Posted on 08/20/2024 7:32:56 AM PDT by ProgressingAmerica
Today I am happy to show off another audio book release, Arthur J. Stansbury's Elementary catechism on the Constitution of the United States: for the use of schools, a book as it says, was always intended for young children in schools.
This book is written as a catechism form, which for those Christian readers need no introduction here, a catechism form is often used in religious instruction. The book's author, Arthur Stansbury was an American Presbyterian minister and newspaper reporter who was also a noted lithographer, poet, and children's author.
It's important to understand the context here. This is a book that was written in 1828 and was designed to be consumed by students in the late 1820s, 1830s and beyond which were all religious schools at that time. Government hadn't taken over schools yet. The process of the government takeover of schools wouldn't begin until about 1840 in Massachusetts, and federally at the turn of the 20th century. So these were schools which were eager to teach love of God, and at the same time, teach love of God's gift of individual liberty and the Constitution which was established to respect that God-given gift.
This book came to my attention through Wallbuilders, and you can see a video of David Barton briefly discussing this book here with his very old copy in hand.
From the LibriVox description:
Elementary Catechism on the Constitution of The United States was written in 1826 by Arthur J. Stansbury (1781-1865) a New York Presbyterian minister who was known for his sermons that discussed political events. It was written in a unique question and answer format for usage in grade schools to introduce the concepts of the US Constitution to elementary School children. He was unabashedly patriotic in his writings and sermons. This book is an important cultural marker written at the time of the Jubilee Anniversary (50 years) of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July 1826 was approaching. There was a great deal of interest in the US Constitution, more so given that two former U.S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on July 4, 1826-the day of the Jubilee, within hours of each other.
This came out really well, thank you.
No....Give them a copy of the original Constitution. Then give them a book called %4 Men and the Constitution by Rodell. It tells how they came to a resolve for our Constitution.
bookmark
Actually, this has historic value. I was the one who read it (and I initially had trouble with the form of question/answer the book was written in) and I found it fascinating for two reasons:
1.). It reflects the structure and makeup of the Constitution as it was in 1828, so it can be seen as a historic document.
2.) It displays the level of enthusiasm in this country that still surrounded the Constitution at the 40th Anniversary, which was still celebrated as an event.
I enjoyed it, and it is a relatively short reading, which is nice...:)
Thanks for checking up on this sir!
I recommend Rodell’s book as a complimentary documentary.
I am going to put that on my list of things to read-Thank you!
Thank you so much for all your work and efforts now on this and over the years!
In 1820 the Americans accepted about 8300 newcomers to our vast land, carefully approved.
Good job!
Thank you!
Thank you!
We’ve gotten a lot of good books out lately.
Still looking for more, and more people.
Great news - the downloads for this are higher than even the Hayek book from two months back. Its up to 13,000 and its been ten days.
To be sure it will slow down, but that’s a very good first showing for an author and book that has no Wikipedia page and no other (that I know of) high profile ways to find it.
That is great! I hope people enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed reading it aloud...I was very intrigued by how it had been written.
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