The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1884-12-10

WHAT IS TAUGHT IN THE SCHOOLS.
1t is told OF Sir Walter Scott that during
his last illness he called friend TO his bed
side and requested something read. 'Shsll
il be historyf was asked. "No," answered
the old poet, with the candor that might
have characterized him if standing in the
psesence of his Maker: "History is studied
falsehoOd, q liei read to me- from the Bible"
That the author OF Ivanho knew exactly
what he was talking, about and talked to the
point, will be apparent to all who study
what Is being inflicted on an unoffending
public through the fundamentally of the
Common School system in the name OF
'Tndiana History"
For some time the energies of the Sentinel
have been engrossed in the labor Of inspir-
ing individual Republicans with the man
hood necessary to adapt themselves to the
political order OF things, bat time must be
taken to correct the authors of school books
In the interest Of public education.
In the interest of correct history 1t may
be we'll to state that the r0mancer falls into
error, unconsciously perhaps, in writing OF
General Harrison at the battle OF Tippecanoe.
There was no General Harrison on that field.
It was Governor Harrison. and he was not
commissioned until 1911. Tecumseh, the
Indian warrior, is mentioned as having led
the hostile aborigines. The moccssined
brave, whose iall,Iwhether By Dick Johnson's
or some bsckwoodman's rife, is yet matter
Of dispute was in Tennessee while Governor
Harrison, with his citizen soldiers, was max
ing the history on the Wabash that after
wards made him President aud his nephew
United States Senator.
By the way, both Harrison or Taylor won
their laurels fighting indians on Indian soil.
All the school histories and biographies
alike write that the battle of Tippec4noe
ended the Indian War. It is strange thit
no one Of the authors, out OF the vast nun.
Der who have accumulated fortunes in the
school book business, has had neither the
industry nor the sense to discover the truth.
No wonder that Bruce Carr was defeated.
What can be thought OF a book that seri-
ously perpetrates a biunder that would war
rant the discharge OF a reporter from any
respectable morning paper? The battle of
Tippecanoe was followed By the Fort Der
bon massacre, the siege of Fort Wayne, the
battle of Fort Harrison, the Pigeon Roost
massacre and the battle of Tipton's Island.
The Gubernatorisl muddle in Rhode
Island during the administration of Presi-
dent Tyler is mentioned in all the histories,
but on the Gubernatorisl disputes in Ar
KANSAS Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida and
South Carolina, they are uniformly as silent
as the sepulcher. There are no doubt some
politics in this.
The school books also, in regard TO the
policy of President Buchanan on the sub
ject OF coercion, not only dispute his own
word, but every state paper of that period.
Buchsnan, though holding that State
could net seceds from the Union, main.
tanned that tie inhabitants OF q common
wealth should be reproved with hot shot,
shell and cleaning bsyonets for making
the attempt; and no other theory was
adopted by President Lincoln. One was 80
deeply puzzled as the other to find q way,
under the Constitution, to avert or thwart
disunion. until Southern madness, culmins-
ting in hostile movement on Fort Sumter,
furnished an opportunity. Major Anderson
would have been as warmly sustained by
Democratic az he was by Republican Ex-
ecutive. To assert that President Buchanan
believed State could secede, or that h was
in doubt as TO the ability of the General Gov
eminent to coerce the people of rebellious
State; to meet and vsnquish revolution
with force; or that he held to a doctrine
distinctive rom the victor Gus policy of his
successor in Office, will do very we'll for cam.
| paign rot, but it is not the proper thing to
teach in the schools
Mr.. Lincoln's defense of the supremacy of
the Union was taken from Andrew Jackson's
message on nullid2ation. A Democratic
President had sworn by the Eternal to exc
cute the law exactly as it was interpreted by
the greatest OF the Republican Presidents.
1t is an error to speak of General Hsrri-
son" at the battle of Tippecanoe. He was at
that time merely the Territorial Governor OF
Indiana The Indians were not led by
Tecumseh, and the battle was in disobe-
dience of that Chiefs orders. That conflict
did not end the war, as many other battles
end masacres followed.
Between the policy OF Mr.. Buchanan and
Mr.. Lincoln there is no existing evidence of
difference. There is nothing 10 justify an
alleged historian In the assumption that the
crime OF firing on the flag, and the begin
ming Of hostilities on the part OF the South,
would not have been resented by the strong
arm OF the Government under the admins
tration Of one as it was by the other.
Mr.. Lincoln had been President for some.
thing over q month before issuing call for
troops to put down the rebellion, and Il Is
gratifying to every patriotic citizen of the
Republic, without regard to party, to know
that Mr.. Lincoln acknowledged no higher
authority than that previously cited by
President Jackson. Wisdom and patriotism
existed in America long before the birth Of
the Repubican party, and partisan fiction
should not be accepted 30 authenticated his
| tory.