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"A Practical System of Modern Geography: or View of the Present State of the World."
(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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Given the author's strong New England bias, the subtitle of this 1831 geography school textbook, "A View of the Present State of the World", might more accurately read "A New Englander's View of the Present State of the World." Authors of early 19th century American schoolbooks had marked opinions on the world and the people in it. It was not their goal to give an unbiased view. They were raising up the next generation of Americans and it was their goal to influence the thinking of the rising new generation. This geography book was written by a New Englander who was both fond and proud of his home region. He wrote: "The people of New England are intelligent, moral, industrious, and enterprising." (See pages 64 and 65 by clicking on the Select a page menu.) His view of the slave holding Southern states was not so kind. (See page 92, third paragraph.) The author's view of Indians as "ignorant, barbarous, and warlike" was typical of the period and justified to many the continued westward expansion of the new American nation at the Indian's expense (See page 119).
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