The Swedish Settlements on the Delaware, Vol. 1: 1638-1664 (Classic Reprint) - Tapa blanda

Excerpt from The Swedish Settlements on the Delaware, Vol. 1: 1638-1664

The springs of American civilization, says F rancis Park man, unlike those of the elder world, lie revealed in the clear light of history.

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Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Swedish Settlements on the Delaware, Vol. 1: 1638-1664

"The springs of American civilization," says Francis Parkman, "unlike those of the elder world, lie revealed in the clear light of history."

It is the purpose of the present investigation to reveal one of these many small springs of American civilization. It will not be a complete history of the Swedish settlements on the South River, for a complete account of New Sweden, or of any other colony, will never be written; but it will present, in as clear a light and as extensive a manner as the documents at hand allow, the rise and progress of the Delaware settlements, not only as to their political, but also as to their social, economic and religious aspects. The settlements were small and it might seem that two volumes devoted to so short a period of a single colony will tend to emphasize its significance unduly and that the labor expended in the preparation of so exhaustive a study is not at all commensurate with the relative importance of the theme; but the beginnings, however small, and the springs, however insignificant, whence some of the civilization and culture, some of the strength and power, of a great nation have sprung, are worthy of the closest consideration and the most painstaking research.

The investigation was begun five years ago. The author's intention was then to write an account of the religious and educational activity of the Swedes on the Delaware from 1638 until 1831, and a mass of material was collected for that period; but it was soon found that, since a great deal of new matter on the political history of the colony was discovered in the archives of Sweden, it would be necessary to limit the treatise, if anything like an exhaustive study was to be produced in a reasonable time.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.