This collection of primary sources includes both classic and
lesser-known documents describing the rich mosaic of American life
from the pre-contact era to the present day. The sources, both
public and private documents-ranging from letters, diary excerpts,
stories, novels, to speeches, court cases, and government
reports-tell the story of American history in the words of those
who lived it.
Preface vii Prologue--Beginnings 1 / Pima Creation Story (Traditional--Ancient) 2 / Dekanawida Myth and the Achievement of Iroquois Unity (ca. 1500s) 4 / Duarte Barbosa, A Description of the Coast of East Africa (1518) 7 Chapter 1--Alien Encounters: Europe in the Americas 13 / Christopher Columbus, Letter to Luis de Sant' Angel (1493) 15 / Bartholome de Las Casas, "Of the Island of Hispaniola" (1542) 19 / Jacques Marquette, from The Mississippi Voyage of Joliet and Marquette (1673) 21 / Thomas Mun, from England's Treasure by Foreign Trade (1664) 24 / John Smith, "The Starving Time" (1624) 27 / John Winthrop, "A Model of Christian Charity" (1630) 29 / Excerpt from the Trial of Anne Hutchinson (1637) 32 Chapter 2--American Society in the Making 37 / Bacon's Rebellion: The Declaration (1676) 39 / William Bull, Report on the Stono Rebellion (1739) 42 / Gottlieb Mittelberger, The Passage of Indentured Servants (1750) 44 / Elizabeth Sprigs, Letter to Her Father (1756) 47 / Olaudah Equiano, The Middle Passage (1788) 49 / Alexander Falconbridge, The African Slave Trade (1788) 52 / James Oglethorpe, Establishing the Colony of Georgia (1733) 55 Chapter 3--America in the British Empire 59 / Michel-Guillaume-Jean de Crevecouer, from Letters from an American Farmer (1782) 61 / Benjamin Franklin, "Upon Hearing George Whitefield Preach" (1771) 63 / Jonathan Edwards, from "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (1741) 65 / John Dickinson, from Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania (1768) 67 / Address of the Inhabitants of Anson County to Governor Martin (1774) 69 Chapter 4--The American Revolution 73 / Patrick Henry, "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" (1775) 75 / Joseph Warren, "Account of the Battle of Lexington" (1775) 78 / Letter from a Revolutionary War Soldier (1776) 81 / George Washington, The Newburg Address (1783) 84 / Judith Sargent Murray, "On the Equality of the Sexes" (1790) 87 / Molly Wallace, Valedictory Oration (1792) 89 / Slave Petition to the General Assembly in Connecticut (1779) 91 Chapter 5--The Federalist Era: Nationalism Triumphant 95 / Publius (James Madison), Federalist Paper #10 (1788) 97 / George Mason, "Objections to This Constitution of Government" (1787) 100 / Benjamin Banneker, Letter to Thomas Jefferson (1791) 102 / "Petition for Access to Education" (1787) 104 / George Washington, Farewell Address (1796) 106 / The Alien and Sedition Acts (1798) 109 Chapter 6--Jeffersonian Democracy 113 / Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address (1801) 114 / Marbury v. Madison (1803) 117 / Meriwether Lewis, Journal (1805) 119 Chapter 7--National Growing Pains 123 / Tecumseh, Letter to Governor William Henry Harrison (1810) 125 / Missouri Enabling Act (1820) 127 / The Monroe Doctrine (1823) 129 Chapter 8--Toward a National Economy 133 / AlbanyDaily Advertiser on the Erie Canal (1819) 134 / The Harbinger, Female Workers of Lowell (1836) 136 / Mary Paul, Letters Home (1845, 1846) 139 Chapter 9--Jacksonian Democracy 143 / Andrew Jackson, First Annual Message to Congress (1829) 145 / "Memorial of the Cherokee Nation" (1830) 147 / Henry Clay, Speech Opposing President Jackson's Veto of the Bank Bill (1832) 149 / Davy Crockett, Advice to Politicians (1833) 152 Chapter 10--The Making of Middle-Class America 155 / Charles Finney, "Religious Revival" (1835) 158 / Dorothea Dix, Appeal on Behalf of the Insane (1843) 161 / William Lloyd Garrison, from The Liberator (1831) 163 / Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Declaration of Sentiments (1848) 165 / Henry David Thoreau, from "Civil Disobedience" (1849) 168 / Walt Whitman, Preface to Leaves of Grass (1855) 171 Chapter 11--Westward Expansion 175 / John L. O'Sullivan, "The Great Nation of Futurity" (1845) 177 / Jose Maria Sanchez, from "A Trip to Texas" (1828) 180 / Thomas Corwin, Against the Mexican War (1847) 182 / Elizabeth Dixon Smith Greer, Journal (1847--1850) 185 / Chief Seattle, Oration (1854) 187 Chapter 12--The Sections Go Their Ways 191 / Nat Turner, Confession (1831) 192 / Benjamin Drew, Narratives of Escaped Slaves (1855) 194 / George Fitzhugh, "The Blessings of Slavery" (1857) 197 Chapter 13--The Coming of the Civil War 203 / Harriet Beecher Stowe, from Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) 205 / The Ostend Manifesto (1854) 207 / Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) 210 / Frederick Douglass, Independence Day Speech (1852) 212 / John Brown, Address to the Virginia Court (1859) 215 Chapter 14--The War to Save the Union 219 / James Henry Gooding, Letter to President Lincoln (1863) 221 / Jefferson Davis, Second Inaugural Address as President of the Confederate States of America (1862) 223 / Clara Barton, Medical Life at the Battlefield (1862) 226 / Theodore A. Dodge, from Civil War Diary (1863) 229 / Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address (1863) 232 Chapter 15--Reconstruction and the South 235 / Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address (1865) 237 / Mississippi Black Codes (1865) 239 / A Sharecrop Contract (1882) 242 / Congressional Testimony on the Actions of the Ku Klux Klan (1872) 245 / Civil Rights Cases (1883) 249 Credits 253
