Manual of American History, Diplomacy, and Government

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Course E is an advanced course, open only to those who have already a knowledge of the annals of American history and a considerable training in history and government. It is intended to discuss the practical workings of the American system of government as it now exists, with constant reference, however, to the historical growth of the institutions described; hence the course goes beyond the text of constitutions and statutes, and seeks to describe the actual practice of officials, legislative bodies, and political parties and organizations. For the subjects to be discussed see List of Lectures, Manual, 96-124. Course F, a briefer course in government, deals also with the principles of American government in practice. See List of Lectures, Manual, 125-133. 3. Students' Work in each of the Courses. Neither the courses in United States political history nor in diplomatic history are supposed to be a complete survey of the whole field. The object of the instruction is not so much to furnish a body of information as to train students to apply what they learn, and to compare that knowledge with the new ideas which come to them. Since they are meant to be training courses rather than information courses, neither of them forms a complete chronological sequence; they suggest the essential elements of American history and diplomacy, and discuss the things which have really made a difference in the development of the country. The instructor in his lectures should suggest proportions and arrangements of facts, and show the connection of events with each other; he should lay stress upon historical geography, especially the territorial growth of the country. Details are to be filled in by the student from his parallel reading. Since listening to lectures and reading both tend...