A Summary History of New-England facts for kids
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Frontispiece, first edition (1799)
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| Author | Hannah Adams |
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| Original title | A Summary History of New-England, from the first settlement at Plymouth, to the acceptance of the Federal Constitution. Comprehending a general sketch of the American War. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | history of the New England |
| Genre | history |
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Publication date
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1799 |
| Followed by | An abridgement of the history of New-England, for the use of young persons (1805) |
A Summary History of New-England is an 18th-century history book regarding New England by the American author, Hannah Adams. It was first published in Dedham, Massachusetts in 1799, by Herman Mann and James H. Adams, and followed her A View of Religions, which was published in 1784. Not arrogating to herself the honors of an original historian, Adams exonerated herself from a large share of responsibility, and at the same time earned considerable merit by the judicious use which she has made of the labor of others. She included or abridged their accounts, as occasion demanded.
In A Summary History of New-England, Adams presented a narrative more comprehensive than any previously written. It related to five of the oldest and populous states, and deduced their history leading to the period of the adoption of the federal government. The narrative was designed to be merely a summary, compiled from the collections of more laborious authors, and from fugitive or miscellaneous publications. A succinct, clear, comprehensive, and judicious view of the subject was the scope of the work, avoiding minute details and intricate inquiries. Upon publication, the Summary History was a desideratum, and its appearance satisfied the general expectation.
Preparation
After the publication of Adams' second edition of A View of Religions (1791), she taught school, boarding in the homes of the children. But it was not long before, inspired by her last literary venture, she determined to write another book. It was poverty, or, as she said, “desperation, not vanity," that first induced her to become an author or compiler of history. With a desire to help those who in early life had been deprived of reading much, if anything, of the history of their country, she began to write a history of New England. There was then no such history but Cotton Mather's Magnalia Christi Americana, and Daniel Neal's History of New England.
Had there been one coming down to the acceptance of the Federal Constitution, her task would have been easier. As it was, she was obliged to spend much time among old state papers, ancient news prints, and old records in official places. The continued perusal of these so affected her eyes that a delay of two or three years in the appearance of the book, in 1799, after the research began, was a consequence.
Style and themes
Adams made liberal use of the works of noted and popular writers on American affairs, but exercised the privilege of new modelling and abridging their accounts. She was praised for her selection of authorities, and in the use which she made of them. She manifested an accurate knowledge of her subject, an ardent love of liberty, and a "masculine rećtitude of judgment".
The history, divided into forty chapters, was published in an octave form, of about five hundred pages. The work commenced with an account of Christopher Columbus' discovery of America. It glanced at the political and ecclesiastical state of Great Britain immediately subsequent to the Reformation; at the persecution of nonconformists under the reigns of Elizabeth and James; and at the motives which impelled John Robinson and his band of adherents first to Leiden, and a part of them afterwards to Plymouth. It described the character of the Plymouth Colony settlers, their sufferings, government, manners, and religion. It treated of the theological tenets in which the continually-multiplying adventurers were, and in which they were not agreed; of their ambition to be governed by biblical laws; and of their love of liberty in England. The book contained a sketch of the American Revolutionary War, occupying nearly half of its pages.
Second edition
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Adams published in 1805 An abridgement of the history of New-England, for the use of young persons (B. & J. Homans, and John West. A. Newell, printer; Boston). The later work retained the most important parts of the Summary History. In twenty chapters, she comprised the substance of her first book. Long accounts of polemic divinity, which might not be read by the young, nor understood by the old, were omitted, and greatly abbreviated the story of the American Revolutionary War. She improved her work by means of later writers, and particularly by John Marshall's life of George Washington. The paragraphs were numbered, and the form and size of the book were well-suited to the use of children. It was said by Munroe & Francis (1895) that Adams possessed uncommon acuteness in discovering the repositories of knowledge adapted to her purpose, and a facility in using it.
A second edition titled, An Abridgment of the History of New England, for the use of young persons. Now introduced into the principal schools of this town, was published in Boston, in 1807.
