Prefatory.
There is no intelligent man in the country who has not frequently felt himself at a loss for particulars of political information which no single memory could supply, and which could be collected only by assiduous and protracted search through old files of newspapers, political documents, or congressional records. Even a correct general knowledge of political history needs a constant supplement of details of dates, succession of policies, condition of parties, cabinets, judges, conventions, platforms, popular and electoral votes, partisan aspects of Congress, revenues and expenses, and the like; and there is no repertory of such information extant. To say that it is “a long felt want” is to give a very generally misused phrase a very exact application. A single conspicuous illustration will enforce a universal individual experience. The late Vice-President Henry Wilson was a more than usually well informed politician, and what he could not readily find in his memory it would be idle to look for in another; but even he, in his “History of Slavery,” says that the ratification of the amendment of the national constitution abolishing slavery was proclaimed by President Lincoln, in December, 1865, when he had been in his grave more than half a year. Exactness of knowledge is an indispensable element of argument, and the politician and party orator, of whatever note or ability, must either prepare for a campaign by long and careful study of history through which the facts he needs are loosely diffused, or find his power cramped by inadequate or inaccurate knowledge. To him, and to all men intelligent enough to take a rational interest in the welfare of the country, a complete and thoroughly systematized scheme of political and party history must, without any exaggeration, “fill a long felt want.”
The work here presented, “An Historical Conspectus of the Political Parties and the Federal Government,” by Prof. Houghton, is the first attempt ever made in this country to construct such a repertory of political information as will furnish at a glance any important act of national administration or party changes, opinions or conduct, from the first election of Washington to the last national convention. It is confidently believed that it is as complete, exact, and perfectly methodized as such a work can be made within the compass that will enable the cost to come within the reach of all classes of citizens. Though not encyclopædic in form, it is in fact, and really presents its information in a more accessible shape than any other that could be devised.
The charts present the general course and leading events of governmental and party history in one view, much as the map of a river presents its general direction and its various windings, its tributaries, towns, islands and rapids at one view. In one, the different parties are designated by different colors, and their ascendency or depression by the position of the colored bands above or below a central line, and the duration of each condition by the length of the colored curves, while at exactly the proper distances to fit the lapse of time, are arranged the events, policies, and prominent issues in their order. In the other, the dates, duration of administration, cabinet officers, judges, etc., are presented by a different but equally ingenious arrangement. The two are the political history of the country put under the eye in a well ordered and complete array.
Combined with the charts, and supplementing their general record, are carefully arranged collections of all details that can be summarized, with all the platforms of all parties in full, time, place and date, from the earliest to the last; tables of revenues and expenses, of sources of revenue and purposes of expenditures, and of the increase and decrease of the public debt every year from 1791; condensed sketches of the leading events and acts of every administration; the houses of Congress in their party aspects, their sessions, officers, and strength of parties.
The ingenious arrangement of the work will commend itself equally by its simplicity, completeness, and comprehensiveness. Everything needed is there, and everything in its exact place, both in relation to time, party organization, and administrative history. Whenever any fact is wanted, and either its date or party connection is known, it can be instantly found, and when found it will be seen in connection with everything relating to it. If it be desired to ascertain what were the principal features of any administration, they will all be discovered concisely and clearly stated in their proper place in the general arrangement. If any prominent political event be known, but it is desired to locate its time or the administration at that time, a minute’s survey of the synoptical sketches of each administration will show it, with the events that preceded and
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