INTRODUCTION 



THE material in this volume was intended, by the 

 Author, to be embodied in a greater work, A History 

 of the American People. Many of these chapters 

 were given by him as lectures in every part of our 

 broad country, always enlarging and strengthening 

 the bond of friendship with his people who freely 

 gave him such personal opinions, letters, and private 

 documents as aided him in perfecting his historical 

 work. Some of these letters, of especial significance, 

 I have here included as notes. 



Through the courtesy of D. Appleton & Company, I 

 am enabled to reproduce in the essays Charles Lee, 

 Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Andrew Jackson, 

 and Daniel Webster biographical passages written 

 by the Author for the Encyclopaedia of American 

 Biography. 



ABBY MORGAN FISKE. 

 WESTGATE, 



September 26, 1902. 



