Reading the American Past, Volume I: To 1877: Selected Historical Documents

This two-volume primary-source collection provides a diverse selection of voices from the nation’s past while emphasizing the important social, political, and economic themes of a U.S. history survey course. Edited by one of the authors of The American Promise and designed to complement the textbook, Reading the American Past features over 150 documents, each accompanied by a headnote and questions for discussion to encourage students’ understanding of the sources. Cover Page......Page 1 Half-Tiltle Page......Page 3 Copyright Page ......Page 4 Title Page ......Page 5 FEATURES OF THIS BOOK......Page 7 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 10 FLAWS OFMEMORY......Page 13 DOCUMENTS CAPTURE DIVERSE VOICES AND EXPERIENCES......Page 14 READING AND UNDERSTANDING DOCUMENTS......Page 15 IDENTIFY AUTHOR, DATE, AND AUDIENCE......Page 16 THE VALUE OF DOCUMENTS......Page 18 CONTENTS......Page 21 1-1: A Taino Origin Story......Page 31 Ramón Pané, On Taino Religious Practices......Page 32 1-2: A Seneca Origin Narrative......Page 34 The Woman Who Fell from the Sky......Page 35 “In the Beginning”......Page 37 1-4: A ristotle on Masters and Slaves......Page 40 The Politics, ca. 300 B.C.......Page 41 COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS......Page 44 2-1: The King of the Congo Writes to the King of Portugal......Page 45 King Afonso and King João III, Correspondence, 1526......Page 46 The Diario of Christopher Columbus’s First Voyage toAmerica, 1492– 1493......Page 50 Bernal Díaz del Castillo, The Conquest of New Spain, 1632......Page 53 Mexican Accounts of Conquest from the Florentine Codex......Page 57 Utopia, 1515......Page 63 COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS......Page 66 Letter to Father and Mother, March 20, April 2, 3, 1623......Page 67 Edward Waterhouse, Declaration, 1622......Page 72 Confessionario, 1613......Page 76 3-4: Sex and Race Relations......Page 81 Testimony from Virginia Court Records, 1681......Page 82 3-5: Bacon’s Rebellion......Page 84 Nathaniel Bacon, Declaration, 1676......Page 85 COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS......Page 87 4-1: The Arbella Sermon......Page 88 John Winthrop, A Model of Christian Charity, 163......Page 89 Roger Williams, A Key into the Language of America, 1643......Page 93 Suffolk County Court Records, 1671– 1673......Page 98 The Laws of Pennsylvania, 1682......Page 102 Testimony against Accused Witch Bridget Bishop, 1692......Page 106 COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS......Page 108 A Boston Broadside, 1768......Page 110 5-2: Poor Richard’s Advice......Page 114 Benjamin Franklin, Father Abraham’s Speech from Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1757......Page 115 Charles Woodmason, Sermon on the Baptists and the Presbyterians, ca. 1768......Page 119 5-4: Advertisements for Runaway Slaves ......Page 123 South Carolina Gazette and Virginia Gazette, 1737– 1745......Page 124 5-5: A Moravian Missionary Interviews Slaves in theWest Indies, 1767– 1768......Page 127 Christian George Andreas Oldendorp, History of the Evangelical Brethren’s Mission on the Caribbean Islands, 1777......Page 128 COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS......Page 131 Joseph Warren, Boston Massacre Oration,March 5, 1772......Page 133 George R. T. Hewes, Memoir, 1834......Page 137 6-3: Daniel Leonard Argues for Loyalty to the British Empire......Page 140 To the Inhabitants of the Province of Massachusetts- Bay,1774– 1775......Page 141 6-4: George Washington Concludes That the CrisisHas Arrived......Page 144 Letters, 1774......Page 145 Speech to Parliament, March 22, 1775......Page 147 COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS......Page 151 7-1: Thomas Paine Makes the Case for Independence......Page 152 Common Sense, January......Page 153 7-2: Letters of John and Abigail Adams......Page 156 Correspondence, 1776......Page 157 7-3: George Washington Seeks Congressional Support for the Continental Army......Page 163 Letter to John Hancock, President, Continental Congress, September 24, 1776......Page 164 7-4: Boston King Seeks Freedom by Running Away to the British Army......Page 167 Memoir, 1798......Page 168 Address to British Secretary of State Lord Germain, 1776......Page 171 Message to Governor of Quebec, Frederick Haldimand, 1783......Page 173 COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS......Page 175 Life, Experience, and Gospel Labours, 1833......Page 176 Notes on the State of Virginia, 1782......Page 180 James Madison, Federalist Number 10, 1787......Page 184 8-4: Mercy Otis Warren Opposes the Constitution......Page 189 Observations on the New Constitution, 1788......Page 190 Declaration of the Rights of Man, 1789......Page 194 Letter from Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1789......Page 196 COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS......Page 198 William Manning, The Key of Libberty, 1798......Page 199 9-2: A French Sugar Planter Describes the Frenchand Saint Domingue Revolutions......Page 202 A Sugar Planter of Saint Domingue Experiences Revolution in France and Saint Domingue, 1791......Page 203 Journal, 1788– 1789......Page 207 9-4: Alexander Hamilton on the Economy......Page 211 Report on the Subject of Manufactures, 1791......Page 212 Farewell Address to the People of the United States, 1796......Page 216 COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS......Page 220 10-1: A Jeffersonian Sailmaker’s Fourth of July Address......Page 222 Peter Wendover, Oration, July 4, 1806......Page 223 10-2: James Hamilton’s Path to Enlistment during the War of 1812......Page 225 Confession, 1818......Page 226 Letters from a Man of Colour, on a Late Bill before the Senate of Pennsylvania, 1813......Page 229 Letter to Governor William H. Harrison,February 27, 1803......Page 232 Address to the Wolf and People of the Mandan Nation,December 30, 1806......Page 233 10-5: Meriwether Lewis Describes the Shoshone......Page 235 The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1805......Page 236 COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS......Page 240 11-1: David Crockett Hunts Bear in Western Tennessee......Page 241 A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee, 1834......Page 242 11-2: President Andrew Jackson's Parting Words to the Nation......Page 244 Farewell Address, March 4, 1837......Page 245 11-3: Cherokees Debate Removal......Page 248 John Ross, Answer to Inquiries from a Friend, 1836......Page 249 Elias Boudinot, A Reply to John Ross, 1837......Page 250 Letters on the Equality of the Sexes, 1838......Page 253 Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World, 1829......Page 256 COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS......Page 259 The Influence of the Trading Spirit upon the Social and Moral Life of America, 1845......Page 261 Declaration of Sentiments, 1848......Page 265 Eliza Farnham, Conversation with a Newly WedWesterner, 1846......Page 268 12-4: A Texan Enlists to Fight in the Mexican War......Page 270 James K. Holland, Diary, 1846......Page 271 Walter Colton, California Gold Rush Diary, 1849– 1850......Page 275 COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS......Page 279 Interview, 1873......Page 281 Bennet Barrow, Highland Plantation Journal, May 1, 1838......Page 285 The Confessions of Nat Turner, 1831......Page 289 James Henry Hammond, Letter to an English Abolitionist, 18......Page 293 The Impending Crisis of the South, 185......Page 297 COMPARATIVE QUESTION ......Page 318 Abraham Lincoln, Speech in Peoria, Illinois, October 16, 1854......Page 302 14-2: The Antislavery Constitution......Page 305 Frederick Douglass, The Constitution of the United States: Is It Proslavery or Antislavery? 1860......Page 306 Jefferson Davis, Speech before the U.S. Senate, May 1860......Page 308 Granville B. Blanks, Letter to the Editor, 1852......Page 310 14-5: Abolitionist Lydia Maria Child Defends John Brown and Attacks the Slave Power......Page 313 Correspondence between Lydia Maria Child and Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise, 1859......Page 314 15-1: President Lincoln’s War Aims......Page 319 The Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863......Page 320 The Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863......Page 321 Statement from an Anonymous Former Slave, New Orleans, 1863......Page 322 15-3: The New York Draft Riots......Page 325 Report of the Committee of Merchants for the Relief of Colored People Suffering from the Late Riots in the City of New York, 1863......Page 326 Nancy Emerson, Diary, 1864......Page 331 15-5: General William T. Sherman Explains the Hard Hand of War......Page 334 Correspondence, 1864......Page 335 COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS......Page 341 Report on the Condition of the South, 1865......Page 343 Mississippi Black Code, November 1865......Page 347 Advertisements from the Christian Recorder, 1865– 1870......Page 351 Address of the Colored Convention to the People of Alabama, 1867......Page 356 Elias Hill, Testimony before Congressional Committee Investigating the Ku Klux Klan, 1871......Page 360 COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS......Page 363