ge Washington as the
leader of the American forces.

Read the Declaration of Independence; follow with the struggle for the
control of the Hudson, which occupied the whole of the first year of the
war and more, and includes the battles about New York, with their
retreats and victories; then study the invasion of Canada, the attempt
on the South, the British plan of three Northern armies simultaneously;
the use of Indian allies; the surrender of Burgoyne; the movements of
the fleets; the treason of Arnold; the surrender of Cornwallis.

Other topics for papers or talks may be: Valley Forge; Andre and Hale;
the recent discovery of the treachery of Charles Lee; the story of Paul
Jones; the aid of the French under Lafayette; the character of the great
generals on both sides; how the news of the final success of America was
received in England. Read The American Revolution, by Lecky, and H. C.
Lodge's Story of the Revolution; also, The Tory Lover, by Jewett (about
Paul Jones), and Ford's Janice Meredith.

V--THE CRITICAL PERIOD

of our history naturally succeeds the Revolution, when our Government
was in the making. Read of the leaders of the time: Washington,
Jefferson, Marshall, Madison, Jay, and Alexander Hamilton. Have parts of
the Constitution read, and study the different aspects of our
Government: the way we choose our President; the houses of Congress and
the Senate; our judiciary. Read the story of Washington's inauguration.

Additional topics are: Shay's rebellion; paper money; the Northwest
Territory; and the home life of the times. Take up the early presidents
in order, with the events of each term. The tariff, the war with the
Barbary pirates, the rise of newspapers, the Louisiana Territory, and
the decrees of France and England about neutral ships are all important.

VI--THE WAR OF 1812

Read of the Embargo Act and the refusal of England to repeal her decree;
also of the acts of Napoleon at the time. The battles of the war that
followed were nearly all at sea, and are full of exciting interest, from
the victory of the _Constitution_, after only half an hour's fighting,
to the very end; one of the most famous is the Battle of Lake Erie, when
Perry sent the historic message, "I have met the enemy, and they are
ours." Read of the invasion of Canada and the Battle of New Orleans,
and close the study with the Treaty of 1814. A story called Midshipman
Paulding, by Molly Elliot Seawell, gives a good sketch o