American History for Schools is a condensed history of the United States, encompassing the age of exploration in the 15th Century to the 1870s. The great majority of the text is devoted to analyzing events from the discovery of the New World to the War of 1812. There are numerous colored maps and detailed black and white prints of seminal events. Inside front and back cover pages contain lists of recommended “Educational Works.” An eagle image is impressed on the book cover. This text was known to have been used in segregated schools for black students.
Author George Payn Quackenbos (1826-1881) graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. (1843), an M.A. (1846). and a law degree in 1849. He also received an LL.D. in 1863 from Wesleyan. He became principal of the Henry Street Grammar School in 1847. He was editor of the Literary American from 1848-1850; Spier’s French Dictionary (1850), and several other foreign language dictionaries. Quackenbos authored many other children’s school books, including: First Lessons in Compositions (1851); Advanced Course of Rhetoric and Composition (1854); A School History of the United States (1857); American History for Schools (1878), First Lessons in Composition (1851), Natural Philosophy (1859); an English grammars series (1862-1864) and a mathematics series (1863-1874), which includes this book, and Language Lessons (1876). His son, John Duncan Quackenbos was also a graduate of Columbia, teacher and author of school texts.
D. Appleton & Company was an early American printer and publisher founded in New York City by Daniel Appleton (1785-1849). The firm’s publications gradually extended over a broad field of literature. The company grew to become one of the world's most important publishing houses. Appleton bought into American Book Company when it was formed but continued to publish under its name including Appleton’s Magazine and Appleton’s Booklovers and through reorganizing and a bankruptcy filing. In 1933, Appleton merged with Century to create a new company, D. Appleton-Century Co. Then in 1948, D. Appleton-Century Co. merged with F.S. Crofts, Inc. The new company was sold to Prentice-Hall in the 1960s.