THE FIRST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC: A REVIEW OF AMERICAN PROGRESS. BY THE REV. THEODORE D. WOOLSEY, D.D., LL.D.; F. A. P. BARNARD, LL.D.; HON. DAVID A. WELLS; HON. FRANCIS A. WALKER; PROF. T. STERRY HUNT; PROF. WIL- LIAM G. SUMNER; EDWARD ATKINSON; PROF. THEODORE GILL; EDWIN P. WHIPPLE; PROF. W. H. BREWER; EUGENE LAW- RENCE; THE REV. JOHN F. HURST, D.D.; BENJAMIN S. S. CONANT; EDWARD H. KNIGHT; AND CHARLES L. BRACE. PUBLISHERS' ADVERTISEMENT. HISTORY, as it is usually written, touches only the state. The grandeur of state affairs and the magnitude of national vicissitudes, on the one hand, and, on the other, the ambition of political leaders and the antagonism of parties-transferred, it may be, in some mighty crisis, from the peaceful senate to the martial camp-afford the material and the personages of a drama so exciting, and of so popular a character, that the writer who most skillfully embodies these elements becomes the peer of the statesmen and military heroes whom he has glorified. But this social form or structure which we call the state, while it enfolds all other social forms, and sets its imposing seal upon the modest undertakings in industry, art, and learning, which constitute the life of the people, yet does it receive from this popular life all of its vitality, dignity, and meaning. Especially is this true of the republican form of polity, because that form more immediately and perfectly represents the people. The thoughtful publicist, therefore, who, from a retrospect of the past century should seek to estimate our present condition as a nation, or our outlook for the future, would direct his attention not to our political annals, but to the industrial, æsthetic, intellectual, and moral development of our people. He would not refer to state papers, to the congressional record, to the history of the great parties that have upon various issues divided the nation, nor to our military capabilities as manifested in three great wars. His inquiries would relate rather to the part taken by the American people in the remarkable material progress of the last hundred years, to their inventions, their manufactures, their development of the resources of the soil-agricultural and mineral,—their commercial activity, their increase in population, their educational institutions, their advancement in science and art, their literature, their humane enterprises, and their moral and religious culture; while in such a review he could not M1.04380 ignore the important political experiment undertaken by this people in the formation and maintenance of the union of states under a federal constitution. The work here submitted to the reader is precisely such a review as we have above indicated, of our progress during the first century of our national life-the result of inquiries undertaken not by one, but by a score of publicists, each one of whom is, in the field occupied by him, a specialist of the highest authority. Such a work, considered as the production of a single writer, would be impossible, since in nearly every department the review is the condensation of the results of life-long research and special study. A perusal of the table of contents, including the subjects of inquiry and the names of the authors, will discover the value and importance of the work as a comprehensive literary exposition of the century. The grand exhibition at Philadelphia is international, and not entirely American; it is limited to the display of the material symbols of progress; and it is confined almost entirely to the results of present activity in the various fields included in its representation. The exposition attempted in this work is an indispensable supplement to that exhibition. It connects the present with the past, showing the beginnings of great enterprises, tracing through consecutive stages their development, and associating with them the individual thought and labor by which they have been brought to perfection. It connects with the outward fact its formative idea. It is, moreover, in the main American; though, in certain fields, it was found impossible to wholly separate American from European enterprise without violent dislocation. Nearly all of the papers here published were originally contributed to Harper's Magazine; the scheme of the entire series, and the plan, to some extent, of each paper having been determined upon before a single word was written. These papers during their serial publication have elicited the approbation of intelligent readers throughout the country. The successful execution of a project of such magnitude, and involving so important contributions from so many of the most eminent writers of America, has been generally accepted not only as adequate to the great anniversary occasion that suggested it, but also as an unprecedented event in the annals of periodical literature. Occasional articles in a magazine are usually of merely temporary importance; but these papers, containing information never hitherto collected and organized into one historical body, are a valuable contribution to the permanent history of our |