The Early American Historians

( Originally Published Early 1900's )

In the beginning of the Nineteenth Century a new view of history was developed, as an outgrowth of the Transcendental philosophy inaugurated by the German Kant, and carried out more fully by his successors. His-tory was no longer regarded as a gathering of isolated arbitrary facts, but as the study of the progress of man-kind. National history could not be properly considered apart from its relation to the general movement. Each Nation was an actor in a great world's drama. Its contribution was best understood when properly presented in its true connection.