Page:The Constitutions and Other Select Documents Illustrative of the History of France, 1789-1907, Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged.pdf/8

vi agreed they might be upon the general principles of choice. My first and foremost aim has been to pick out those documents likely to be serviceable to teachers. I have especially striven to avoid the error of a too rigid application of some definition of the term document or of some classification. The special reason for the inclusion of most of the documents will be found at least hinted at in the introductions. The more general principles which I have applied require some explanation. There appear to be at least five important ways in which a document-book may be profitably used in the teaching of history. (1) Much historical data can be acquired through such study. It must be admitted, however, that the same amount of time spent upon a good text-book will in this particular usually produce better results, for the reason that the documents studied are so few in number and so disconnected that no adequate idea of any considerable period is obtained. The defect can be remedied in large measure by using a single class of documents running through a considerable period. In modern French history the constitutions serve the purpose admirably. For this reason all of these are included and no elisions have been made, excepting two or three tabular lists of territorial divisions. (2) Documents may be used as the basis for oral or written reports; usually the work should be done in connection with secondary accounts, but the proofs for the principal statements should be drawn from the documents. Many of the groups, with their accompanying references, are inserted for this purpose. It should be observed that these groups usually contain the materials out of which the student should be able to deduce some quite definite result, such as the evolution of a policy or of an institution or the manner in which an institution operated. (3) In the opinion of many teachers the greatest value to be derived from the study of documents is a certain familiarity with the methods of historical investigation. I believe that a large number of the documents here given present unusually good opportunities for exercises designed with that intent. (4) The meaning of technical terms and the significance of constantly recurring allusions can often be more satisfactorily explained in connection with a document than by any other method. None of the selections have been made principally for this reason, but with quite a number it has been an important factor. (5) With many instructors the use of original sources in the teaching of history is valued chiefly for its vitalizing effect. For this