THE AMERICAN HISTORY SERIES
THE MIDDLE PERIOD
1817-1858
JOHN W. BURGESS, PH.D., LL.D.
AND DEAN OF THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE,
IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1910
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
 |
of
my former teacher, colleague, and friend,
JULIUS HAWLEY SEELYE,
philosopher, theologian, statesman, and educator,
this volume is reverently
and affectionately
inscribed
PREFACE
There is no more serious and delicate task in literature and moralsthan that of writing the history of the United States from 1816 to1860. The periods which precede this may be treated without fear ofarousing passion, prejudice, and resentment, and with little danger ofbeing misunderstood. Even the immaculateness of Washington may beattacked without exciting anything worse than a sort of uncomfortableadmiration for the reckless courage of the assailant. But when we passthe year 1820, and especially when we approach the year 1860, we findourselves in a different world. We find ourselves in the midst of theideas, the motives, and the occurrences which, and of the men who,have, in large degree, produced the animosities, the friendships, andthe relations between parties and sections which prevail to-day.
Serious and delicate as the task is, however, the time has arrivedwhen it should be undertaken in a thoroughly impartial spirit. Thecontinued misunderstanding between the North and the South is an everpresent menace to the welfare of both sections and of the entirenation. It makes it almost impossible to decide any question of ourpolitics upon its merits. It offers an almost insuperable obstacle tothe development of a national opinion upon the fundamental principlesof our polity. If we would clear up this confusion in the commonconsciousness, we must do something to dispel this misunderstanding;and I know of no means of accomplishing this, save the rewriting ofour history from 1816 to 1860, with an open mind and a willing spiritto see and to represent truth and error, and right and wrong, withoutregard to the men or the sections in whom or where they may appear.
I am by no means certain that I am able to do this. I am old enough tohave been a witness of the great struggle of 1861-65, and to haveparticipated, in a small way, in it. My early years were embittered bythe political hatreds which then prevailed. I learned before mymajority to regard secession as an abomination, and its c