Page:American History Told by Contemporaries, v2.djvu/43

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No. 6]
Contemporary Historians
15

exceptions, as Hutchinson — they had the use only of limited material, they relate the result of many of their own observations, and reflect the impressions made on the public mind at the time. In some cases they used and have reprinted rare accounts. The principal titles are the following : —

Amos Adams, A Concise, Historical View of the Perils, Hardships, Difficulties, and Discouragements which have attended the Planting and Progressive Improvement of New England. Boston, 1769. — A clear and valuable work.

Isaac Backus, A History of New England, with particular Reference to the Denomination of Christians called Baptists. 3 vols. Boston, 1777-1796. —Volume II extends from 1690 to 1784. Backus was an historian of the modern type, who searched far and wide for manuscript material.

Jeremy Belknap, The History of New Hampshire. 3 vols. Boston, 1742.

[Robert Beverly], The History of Virginia, in Four Parts [1584-1720]. London, 1705 (and later editions) .

John (Daly) Burk, The History of Virginia, from its First Settlement to the Present Day. 3 vols. Petersburg, Va., 1804-1805. — With appendices of documents.

George Chalmers, An Introduction to the History of the Revolt of the American Colonies. 2 vols. Boston, 1845. — Also Vol. I, London, 1782.

John Drayton, Memoirs of the American Revolution, from its Commencement, to the Year 1776 inclusive. 2 vols. Charleston, 1821. — Really the work of William Henry Drayton (No. 157), written between 1776 and 1779.

William Gordon, The History of the Rise, Progress, and Establishment, of the Independence of the United States of America. 4 vols. London, 1788 (or 3 vols. New York, 1789). — See below, No. 219.

Alexander Hewatt, An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia. 2 vols. London, 1779.

Stephen Hopkins, An Historical Account of the Planting and Growth of Providence. (In Rhode Island Historical Society, Collections, VII, 13-65.) — One of the earliest attempts at local history.

Thomas Hutchinson, The History of the Colony of Massachusets Bay [Vol. I, 1764] . The History of the Province of Massachusetts Bay . . . until the Year 1750 [Vol. II, 1767] . The History of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, from the Year 1750, until June, 1774 [Vol. III. 1828]. — Volume III of this work is an account of the causes of the Revolution. Hutchinson was the most careful and scientific writer of his time, though prejudiced by his own position as governor of a contumelious colony.

Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana : or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England. London, 1702. (Three reprints, 2 vols., Hartford, 1820, 1853, 1855.) — Hardly historical in spirit. — See Contemporaries, I, No. 148.