I hear a lot that American history is pretty young compared to, say, British or Chinese history. But what about when the US was really, really young, say in the first half of the 1800s? What was the focus of history classes with such little going on as of then? Did they just learn English history?
First off, I am not a historian in the subject. With that said, I am scanning through the eighth edition of Joel Spring's "The American School: A Global Context from the Puritans to the Obama era", in particular chapter two seems to be hinting at how history was handled in various fashions.
On pages 51-52:
Noah Webster worked hard to create a dominant Anglo-American culture. A prolific writer, he constantly combined efforts to create a dominant culture and build nationalism.
...
In 1783, he [Webster] completed one spelling book, the first of three volumes in a series titles A Grammatical Institute of the English Language.
...
Webster believed that in addition to teaching reading and writing, his texts should produce good and patriotic Americans, develop an American language, and created a unified national spirit.
These sections that I picked out are condensing some of his beliefs, but an example of the history that Webster's readers had is found on page 54:
Illustrative of his patriotic themes was the cover of his 1787 reader, which contained the words "Begin with the infant in the cradle; let the first word he lisps be Washington." His readers contained Washington's Farewell Orders to the Army, patriotic poems, and (for the first time in a schoolbook) a history of the Revolutionary war.
It should be noted that this but one idea of what an education would contain. Spring goes on to highlight a vision of education that Thomas Jefferson had, on pages 56-57.
"Instead, therefore, of putting the Bible and Testament into the hands of children at an age when their judgement are not sufficiently matured for religious inquiries, their memories here be stored with the most useful facts from Grecian, Roman, European, and American history."
This quote, being put into the context of a discussion on the teaching of a protestant oriented morality that Webster, as well as trying to instill nationalism, wanted instilled in the youth.
Spring intended here to highlight that there was not yet, at this time, a unified version of schooling. In regards to history being taught, these two different models seem to be suggesting different approaches. Webster, on creating a sense of unity and nationalism for this new republic, while Jefferson seemed to favor the creation of those suited for self government. I hope this helps answer at least part of your question.