f the time, and
Roosevelt's Naval War of 1812 is excellent for reference.

VII--EXPANSION AND IMPROVEMENTS

From this point on for several decades, the country slowly increased her
territory, her manufactures, her school system, her trade at home and
abroad. Steam was introduced on boats and railways, and wealth and
comforts grew. Florida was bought for five millions, the Monroe Doctrine
exploited, and several States added to the Union. Slavery gradually
increased in the South, and the cotton-gin was introduced in the North
to weave the raw product there. The Missouri Compromise was one of the
great national issues of the day, and Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and
John C. Calhoun were the leaders in politics. There was a great
commercial panic which led to the settling of our banking laws; the
first telegraphic message was sent; Mormonism was first heard of, and
became important.

The war with Mexico, which began in 1848, gave us a great additional
territory. Abolition sentiment rose. The period closed with the
discovery of gold in California. Read Bret Harte's books, Theodore
Winthrop's John Brent, for a study of Mormonism, and Parkman's Oregon
Trail.

VIII--THE CIVIL WAR

The various difficulties which led to the great conflict should be
studied in detail in a good history of the times. Among others were: The
Fugitive Slave Law, the Underground Railway, Mrs. Stowe's Uncle Tom's
Cabin, the debates of Lincoln and Douglas, the Dred Scott decision, and
the story of John Brown's raid.

It will be necessary to have a good reference-book with maps of the
campaigns. Perhaps the best book is Battles and Leaders of the Civil
War, written by the great generals, published by The Century Company.
Divide the war into the four years of its continuance, following this
condensed outline:

1861--Attack on Fort Sumter; call for troops by Lincoln; Battle of Bull
Run; The Trent Affair.

1862--The _Merrimac_ and _Monitor_; Battle of Shiloh; Farragut and the
Battle of New Orleans; Seven Days' Battles before Richmond; Second
Battle of Bull Run; Antietam; Fredericksburg.

1863--January first, the Emancipation Proclamation; Chancellorsville;
Gettysburg; surrender of Vicksburg; Chickamauga; Chattanooga.

1864--Grant's advance on Lee; Battle of the Wilderness; Sherman's
Atlanta campaign; siege of Petersburg; the _Alabama_ sunk by the
_Kearsarge_; Battle of Mobile Bay; fall of Atlanta; Sheridan in the
Shenandoah; Sherman's March t