JOHN BACH MC MASTER. 



D. APPLETON & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 



TTISTOR Y OF THE PEOPLE 

 ** OF THE UNITED STA TES, from 

 the Revolution to the Civil War. By 

 John Bach McMaster. To be com- 

 pleted in six volumes. Vols. I, II, III, 

 and IV now ready. 8vo, cloth, gilt 

 top, $2.50 each. 



In the course of this narrative much is written 

 of wars, conspiracies, and rebellions ; of Presi- 

 dents, of Congresses, of embassies, of treaties, 

 of the ambition of political leaders, and of the 

 rise of great parties in the nation. Yet the his- 

 tory of the people is the chief theme. At every 

 stage of the splendid progress which separates the 

 America of Washington and Adams from the 

 America in which we live, it has been the au- 

 thor's purpose to describe the dress, the occupa- 

 tions, the amusements, the literary canons of the times ; to note the changes 

 of manners and morals ; to trace the growth of that humane spirit which 

 abolished punishment for debt, and reformed the discipline of prisons and 

 of jails ; to recount the manifold improvements which, in a thousand ways, 

 have multiplied the conveniences of life and ministered to the happiness of 

 our race ; to describe the rise and progress of that long series of mechanical 

 inventions and discoveries which is now the admiration of the world, and our 

 just pride and boast ; to tell how, under the benign influence of liberty and 

 peace, there sprang up, in the course of a single century, a prosperity unpar- 

 alleled in the annals of human affairs. 



*' The pledge given by Mr. McMaster, that ' the history of the people>shall be the 

 chief theme,' is punctiliously and satisfactorily fulfilled. He carries out his promise in 

 a complete, vivid, and delightful way. We should add that the literary execution of 

 the work is worthy of the indefatigable industry and unceasing vigilance with which 

 the stores of historical material have been accumulated, weighed, and sifted. The 

 cardinal qualities of style, lucidity, animation, and energy, are everywhere present. 

 Seldom indeed has a book in which matter of substantial value has been so happily 

 united to attractiveness of form been offered by an American author to his fellow- 

 citizens." — New York Sun. 



"To recount the marvelous progress of the American people, to describe their life, 

 their literature, their occupations, their amusements, is Mr. McMaster' s object. His 

 theme is an important one, and we congratulate him on his success. It has rarely been 

 our province to notice a book with so many excellences and so few defects." — New York 

 Herald. 



" Mr. McMaster at once shows his grasp of the various themes and his special 

 capacity as a histoiian of the people. His aim is high, but he hits the mark." — 

 New York Journal of Commerce. 



"... The author's pages abound, too, with illustrations of the best kind of histori- 

 cal work, that of unearthing hidden sources of information and employing them, not 

 after the modern style of historical writing, in a mere report, but with the true artistic 

 method, in a well-digested narrative. ... If Mr. McMaster finishes his work in the 

 spirit and with the thoroughness and skill with which it has begun, it will take its place 

 among the classics of American literature." — Christian Union. 



New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 72 Fifth Avenue. 



