The work opens with a comprehensive preface by Louise Manly detailing the primary object of furnishing school children and the general reader with material for becoming acquainted with the development of American life and history as found in Southern writers and their works. The study of history rises in importance when combined with good works of fiction, dramas, poetry, and historical novels bearing upon different epochs. By reading the actual words of authors from early settlement to modern times, dry dates become covered with living facts and the past is peopled with real beings.
The volume spans four distinct chronological periods starting with the first period from fifteen seventy-nine to seventeen fifty. Captain John Smith emerges as the first writer of Virginia, with extracts detailing his rescue by Pocahontas and his ascent of the James River. This section includes William Strachey on a storm off the Bermudas, John Lawson on North Carolina in the early eighteenth century, and William Byrd selecting the sites of Richmond and Petersburg while exploring the Dismal Swamp. These early observers offer honest accounts of the native inhabitants, the rich soil, and the hazards of early colonization.
The second period covers seventeen fifty to eighteen hundred, marking the rise of the American Revolution and the establishment of the republic. Henry Laurens describes his imprisonment in the Tower of London, while George Washington offers his farewell address and wise maxims on union, liberty, and morality. Patrick Henry delivers his famous revolution speech demanding liberty or death. Thomas Jefferson is represented by his political maxims, his descriptions of the Natural Bridge, and the Act for Religious Freedom. David Ramsay chronicles the defense of Fort Moultrie by Sergeant Jasper and the exploits of Marion and Sumpter.
The third period spans eighteen hundred to eighteen fifty, encompassing the expansion of the nation and intense political debate. Henry Clay champions the right to be right above all, while John James Audubon paints the mocking-bird and the hummingbird in vivid prose. Thomas Hart Benton recounts the historic duel between Randolph and Clay. John Caldwell Calhoun defends nullification and analyzes the system of government. Sam Houston describes the cause of the Texan war of independence and the decisive battle of San Jacinto. Other literary figures include David Crockett on bear hunting, Richard Henry Wilde with his enduring lyric, and Edgar Allan Poe.
The fourth period ranges from eighteen fifty to eighteen ninety-five, reflecting the turbulent war years and subsequent reconstruction. Henry Woodfen Grady portrays the civilization of the South before the war. Sidney Lanier contributes his musical poetry and thoughts on art. Joel Chandler Harris preserves folklore through the Tar-Baby story. Thomas Nelson Page and Mary Noailles Murfree depict local color and regional character. The volume concludes with extensive lists of omitted authors and a detailed index, serving as a permanent monument to the literary energy of the American South.
