Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/173

 Turner: Rise of the Nezv West 163 four more chapters of a similar nature on the West, including the " Far West ", during this decade : its colonization, its economic and social de- velopment, its commerce and ideals. Then come eleven chapters on the familiar topics of this period. The usual bibliographical chapter and the index conclude the volume — which altogether contains somewhat less material than either Schouler or jMcMaster has written on the same period. Our author has left out much that others have said. But there is something in every chapter which makes it worth the time and effort to read. The new contribution may appear in the nature of new facts, oftener perhaps in some discerning observation upon the passing events, most often in points of broad view or depths of insight that show his mastery of the subject-matter which he treats. The chapter on thfe Monroe Doctrine is typical of many passages in the book. The nature of the subject, the relation of this volume to the series, the limitations of space and of period compel the author to sum- marize the incidents and produce his literary and historical effects in a few bold strokes. The foot-notes refer to several preceding volumes in the series and to important sources ; but chiefly to eight or ten studies, easily accessible, many of them by Professor Turner himself, in which the points stated in the text with judicial succinctness have been worked out in detail. In other chapters the contrary method is pursued. The chapter on the election of .'dams adds much to our lively appreciation of that struggle ; and the result is secured by the author's wise selection and skill- ful narration of many details, showing by what accidents Clay failed to crowd Crawford out of the third place and how the election of Adams still hung in the balance even after the adhesion of Clay to his interests. Still another method of treatment is illustrated in the chapter on " Party Politics, 1820-1822 ". The situation is presented to the mind of the reader by canvassing the candidates for the presidency which each section had to offer. " All these candidates and the dominant element in every section professed the doctrines of republicanism; but what were the orthodox tenets of republicanism ... ? . . . Different candidates and different sections gave conflicting answers" (p. 191). Similarly in the chapter on the Missouri Compromise the great speeches of Clay, King, and Finkney serve as the central points about which other inci- dents and facts are massed in order to tell much in few words. Each volume of the series has an independent title and lays claim to some degree of individuality. Professor Turner's volume is on the " Rise of the West ". But it is also plain " Volume 14 " and it is this place next to the last in the third group of the series, on the " Develop- ment of the Nation ", which gives it most of its important limitations. Frequently the author has to reach far back into the periods treated in other volumes to catch up the threads of a story that only reaches its climax in the period assigned to him ; and he ends with apparent abrupt-