PREFACE. IN N presenting this edition of the History, the author desires to state that since the first publication of the work his further studies have led him to the conclusion that the political philosophy of Alexander Hamilton was held by a small minority of the Federalists who determined the policy of the country up to the election of John Adams; that this philosophy, or rather the measures growing out of it, led to the overthrow of the party in 1800; and that there was little difference between the opinions of the majority of the Federalists at that time and those of the Republican leaders in 1815. Not only has the work been reconstructed in accordance with that conclusion, many of the chapters being recast and others entirely rewritten, but it has been extended to embrace four volumes instead of three as originally intended. Practically a new production, therefore, it is offered as the result of the author's more exhaustive labors in this field of study, in the hope that it may prove helpful alike to the teacher, the student of civics, and that increasing class of Americans who, with an awakened sense of their citizenship in the greatest of republics would familiarize themselves with the political history of their country. The author is under obligations to Professor J. A. Woodburn of Indiana University for pointing out some misstatements of fact, and to his own colleague, Professor J. V. Denney, and Mr. Theodore F. Neu of New York, for many improvements in the form of the work. OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, May 1, 1900. |