American Historiography and Comparative Analysis: Further Reflections*

¹ In developing this concept I have been indebted to a conference on certain societies with Professors Kenneth McRae, Richard Morse, Richard Rosecrance, and Leonard Thompson in January, 1961. The concept as it affects these societies will appear shortly in a series of essays with this group, The Founding of New Societies: Studies in the History of the United States, Latin America, South Africa, Canada and Australia.

² Turner, Frederick Jackson, The Frontier in American History (New York, 1950) p. 269.

³ I have discussed the psychological comparison of flight and revolution in The Liberal Tradition in America (New York, 1955), especially pp. 64–65.

⁴ Bradford, William, History of Plymouth Plantation (Boston, 1856), p. 79.

⁵ Mather, Cotton, Magnalia Christi Americana (Hartford, 1852–1853), Vol. I, p. 25.

⁶ Bancroft, George, A History of the United States (Boston, 1834), Vol. I, pp. 507–508.

⁷ Johnson's Wonder-Working Providence, 1628–1651, Jameson, J. Franklin, ed. (New York, 1910), p. 53.

⁸ A History of the United States, Vol. I, p. 1.

⁹ Wilson, Woodrow, “The Significance of American History”, Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (New York, 1902), p. xxvii.

¹⁰ Theory and Practice in Historical Study: A Report of the Committee on Historiography, Social Science Research Council (New York, 1946), pp. 30ff.

¹¹ Adams, Herbert B., The Germanic Origins of New England Towns (Baltimore, 1882), p. 38.

¹² The Frontier in American History, p. 3.

¹³ Ibid., Preface.

¹⁴ a ibid., p. 3.

* This essay is a sequel to my remarks in the symposium, “Comparative Study in American History”, published in the last issue of this Journal.