Excerpt from History of the United States of America, Vol. 4 The History of the United States naturally divides itself into two principal parts. The first, colonial and revolutionary ; the second, embracing the period subsequent to the adoption of the Federal Constitution. Having already sketched in three volumes the story of the colonial and revolutionary times, I have been encouraged to enter, somewhat more at large than I had originally intended, upon the history of the second period - that part of it, at least, which the lapse of time has so far thrown into perspective as to enable it to be comprehended by the historic eye, not as a fragmentary series of events, but, to a certain extent, as a finished whole. Such is the case with the first generation subsequent to the adoption of the Federal Constitution, including the origin, policy, conflicts, mutations, and final dissolution of the two parties known as Federalists and Republicans, or Democrats; a period of struggles within, and of dangers from without, during which the tenacity of the American Union and the strength of the federal government were subjected to repeated and trying tests. 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.