| Show I STUDY OF AMERICAN HISTORY iI I i The Kansas City papers and no I doubt the Kansas City parents are much stirred up over the dlscover of the fact that American history is not taught in the high school of that city That It will be taught in the high school in the future there is not the slightes doubj t The study of all history is Important I but tethe American boy or girl whether pupil in high school or student In university the study of American history Is of more Importance than the study of the history of any other nation na-tion or of all other nations For what may be termed the student of history generally this would not be so but for the AmerIcan citizen as such It is so While the colonization of America by Spain and France and England is but a part of the history of those countries and not the most Important part by any means yet so far as the relation of this country to them is concerned It is the most Important part of their history his-tory Those who would have a clear and comprehensive idea of development of what are known as the original colonies Into political entities must have a thorough knowledge of the early colonization of the country and of the ideas back of those early attempts And then there must be a due appreciation appre-ciation of the fundamental difference of ideas of government that existed between be-tween the French and the English and how finally the English Idea triumphed with the conquest of Canada It Is very doubtful If Spanish political ideas have ever had any considerable influence influ-ence in that nortion of North America which constitutes the United States It Is an impossibility for any American Amer-ican citizen to have a just or adequate idea of the different theories of government gov-ernment that have existed in this country from the time of the adoption of the articles of confederation until the close of the reconstruction period unless he knows pretty thoroughly the history of the settlement of each of the thirteen colonies The history of the country from the close of the revolutionary revolu-tionary war to the present time is the history of a great nation that has had to meet and solve some of the most Intricate and important problems that hve ever confronted mankind when associated together for the purposes of government These problems interest not only the people of this country but the people of every land and clime The people of this country have undertaken under-taken to solve and have successfully solved the greatest of all human problems prob-lems that of selfgovernment This does not mean that they have thereby forever freed themselves from social and governmental problems but it means that they have found the proper means to deal with them To the American child the names of Lexington Bunker Hill Yorktown and Appomattox are far more Important than those of Thermopylae Actium Agincourt Austerlitz Sadowa and Sedan while for them there is no comparison com-parison between Shermans march to the sea and the march of the Ten Thousand All history is important and should be taught in the schools where possible pos-sible but where it is not it is important Impor-tant that American history be taught before all other I |
