1. Conquest and Colliding Empires DOCUMENTS
1.The Iroquois Describe the Beginning of the World, n.d.
2.Christopher Columbus Recounts His First Encounters with Native People, 1493
3.Fray Bernardino de Sahagun Relates an Aztec Chronicler's Account of the Spanish Conquest of the Aztecs, 1519
4.Father Bartolomé de Las Casas Disparages the Treatment of the Indians, 1542
5.Reverend John Heckewelder Records a Native Oral Tradition of the First Arrival of Europeans on Manhattan Island (1610), Printed in 1818
6.Father Paul Le Jeune Reports on His Encounters with the Indians, 1634
7.William Wood Describes Indian Responses to the English, 1634 ESSAYS James H. Merrell, The Indians' New World Neal Salisbury, The Indians' Old World
2.The Southern Colonies in British America DOCUMENTS
1.Edward Waterhouse, a British Official, Recounts an Indian Attack on Early Virginia Settlement, 1622
2.Indentured Servant Richard Frethorne Laments His Condition in Virginia, 1623
3.George Alsop, a Resident of Maryland, Argues That Servants Profit from Life in the Colonies, 1666
4.Nathaniel Bacon, Leader of a Rebellion, Recounts the Misdeeds of the Virginia Governor, 1676
5.Virginia's Statutes Illustrate the Declining Status of African American Slaves, 1660-1705
6.Southern Planter William Byrd Describes His Views Toward Learning and His Slaves, 1709-1710
7.African Olaudah Equiano Recounts the Horrors of Enslavement, 1757
8.Anglican Minister Charles Woodmason Complains About Life in the Carolina Backcountry, 1768 ESSAYS Kathleen M. Brown, The Anxious World of the Slaveowning Patriarch Philip D. Morgan, The Effects of Paternalism Among Whites andBlacks
3.Colonial New England and the Middle Colonies in British America DOCUMENTS
1.Puritan Leader John Winthrop Provides a Model of Christian Charity, 1630
2.William Bradford, Governor of Plymouth Colony, Mourns a Wickedness That Breaks Forth, 1642
3.Mary Rowlandson, A New England Woman, Recounts Her Experience of Captivity and Escape from the Wampanoag during King Philip's War, 1675
4.Proprietor William Penn Promotes His Colony, 1681
5.Massachusetts Officials Describe the Outbreak of Witchcraft in Salem, 1692
6.Reverend Jonathan Edwards Pictures Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, 1741
7.A Young Benjamin Franklin Celebrates a Life of Thrift and Industry, 1733, 1750
8.Dr. Alexander Hamilton Depicts the Material Acquisitions of Northern Colonists, 1744
9.Gottlieb Mittelberger, a German Immigrant, Portrays the Difficulties of Immigration, 1750 ESSAYS James A. Henretta, The Northern Colonies as a Family-Centered Society T. H. Breen, The Northern Colonies as an Empire of Goods
4.The American Revolution DOCUMENTS
1.The Stamp Act Congress Condemns the Stamp Act, 1765
2.Virginian Patrick Henry Warns the British to Maintain American Liberties, 1775
3.Pamphleteer Thomas Paine Advocates the "Common Sense" of Independence, 1776
4.Abigail Adams, Wife of John Adams, Asks Her Husband to "Remember the Ladies," 1776
5.Mohawk Leader Joseph Brant Commits the Loyalty of His People to Britain, 1776
6.The Declaration of Independence States American Grievances Against British "Tyranny," 1776
7.African Americans Petition for Freedom, 1777
8.General Washington Argues for Greater Military Funding by Portraying the Plight of Soldiers at Valley Forge, 1778
9.Loyalists Plead Their Cause to the King, 1782 ESSAYS Gordon S. Wood, Radical Possibilities of the American Revolution Woody Holton, The Revolution as an Economic Response to American Uncertainties
5.The Making of the Constitution DOCUMENTS
1.The Articles of Confederation Stress the Rights of States, 1781
2.Cato, an African American, Pleads for the Abolition of Slavery in Pennsylvania, 1781
3.Frenchman Hector St. John Crèvecoeur Compares the Freedom in the North with Slavery in the South, 1782
4.Slaveholders in Virginia Argue Against the Abolition of Slavery, 1784-1785
5.Thomas Jefferson Proposes the Protection of Religious Freedom in Virginia, 1786
6.Generals William Shepard and Benjamin Lincoln Regret the Disorder That Characterized Shays's Rebellion, 1787
7.The Federalist Papers Illustrate the Advantages of Ratification of the Constitution, 1787
8.Patrick Henry Condemns the Centralization of Government If the Constitution Is Ratified, 1788
9.George Washington Promises Freedom of Religion for Jewish People, 1790 ESSAYS Alfred F. Young, The Pressure of the People on the Framers of the Constitution Jack N. Rakove, The Hope of the Framers to Recruit Citizens to Enter Public Life
6.Competing Visions of National Development in the Early National Period DOCUMENTS
1.Republican Thomas Jefferson Celebrates the Virtue of the Yeoman Farmer, 1785
2.Federalist Alexander Hamilton Envisions a Developed American Economy, 1791
3.Thomas Jefferson Berates the Federalists, 1796
4.C. William Manning, a Republican, Fears for the Future of the Nation, 1798
5.Thomas Jefferson Advances the Power of the States, 1798
6.Competing Illustrated Viewpoints on the Role of Women in the Early National Period
7.Chief Justice John Marshall Argues for the Primacy of the Federal Government, 1803
8.Author Parson Weems Romanticizes the Life of George Washington, 1808 ESSAYS Linda K. Kerber, The Fears of the Federalists Drew R. McCoy, The Fears of the Jeffersonian Republicans
7.Foreign Policy, Westward Movement, and Indian Removal in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries DOCUMENTS
1.Federalist Alexander Hamilton Cautions Against Aiding the Republic of France, 1794
2.President George Washington Warns Against "Entangling Alliances," 1796
3.William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Enters into Diplomacy with Native People, 1806
4.Iroquois Chief Red Jacket Decries the Day When Whites Arrived, 1805
5.Shawnee Chief Tecumseh Recounts the Misdeeds of Whites and Calls for Indian Unity, 1810
6.Tenskwatawa (The Prophet) Relates His Journey to the World Above, 1810
7.Secretary of State John Quincy Adams Advises Against the Search for "Monsters to Destroy," 1821
8.President James Monroe Declares That European Powers May Not Interfere in the Americas, 1823
9.The Cherokee Nation Pleads to Remain "on the Land of Our Fathers," 1830 ESSAYS Gregory Dowd Evans, Indians Utilizing a Strategy of Armed Resistance Theda Perdue, Indians Utilizing a Strategy of Accommodation
8.The Transportation Revolution and the Market Revolution in the Early Nineteenth Century DOCUMENTS
1.Slave Charles Ball Mourns the Growth of Cotton Culture and "Sale Down the River" ca. 1800
2.Chief Justice John Marshall Advances a Broad Construction of the Constitution, 1819, 1824
3.President John Quincy Adams Urges Internal Improvements, 1825
4.A Family in Illinois Struggles with Marketing Their Crops, 1831
5.Harriet Hanson Robinson, a "Lowell Girl" Describes Her Labor in a Textile Mill, 1831
6.European Visitor Alexis de Tocqueville Considers the Influence of Democracy on the Family, 1831
7. Author Charles Dickens Describes Travel on an Early Railroad Train, 1842
8.A Guidebook Instructs Women on the Role of Mother, 1845 ESSAYS Nancy F. Cott, The Market Revolution and Changes in Women's Work Charles Sellers, The Market Revolution and the Growth in Economic Inequality
9.Nationalism, Sectionalism, and Expansionism in the Age of Jackson DOCUMENTS
1.Vice President John C. Calhoun Argues That Tariffs Disadvantage the South, 1828
2.Senator Daniel Webster Lays Out His Nationalist Vision, 1830
3.President Andrew Jackson Condemns the Rights of "Nullification" and Secession, 1832
4.President Andrew Jackson Vetoes the Bank Bill, 1832
5.Historian George Bancroft Asserts His Faith in the Wisdom of the People, 1835
6.Lieutenant-Colonel José Enrique de la Peña Defends Mexico's Actions Against the Texans, 1836
7.Michel Chevelier, a French Visitor, Marvels at the Pageantry of Politics, 1839
8.John L. O'Sullivan, a Democratic Newspaperman, Defines "Manifest Destiny," 1845
9.Walter Colton, a Californian, Describes the Excitement of the Gold Rush, 1848 ESSAYS Mary P. Ryan, Antebellum Politics as Raucous Democracy Glenn C. Altschuler and Stuart M. Blumin, Antebellum Politics as Political Manipulation
10.Reform and the Great Awakening in the Early Nineteenth Century DOCUMENTS
1.Peter Cartwright, a Methodist Itinerant Preacher, Marvels at the Power of Religious Revivals, 1801
2.Frances Trollope, an Englishwoman, Views a Religious Meeting in Indiana, 1829
3.African American Abolitionist David Walker Castigates the United States for Its Slave System, 1829
4.White Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison Calls for Immediate Abolition, 1831
5.New England Intellectual Ralph Waldo Emerson Considers the United States as a Center for Reform, 1841
6.Reformer Dorothea Dix Depicts the Horrible Conditions Endured by the Mentally Ill, 1843
7.The Seneca Falls Convention Declares Women's Rights, 1848
8. Former Slave Sojourner Truth Links Women's Rights to Antislavery, 1851 ESSAYS Paul E. Johnson, Religious Reform as a Form of Social Control Nathan O. Hatch, Religious Revivalism as a Form of Democratization
11.Commercial Development and Immigration in the North at Midcentury DOCUMENTS
1.Alexis de Tocqueville Marvels at the Mobile Northern Society, 1831
2.Inventor Samuel F. B. Morse Fears That Immigrants Will Ruin American Inequality, 1835
3.Essayist Orestes Brownson Condemns the Plight of "Wage Slaves," 1840
4.The United States Democratic Review Argues That "White Slavery" Threatens the Urban North, 1842
5.Gustof Unonius, a Swedish Immigrant, Reflects on Life in the United States, 1841-1842
6.Ex-Slave Frederick Douglass Encounters Racist Animosity in a Northern City, 1845
7.New Yorker George Templeton Strong Berates the Immigrants in His Midst, 1838-1857
8.James Bowlin, a Congressman, Marvels at the Possibilities of Western Lands, 1846 ESSAYS David R. Roediger, White Slaves, Wage Slaves, and Free White Labor in the North John Ashworth, Free Labor and Wage Labor in the North
12.Agricultural Development and Slavery in the South at Midcentury DOCUMENTS
1.A North Carolina Law Prohibits Teaching Slaves to Read or Write, 1831
2.Samuel Cartwright, A Southern Doctor, Theorizes About the Peculiar Diseases of Slaves, 1851
3.Virginian George Fitzhugh Argues That Slavery Is a Positive Good That Improves Society, 1854
4.African American Josiah Henson Portrays the Violence and Fears in Slave Life, 1858
5.Former Slaves Recall Their Lives in Slavery, 1850s
6.Southern Author Daniel Hundley Robinson Depicts the Yeoman White Farmer, 1860
7.Harriet Jacobs Deplores Her Risks in Being a Female Slave, 1861
8.Southerner Mary Chestnut Describes Her Hatred of Slavery from a White Woman's View, 1861
9.Northerner Frederick Law Olmsted Depicts the Economic Costs of Slavery, 1861 ESSAYS Walter Johnson, Slaves and the "Commerce" of the Slave Trade James Oakes, Slaveholders and Liberal "Rights"
13.Careening Toward Civil War DOCUMENTS
1.Senator John C. Calhoun Proposes Ways to Preserve the Union, 1850
2.Frederick Douglass Asks How a Slave Can Celebrate the Fourth of July, 1852
3.Reviewers Offer Differing Opinions about Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1852
4.Axalla John Hoole, a Southerner, Depicts "Bleeding Kansas," 1856
5.Senator Charles Sumner Addresses the "Crime Against Kansas," 1856
6.Chief Justice Roger Taney Determines the Legal Status of Slaves, 1857
7.Senate Candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas Debate Their Positions on Slavery, 1858
8.Republican William Seward Warns of an Irrepressible Conflict, 1858
9.Abolitionist John Brown Makes His Last Statement to the Court Before Execution, 1859
10.The Charleston Mercury Argues That Slavery Must Be Protected, 1860 ESSAYS David M. Potter, The Sectional Divisions That Led to Civil War Michael F. Holt, The Political Divisions That Contributed to Civil War
14.The Civil War DOCUMENTS
1.Senator Robert Toombs Compares Secession with the American Revolution, 1860
2.Frederick Douglass Calls for the Abolition of Slavery, 1862
3.Debow's Review, a Southern Journal, Condemns the Government and Army of the Union, 1862
4.James Henry Gooding, an African American Soldier, Pleads for Equal Treatment, 1863
5.Tally Simpson, a Confederate Soldier, Recounts the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863
6.Mary A. Livermore, a Northern Woman, Recalls Her Role in the Sanitary Commission, 1863
7.Abraham Lincoln Speaks About the Meaning of the War, 1863, 1865
8.Congressman Clement Vallandigham Denounces the Union War Effort, 1863
9.Sidney Andrews, a Northern Journalist, Reports on the Devastation of South Carolina, 1866 ESSAYS James M. McPherson, The Role of Abraham Lincoln in the Abolition of Slavery Ira Berlin et al., The Role of African Americans in the Abolition of Slavery
15.Reconstruction, 1865-1877 DOCUMENTS
1.African Americans Talk About Their Personal Experiences of Newfound Freedom, c. 1865
2.Louisiana Black Codes Reinstate Provisions of the Slave Era, 1865
3.President Andrew Johnson Denounces Changes in His Program of Reconstruction, 1867
4.Congressman Thaddeus Stevens Demands a Radical Reconstruction, 1867
5.Representative Benjamin Butler Argues That President Andrew Johnson Be Impeached, 1868
6.Elizabeth Cady Stanton Questions Abolitionist Support for Female Enfranchisement, 1868
7.The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments Grant Citizenship and Due Process of Law to African Americans and Suffrage to African American Men, 1868, 1870
8.Elias Hill, an African American Man, Recounts a Nighttime Visit from the Ku Klux Klan, 1871
9.Confederate General Jubal Early Memorializes the "Lost Cause," 1894 ESSAYS Steven Hahn, Continuing the War: White and Black Violence During Reconstruction David W. Blight, Ending the War: The Push for National Reconciliation
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