. The three great charters of English liberty may be found in any of the source books of English history, such as, for instance, Kendall’s or Colby’s or Lee’s; while, for the history of colonial institutions, the student is referred to the works on colonial history already mentioned in previous articles. The basis for the study of the work of the Convention is to be found (1) in the “Journal of the Convention,” published in Elliot’s “Debates,” and, especially, (2) in Madison’s “Notes,” which are much fuller and much more satisfactory. Of the secondary histories of the period, only some half dozen need be mentioned: (1) Fiske’s “Critical Period,” (2) Curtis’s “Constitutional History,” Vol. 1; (3) McLaughlin’s “The Confederation and the Constitution,” (4) Walker’s “Making of the Nation,” (5) Landon’s “Constitutional History,” and (6) Hart’s “Formation of the Union.” There are others, of course, but these are more than sufficient for the ordinary student.

TRANSITION, 1788-1789.

The period of transition, 1788-1789, is one of much interest for the student and the teacher of American history. After the Constitution had been ratified by the requisite number of States there remained many details to be attended to before the new government could be put into operation. Hasty generalizations have been made respecting this period; and many a student has found his queries upon the precise mode of transfer to the new government unanswered. Frank Fletcher Stephens, Ph.D., has published in the “University of Missouri Studies” a monograph, which covers this transitional period. Treating first the action of the old Congress, Dr. Stephens follows the action of each of the States upon the election of senators, of representatives, and of presidential electors, closing with the determination in 1789 of relations between the national government and the State governments. While the chapters upon the first elections for national officers are of value, the closing chapter upon federal and State relations is particularly so. The author shows how the United States revenue system took the place of the State tariffs, and how the change was made successful by appointing to the national offices many of the customs officials trained in the State service. Other subjects over which the authority of the new government was paramount were admiralty matters, naturalisation, and paper money; and upon each of these the authority of the national government superseded the action of the States. Respecting pensions and light-houses, we have a voluntary surrender to the nation of the obligations incurred by the States in caring for their veterans or in promoting commerce. The monograph throws much light upon a neglected period of our history. E. K. Y.

European History in the Secondary School

D.C. KNOWLTON, PH.D., Editor.

THE RENAISSANCE.

What Was the Renaissance?

Before opening the discussion with the class there should be a clear conception in the mind of the teacher as to what the Renaissance really was. Is it to be regarded, for example, as an era, embracing within its limits the Babylonian Captivity and the Great Schism, the Hundred Years’ War, the struggle for Italy and the rise of Spain, and ending finally with Luther’s attack on the Church in the sixteenth century; or is it to be restricted to a narrower field, marked largely by a revival of art, literature, and science and followed by an age of discovery? “The period of the Renaissance,” says one writer, “in its proper and most comprehensive meaning, may be regarded as the age in which the social and political system of the Middle Ages came to an end, in which medieval restrictions upon liberty of thought and inquiry were abolished.” He then proceeds to explain that it includes all the events which lie between 1273 and 1494, or, in other words, two centuries and a quarter of European development. A little further on, however, he refers to the “two movements with which the Renaissance has been preeminently and sometimes exclusively associated--the revival of letters and the revival of art,”[2] and discusses it from this second point of view, showing how even with this narrower conception of the movement it may properly include the reform of religion, the extension of geographical knowledge and new discoveries in the realms of science, both these conceptions were evidently before the minds of the committee of the New England History Teachers’ Association as they framed their syllabus. The efforts of the secondary teacher must of necessity be confined to the Renaissance as a revival of letters and art. This does not preclude the teacher from regarding the events from 1273 to 1494 as symptoms of changes which were bringing the Middle Ages to a close and inaugurating a new era. In fact, these events may serve as an introduction to the Renaissance proper, as has already been shown.[3]

The simple question, “What was the Renaissance?” will serve to open the subject, and the various answers which may be drawn from the students can be made to fit the teacher’s conception of the movement; or, better still, the questions may be so framed as to draw from the students themselves the teacher’s preconceived notion of what is to be understood by the term. At the close of the discussion, the teacher’s definition or conception, framed in simple language and dictated to the class will fix it clearly in the student’s mind and serve as a guide to further study and discussion. The following conception, which is made up of statements borrowed from several sources, will serve as an illustration: “The Renaissance was an intellectual and scientific transformation of Europe, a great and fundamental change in thought and taste, in books, buildings and pictures, for which the world had long been preparing and in which we still participate.”

When Was the Renaissance?

This question suggests a second. “When did this movement begin and when did it end?” This question may be treated separately or regarded as a fundamental part of the first query. If an English and a German Renaissance are to be recognized, as well as an Italian Renaissance, care must be taken to select the dates accordingly. Following the plan of some of the text-books, it might be well in this connection to point out the fact that, although the movement began in Italy in the middle of the fourteenth century and lasted there until about 1550, its dates for England were approximately 1500 to 1600, and for Germany, 1450 to 1520.

Where Did It Begin and Why?

It is a natural transition from these considerations to a discussion of why the movement first showed itself in Italy and why it became so widespread. The answer to this query will naturally depend somewhat upon the conception of the movement which has already been agreed upon by teacher and class. If the Renaissance is to be considered, as has been suggested, as primarily a revival of learning, care should be taken to point out the fact that learning had not entirely died out in the Europe of the Middle Ages, but that considerable progress had been made back in the days of Charles the Great and again in the thirteenth century in the rise of universities and the development of the scholastic philosophy. The greater stimulus which followed the revival of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was due rather to a more favorable set of conditions than had heretofore prevailed in Europe. This was especially true of Italy. “It is no mere political mutation,” says Symonds, “no new fashion of art, no restoration of classical standards of taste. The arts and the inventions, the knowledge and the books, which suddenly became vital at the time of the Renaissance, had long lain neglected on the shores of the Dead Sea, which we call the Middle Ages. It was not their discovery which caused the Renaissance; but it was the intellectual energy, the spontaneous outburst of intelligence which enabled mankind _at that moment_ to make use of them.”[4] The enumeration of these favoring circumstances will make necessary a return on the part of the teacher and class to the time of the crusades; and the nearer they approach the fourteenth century, the closer will appear the relation between such phenomena as the passing of feudal conditions, the rise of the bourgeoisie and the awakening of the individual man to a consciousness of his latent powers and resources. The weaving of this chain of circumstances will bring up among other things the rise of national literatures, the founding of universities, the development of town life, the appearance of the Ottoman Turks in Europe, the political and economic condition of the Italian cities, the work of Dante and Petrarch, and the timely invention of the printing press.

What Did the Renaissance Accomplish?

The class is now ready for the final question, “What did the Renaissance really accomplish?” The following headings are suggested for developing this phase of the subject; (1) the revival of learning; (2) the new art; (3) commerce or discovery; (4) science and invention; (5) religion. This order offers an easy and at the same time a natural transition to the Reformation.

Several methods are open to the teacher for expanding these sub-topics. One is to select a single individual, or a small group of individuals and to present their lives and work in sufficient detail to illustrate the various activities of the age and its leading characteristics; or to present a series of contrasts, placing the achievements of these men over against the attainments of the great thinkers and doers of the Middle Ages. Either method does not require an elaborate library equipment for its success.

If the former plan is adopted, Petrarch becomes the embodiment of that passionate love for antiquity, that zeal for the collection of ancient manuscripts, and that bitter opposition to those masters of the Aristotelian logic, the ancient schoolmen, which marked especially the revival of learning. A Raphael, a da Vinci, a Titian, and a Michelangelo mark the highest pinnacle of achievement in painting; Michelangelo, many-sided and versatile, like so many of his brother artists, is the type of the great sculptor; and Bramante of the great architect. The extension of geographical knowledge is so intimately associated with the life and work of Prince Henry the Navigator, that it has led one writer to declare that “the change which has revolutionized European trade and has drawn the whole world within the influence of Western civilization was indirectly the doing of this Portuguese prince.”[5] Science needs no better exponent than a Copernicus; the name of Gutenberg has always been associated with the printing press and finally, religion is ably represented in the person of a Valla and an Erasmus. The consideration of the life and work of the two last-named writers brings us face to face with the reform movement of the sixteenth century.

If the second method commends itself to the teacher, the schoolmen, limited both as to material and method, with their appeal to authority, can be presented in sharp contrast to the critics and scoffers of the Renaissance with their final appeal to the reason. There is some danger of over-emphasizing the follies of the former and of failing to estimate their work at its true value. (On this point see Adams, p. 368, and footnote.) If it is true that St. Peter’s suffers by contrast with the great achievements in the Romanesque and the Gothic, not so a Raphael, a da Vinci, and a Titian when placed side by side with a Cimabue, a Giotto and a Fra Angelico; or the rude reliefs on the doors of Notre Dame and the Strasburg Cathedral, when placed beside the bronze doors of a Ghiberti, “worthy to stand as the gates of Paradise.” The discoveries of a Columbus, a Magellan and a Vasco da Gama, when contrasted with the medieval conception of the world as depicted by their greatest cartographers, emphasize the remarkable progress of this later age in “discovering the world,” as well as man. Finally the misconceptions and pseudo-scientific treatises of the medieval schoolmen sink into insignificance beside the work of a Galileo and a Copernicus and the far-reaching results of the printing press.

Use of Illustrative Material.

Whichever method may be followed, it will be found that illustrations will add much to the interest of the class and make clearer the characteristics of the painting and sculpture of the period. A few pictures carefully selected will serve the purpose much better than a larger number. The “Madonna and Christ-Child,” by Cimabue;[6] the “Death of St. Francis,” by Giotto, and the “Coronation of the Virgin,” by Fra Angelico, will serve as illustrations of some of the faults of medieval painting. Care should be taken, however, to point out the fact that some of these artists are classed among the early Renaissance painters and their work marks a decided advance over that of their predecessors. The “Last Judgment,” by Michelangelo; the Sistine “Madonna,” by Raphael; the “Assumption of the Virgin,” by Titian, and da Vinci’s “Last Supper” are numbered among the “World Pictures,” and illustrate that mastery of technique and conception which has made their names so famous. Pictures of Michelangelo’s Moses, his David, and his figures on the tombs of the Medici, and Ghiberti’s bronze doors for the baptistry of Florence can easily be secured to illustrate the work of the Renaissance sculptors. A suggestion has already been made as to medieval sculpture. The Perry Picture Company or the Cosmos Picture Company can probably supply such pictures as may be needed at a very moderate cost. That teacher is especially fortunate who has access to a good art museum. The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City offers special facilities to teachers and classes wishing to use their collections.

Literature.

Reference has already been made from time to time to helpful literature. Burckhardt’s “Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy” is often cited as the best book in English on the Renaissance in Italy, but it offers comparatively little in the way of suggestive treatment for the secondary teacher. His point of view is psychological and therefore quite beyond the comprehension of the secondary student. This fact, however, should not discourage the teacher from a perusal of his pages, as he throws new light on many a vexed question connected with the movement. Symonds’s “Short History of the Renaissance in Italy,” an abridgement of his larger work, though more popular and less scholarly, portrays the more attractive and the more intelligible side of the period and makes it glow with life and enthusiasm. Placed in the hands of the young reader, it may be the means of inspiring him with some of the writer’s enthusiasm for the labors of the men of that period, and possibly stimulate a stronger desire for some of that culture of which they were such worthy exponents. The chapter by Adams on the Renaissance in his “Civilization During the Middle Ages” is most suggestive and helpful. He not only summarizes the various revivals which culminated in the Renaissance proper, but traces the movement from its inception in Italy to its appearance in Italy and Germany, pointing out clearly its leading spirits and characterizing their special contributions to the movement. Lodge, in the concluding chapter of his “Close of the Middle Ages,” deals with the main features of the Renaissance and presents some admirable contrasts between the old and the new. Mention should also be made of the chapters in Seignobos’s “History of Medieval and Modern Civilization” on the “End of the Middle Ages,” “Modern Times,” “Inventions and Discoveries,” and the “Renaissance.” Beazley’s “Prince Henry the Navigator,” contains much more than a biography of this great pioneer in the field of discovery, and will be found useful for its summary of earlier achievements. Seebohm’s small volume on the “Era of the Protestant Reformation,” though brief, contains an excellent summary of the conditions which prevailed during the Renaissance and their relation to the movement for religious reform. Van Dyke, “History of Painting,” and Marquand and Frothingham, “History of Sculpture,” are useful handbooks for the artistic side of the Renaissance. Whitcomb’s “Source Book of the Renaissance” probably contains the greatest number of readings from the Renaissance authors, both Italian and German. Special mention might be made of his extracts from Petrarch and Benevenuto Cellini in