The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-11-29
FLOR thp DisUatCh,

Evi1ston.s History Of the United States
In the Public Schools OF RicIiHoai1-
Shall Our Gnii.ireE be Taught tne
Northern Version os the Origin and
Progress Of tire "Vnr between tiie
Statcs?''
um sending my children to the public
schools OF Richmond. rejoice III their
many eXceleuces, and certainly would not
complain Of any trifiug defects which l
might think discovered IN their manage
Mcut. | would even be willing To pass by
in silence the fact that the City School Board
have thought proper to Slight the tcXt-bu1ks
@. our own Virginia authors, such as the
lamentcd Maury, the accomplished Fenable,
md the scholarly Holmes, end to use the On
nv iudYu,enl) very decidedly inferior DOCKS
of northern authors and Radical publishers.
Rut when one Of my boys brought nome
COW of "Swinton's Condensed History OF
The l. Cnited States" and told nc that he was
REQUIRED TO study it, / at once determined
moi only to mark some Of its most glarlng
errors aud misrcpresentati0Ds for the 0enent
Of nv child, but to point them out 10 Tue
public. that our people generally may ask,m
{ now most respectfully do, OF our Guy
school Board, Why haUe you substituted
S,r,nton fo,. Holmes. srh1ch ,cGs Gdoptea 0y
the STATE Board Or, If you 10 not thine
nroper to Use the book adopted by the STATE
BOARD, why not use i. Ii. Stephens'S school
history. or Blackwell Il McDonald's, or why
not dispense with history OF the Unlteu
States altogether, rather than use this mlsela'
BILE tissue of error and false statement, huu,!'
factured by a northern writer for tue soaM- .I
ern market, but full Of what 10 Sun Vi tue
South should either teach or learn!
Before giving few speclmenSo 0, "nst
onr children learn from this so-catled MS
tory" ought, perhaps, to say that sWlntoh
is Undoubtedly one of the least oo)eoieh.
able writers on the other sloe-1. g., 10 "tla1
he writes for the southern nlGrHeS, hot ~
what he wrote during the War-that he ooes
not call US "rcbels" or "traltors, put
| a." Coniederates," and speaks OF the - War OF
secession" instead Of "the great repei-
Iiou," and that in bis account he makes some
SHOW Of tairness. But the whole DoSk eAa!'S
the North at the expense OF the solth; anu
in its account Of the late war CONSTANTLY
overestimates our numbers and losses, anu
underestlmstes those OF the North; makes
light OF southern victories anu eknSgcrates
Federal successes; and abOundS with false
statements on wel-nigh every point. In Il
word. 1t is O book that no fair-minded north.
ern teacher should be willing TO use, and
which it is most astonishing to see adopted
by our City School Board.
And now, for the proof OF what have
said | select few examples from tbeaecount
lie gives of our civil war. ,.,
On page 242 our children are taught that
g. the seeding States seized most of the
forts. arsenals, custom.houses, ships, and
olher Federal property within their boun-
Iaries. :" and are lett 10 infer that our people
we're simply band Of plttnderers, without
's;ng toId that we had contributed these
forts % &C.. To the General Government. and
s;n,nlv took back uhat belonged to us, thai
,hasl u,oht not be used for our oppression.
~ In mage 244 he calls the patriotic citizens
of Baltimore who rose to resist the vioiatlon
Of their neutrality By the passage Of y ass