The first of a two-volume anthology of primary documents, letters, and articles through which participants and contemporary observers express their opinions, make observations, and reach conclusions about events and issues that affected the nation and American society.
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 The Settlement Enterprise 1.1 Richard Hakluyt on the Colonizing of North America Richard Hakluyt, Why England Should Settle North America ((1584) 1.2 John Winthrop Advises Puritans to Emigrate John Winthrop, Why We Should Leave England (1629) 1.3 A Cavalier Goes into Exile Colonel Norwood, A Voyage to Virginia (1649) 1.4 The Common Folk Come to America William Penn, Who Should Go to Pennsylvania? (1683) 1.5 Indentured Servants: Upward Mobility or Deeper Bondage Servant's Indenture for Transportation to Virginia (1622) 1.6 Coercion: The West African Slave Venture Smith, An Eighteenth-Century African Describes His Enslavement (1729) Chapter 2 The British Colonies of North America 2.1 Paradise or Hell: Economic Survival and Opportunity John Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia (1609) Richard Ffrethorne, A Virginia Settler Regrets Coming Gabriel Thomas, An Historical and Geographical Account of the Province and Country of Pensilvania etc. John Josselyn, An Account of Two Voyages to New England Reverend Andrew Burnaby, New-York City 2.2 The Political Economy: Old Regime or Innovation? Ordinance for Virginia (1621) Massachusetts Bay Company (1629) Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions to Patroons (1629) The Navigation Act of 1663 2.3 Religious Toleration John Cotton, God Did Not Ordain Democracy Fit for Church or Commonwealth (1636) Massachusetts Proscribes Quakers (1677) Royal Order to Send Accused Quakers to England (1661) Roger Williams Responds to John Cotton (1644) Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, American Diversity: American Tolerance (1782) 2.4 Class Tensions and Slavery in Colonial America Jaspar Danckaerts, A Traveler Disapproves of the Chesapeake Planters (1679) William Eddis, The Wretchedness of White Servants (1770) Reverend R. Walsh, The Inspection of a Slave Ship Maryland Statue on Negroes and Other Slaves (1664) Runaway Slaves (1745, 1749) George Oglethorpe on the Stono Rebellion (1739) The Diary of Samuel Sewall Chapter 3 Native Americans 3.1 A British Officer Describes Native Americans Captain Jonathan Carver, A Concise Character of the Indians (1767) 3.2 A Pennsylvanian Calls the Native Americans "Devils" Hugh Henry Brackenridge, The Indians Have No Exclusive Claim to America (1782) 3.3 William Penn Urges Kindness Toward Native Americans William Penn Admires the Indians (1683) 3.4 A Moravian Missionary Praises Native American Values John Heckewelder, Indians and Nature (1777) The Little Mohee (c. 1725) 3.5 Treaties and Alliances Iroquois Chiefs Address the Governors of New York and Virginia (1684) An Iroquois Chief Discusses the Treaty of Rights (1742) 3.6 The Paxton Boys and Native American Extermination Benjamin Franklin, A Narrative of the Late Massacres, in Lancaster County, of a Number of Indians, Friends of This Province, by Persons Unknown. With Some Observations on the Same . (1764) Professor Peter Kalm, Small Pox and Brandy Among the Indians (1749) Chapter 4 Patriot versus Loyalist 4.1 The Stamp Act: Congress Denounces Taxation without Representation The Stamp Act (1765) Declarations of the Stamp Act Congress (1765) Francis Bennard Describes Stamp Act Riots in Boston (1765) 4.2 A Constitutional Crisis: Virtual and Actual Representation Benjamin Franklin, Invectives Against the Americans (1765) 4.3 The Boston Town Meeting Presents the Patriot Case Joseph Warren, A List of Infringements and Violations of Rights (1772) 4.4 An American Radical Reevaluates the English Constitution Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776) 4.5 The Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence (1776) 4.6 The Radicalism of the American Revolution The Virginia Bill of Rights (1776) 4.7 Parliament's Official View The Declaratory Act (1766) 4.8 A British Official Argues for Taxing Americans Samuel Johnson, A Diatribe on the American Arguments (1766) 4.9 A British View of "No Taxation without Representation" Soame Jenyns, “No Taxation with Representation” Is an Invalid Argument (1765) 4.9 American Loyalists Defend Britain Josiah Quincy, Jr., The Hutchinson Riot (1775) Samuel Seabury, Anglican Ministers Defends Britain's Position (1774) 4.10 The American Revolution as a Social Movement Abigail Adams on Women's Rights (1776) Prince Hall, a Former Slave (1777) Chapter 5 The Constitution 5.1 Drafting the Constitution George Washington, Letter from the Constitutional Convention to the President of Congress (1787) Resolutions of the Convention Concerning the Ratification and Implementation of the Constitution (1787) The Constitution 5.2 Patrick Henry Denounces the Constitution Patrick Henry, Virginia Should Reject the Constitution (1788) 5.3 The Constitution as a Usurpation Richard Henry Lee, The Constitution Will Encourage Aristocracy (1787) 5.4 "The Father of the Constitution" Defends His Offspring James Madison, The Constitution Should Be Ratified (1787) James Madison, Regulating the Violence of Faction Federalist Paper #10 (1788) 5.5 Alexander Hamilton on Pro- and Anti-Constitution Forces Alexander Hamilton, On the Expediency of Adopting the Federal Constitution (1787) Chapter 6 Federalist versus Republican 6.1 Alexander Hamilton's Economic Reports Alexander Hamilton, The First Report on Public Credit (1790) Alexander Hamilton, The Second Report on Public Credit (1790) Alexander Hamilton, The Report on Manufactures (1791) 6.2 Thomas Jefferson and the American Arcadia Thomas Jefferson, Query XIX: Manufactures (1784) 6.3 Thomas Jefferson Attacks the Hamiltonian System Thomas Jefferson, The Vile Hamiltonian System (1790) 6.4 The Jeffersonians Embrace the French Thomas Jefferson, In Praise of the French Jacobins (1793) 6. 5 The Federalists Denounce the French Revolution Gouverneur Morris, Deploring the Excesses of the French Revolution (1793) 6.6 Freedom of Expression: The Press The Alien and Sedition Acts (1798) Edward Livingston Opposes the Alien Act (1798) 6.7 Washington and the Success of the Great Experiment From Washington's First Inaugural Address (1789) James Madison Embraces Political Parties From Washington's Farewell Address (1796) Chapter 7 Pioneers and Native Americans 7.1 Opening the Great American Desert: The Lewis and Clark Expedition John Filson, The Adventures of Col. Daniel Boon (1784)) Frederick Jackson Turner, Report to the American Historical Association (1893) 7.2 The Pioneer Experience The Diary of Elias Pym Fordham (1818) Journal of Zerah Hawley (1821) 7.3 Indian Removal Timothy Flint, The Indians Are Savages The Indian Removal Act (1830) Memorial to Congress by Inhabitants of the Territory (1832) John C. Calhoun, Justification for “Removal” The Indians Protest Against Removal Chapter 8 Capital versus Labor 8.1 The Lowell System Charles Dickens, A Positive View of the Lowell Girls (1842) The “Factory Girls” Tell Their Own Story (1845-1846) 8.2 An Economist Defends Capitalism Henry C. Carey, Worker Benefit from High Profits (1835) 8.3 The Workingmen's Party Indicts Capitalism The Workingmen's Party , Workers Are Exploited and Oppressed (1840) 8.4 Popular Songs of American Workers Low Bridge , Everybody Down E.R.I.E. No Irish Need Apply Pat Works on the Railway Chapter 9 Jacksonian Democracy 9.1 Andrew Jackson: Man of the People or Autocrat? Mrs. Smith Observes the Inauguration of Andrew Jackson (1829) Andrew Jackson Protests to the Senate (1834) 9.2 Andrew Jackson Vetoes the Bank Bill Andrew Jackson, Why I Vetoed the BUS Recharter (1832) 9.3 Daniel Webster Replies to the Veto Daniel Webster Defends the BUS (1832) 9.4 Democratic Egalitarianism Isaac S. Smith, The Positions of the Loco Focos (1836) 9.5 A "Knickerbocker" Gentleman Flays the "Rabble" Philip Hone, A Whig Gentleman's View of the Working Class Chapter 10 The Ferment of Reform 10.1 Women's Rights The Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions (1848) 10.2 Abolitionism and Human Rights Angelina Grimké, Human Rights Not Founded On Sex (1837) Sojourner Truth, When Woman Gets Her Rights Man Will Be Right (1867) 10.3 Women and Divorce Elizabeth Cady Stanton Questions the Laws of Marriage and Divorce (1861) 10.4 Sarah Josepha Hale On Women and Peace Societies Sarah Josepha Hale, Ought Ladies To Form Peace Societies? (1840) 10.5 Dorothea L. Dix and the Plight of the Mentally Ill Dorothea L. Dix, Memorial to the Legislature of Massachusetts (1843) Chapter 11 The Mexican War 11.1 Manifest Destiny John L. O'Sullivan, Manifest Destiny (1845) 11.1 James K. Polk Calls For War against Mexico Polk's War Message (1846) 11.3 The Mexican View Ramon Alcaraz, The Mexican View of the War (1850) 11.4 Dissent At Home James Russell Lowell, The Mexican War Is on Behalf of Slavery Charles Sumner, Senator from Massachusetts (1847) Thomas Corwin, The War With Mexico Is Morally Wrong (1847) Frederick Douglass Opposes the War (1848) Chapter 12 Slavery and the "Old South" 12. 1 Slavery from the Victim's Viewpoint William Brown, My Life as a Slave Harriet Jacobs, The Trials of Girlhood 12.2 A Southern Apologist Views Slavery Edward A. Pollard, Happy “Darkies” (1859) 12.3 The Southern Plantation Idyll vs. Northern Experiments John Pendleton Kennedy, The Southern Plantation Idyll George Fitzhugh, In What Slavery Ends 12. 4 A Nonslaveholding Southerner Attacks the "Peculiar Institution" Hinton Rowan Helper, Slavery Hurts Non-Slaveholding Whites (1857) 12.5 Abolitionism William Lloyd Garrison, Manifesto of a New Antislavery Movement 12.6 A Northerner Describes the Old South Frederick Law Olmstead, A Northern Traveler Views Southern Slavery (1854) 12.7 The World the Slaves Made Go Down, Moses (c. 1850) 12.8 Resistance and Rebellion James W. C. Pennington, The Escape of a Fugitive Slave Rebellion: The Confessions of Nat Turner (1831) 13 The Clash of Sections. 13.1 A Southern Champion Demands Equal Rights for the South John C. Calhoun, The South Defended (1850) 13.2 A Northern Unionist Supports the Compromise of 1850 Daniel Webster, Webster's Seventh of March Speech Favoring the Compromise Measures (1850) 13.3 Antislavery Leaders Respond to the Kansas-Nebraska Act The Kansas–Nebraska Act: A Plot against the North (1854) 13.4 John Brown and the Remission of Sins by Blood John Brown's Last Speech (1859) 13.5 The Victory of the Republican Party The Republican Party Platform of 1860 13.6 The South Secedes South Carolina Secession Convention (1860) Why South Carolina Is Leaving the Union (1860) Chapter 14 The Civil War 14.1 The War Is About Slavery Alexander H. Stephens , Slavery Is the Cornerstone of the Confederacy (1861) The War Will Destroy Slavery (1861) 14.2 The War Is Over Constitutional Issues Jefferson Davis, Inaugural Address (1861) Abraham Lincoln, Inaugural Address (1861) 14.3 The War Is a Clash of Economic Interests The North Opposed the South Economically (1860) Edward Everett, The North's Economic Grievances Against the South (1861) 14.4 The Union's Advance Undermines Slavery Abraham Lincoln, The Emancipation Proclamation (1863) Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address (1863) James Henry Goo
About the Author :
Pulitzer Prize winning historian Irwin Unger has been teaching American history for over forty years on both coasts. Born and largely educated in New York, he has lived in California, Virginia, and Washington State. He is married to Debi Unger and they have five children, now all safely past their college years. Professor Unger formerly taught at California State University at Long Beach, the University of California at Davis, and New York University. He is now professor emeritus at NYU. Professor Unger’s professional interests have ranged widely within American history. He has written on Reconstruction, the Progressive Era, and on the 1960s. His first book, The Greenback Era, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1965. Since then he has written The Movement: The New Left and (with Debi Unger) The Vulnerable Years, Turning Point: 1968, The Best of Intentions (about the Great Society), LBJ: A Life, The Guggenheims, A Family History. He has just completed a book on the 1960s and he and Debi Unger are working on a biography of General George C. Marshall.
