From the end of the War of Independence through the administration of William McKinley at the end of the 19th Century, The Story of the Great Republic retells as an engaging narrative the history of the United States of America through the 19th century. The struggles of the new nation under the Articles of Confederation, the rise of the need for a new form of government, the Constitutional Convention, the administration of Washington and all the presidents through the 19th century, the exploration of the American continent, the westward expansion, the relationship of the United States with European nations and world politics and events, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and the rise and influence of American ingenuity, technology, and society. We meet the brave and the wise; the foolish and the proud: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, Stephen Decatur, Elbridge Gerry, Francis Scott Key, Tecumseh, Andrew Jackson, Marcus Whitman, Noah and Daniel Webster, Sam Houston, Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Booker T. Washington, and Sitting Bull, to name just a few.

Miss Guerber writes, "No pains have been spared to interest children in the history of their country, to explain its gradual development, to teach them to love, honor, and emulate our heroes, and to make them so familiar with the lives and sayings of famous Americans that they will have no difficulty in understanding the full meaning of the numerous historical allusions so frequently found in the newspapers and elsewhere. While a special effort has been made to cultivate a spirit of fairness and charity in dealing with every phase of our history, the writer's main object has been to make good men and women of the rising generation, as well as loyal Americans."

Like the other histories by H. A. Guerber that Nothing New Press has republished, The Story of the Great Republic includes additional maps, a comprehensive timeline of events and people encountered in the story, as an aid for testing retention, memory work, and to help children in constructing their own history timelines. The Bibliography lists the references used to construct the timeline. The Recommended Reading list which follows the timeline coordinates the corresponding chapters in Great Republic with wonderful "living books": non-fiction, biographies, literature, and historical fiction.