The American Promise, Combined Version (Volumes I & II): A History of the United States

by Roark, James L.; Johnson, Michael P.; Cohen, Patricia Cline; Stage, Sarah; Lawson, Alan; Hartmann, Susan M.

• ISBN13: 9780312452919
• ISBN10: 0312452918
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-01-04
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's

Summary

The American Promiseis more teachable and memorable than any other U.S. survey text. The balanced narrative braids together political and social history so that students can discern overarching trends as well as individual stories.The voices of hundreds of Americans from Presidents to pipefitters, and sharecroppers to suffragettes animate the past and make concepts memorable.The past comes alive for students through dynamic special features and a stunning and distinctive visual program. Over 775 contemporaneous illustrations more than any competing text draw students into the text, and more than 180 full-color maps increase students' geographic literacy. A rich array of special features complements the narrative, offering more points of departure for assignments and discussion. Longstanding favorites includeDocumenting the American Promise,Historical Questions,The Promise of Technology, andBeyond America's Borders,representing a key part of our effort to increase attention paid to the global context of American history.

Author Biography

JAMES L. ROARK (Ph.D., Stanford University) is the Samuel Chandler Dobbs Professor of History at Emory University. He has written or edited four books, including, with Michael P. Johnson, Black Masters: A Free Family of Color in the Old
South (1984).

MICHAEL P. JOHNSON(Ph.D., Stanford University) is a professor of history at the Johns Hopkins University. He has written or edited six books, including No Chariot Let Down: Charleston’s Free People of Color on the Eve of the Civil War (1984) and Reading the American Past.

PATRICIA CLINE COHEN (Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley) is professor of history at the University of California at Santa Barbara. She has written three books including The Murder of Helen Jewett: The Life and Death of a Prostitute in Nineteenth-Century New York (1998).

SARAH STAGE (Ph.D., Yale University) is professor of women’s studies at Arizona State University West. She has written three books, including Rethinking Women and Home Economics in the Twentieth Century (1997).

ALAN LAWSON (Ph.D., University of Michigan) is professor of history at Boston College. He has written or edited three books, including From Revolution to Republic (1976).

SUSAN M. HARTMANN (Ph.D., University of Missouri) is professor of history at The Ohio State University. She has written five books, including The Other Feminists: Activists in the Liberal Establishments (1998).

Table of Contents

Brief Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Ancient America: Before 1492

Chapter 2 Europeans Encounter the New World, 1492–1600

Chapter 3 The Southern Colonies in the Seventeenth Century, 1601–1700

Chapter 4 The Northern Colonies in the Seventeenth Century, 1601–1700

Chapter 5 Colonial America in the Eighteenth Century, 1701–1770

Chapter 6 The British Empire and the Colonial Crisis, 1754–1775

Chapter 7 The War for America, 1775–1783

Chapter 8 Building a Republic, 1775–1789

Chapter 9 The New Nation Takes Form, 1789–1800

Chapter 10 Republicans in Power, 1800–1824

Chapter 11 The Expanding Republic, 1815–1840

Chapter 12 The New West and Free North, 1840–1860

Chapter 13 The Slave South, 1820–1860

Chapter 14 The House Divided, 1846–1861

Chapter 15 The Crucible of War, 1861–1865

Chapter 16 Reconstruction, 1863–1877

Chapter 17 The Contested West, 1870–1900

Chapter 18 Business and Politics in the Gilded Age, 1870–1895

Chapter 19 The City and Its Workers, 1870–1900

Chapter 20 Dissent, Depression, and War, 1890–1900

Chapter 21 Progressivism from the Grass Roots to the White House, 1890–1916

Chapter 22 World War I: The Progressive Crusade at Home and Abroad, 1914–1920

Chapter 23 From New Era to Great Depression, 1920–1932

Chapter 24 The New Deal Experiment, 1932–1939

Chapter 25 The United States and the Second World War, 1939–1945

Chapter 26 Cold War Politics in the Truman Years, 1945–1953

Chapter 27 The Politics and Culture of Abundance, 1952–1960

Chapter 28 Reform, Rebellion, and Reaction, 1960–1974

Chapter 29 Vietnam and the Limits of Power, 1961–1975

Chapter 30 America Moves to the Right, 1969–1989

Chapter 31 The End of the Cold War and the Challenges of Globalization, Since 1989

 

Complete Table of Contents

 

N.B. — Each chapter ends with a selected Bibliography and Reviewing the Chapter sections.

1. Ancient America: Before 1492

OPENING VIGNETTE: Archaeological discovery proves that humans have inhabited America for more than 10,000 years

Archaeology and History

The First Americans

BEYOND AMERICA’S BORDERS: Nature’s Immigrants

HISTORICAL QUESTION: Who Were the First Americans?

Archaic Hunters and Gatherers

Agricultural Settlements and Chiefdoms

Native Americans in the 1490s

THE PROMISE OF TECHNOLOGY: Ancient American Weaving

The Mexica: A Meso-American Culture

Conclusion: The World of Ancient Americans

2. Europeans Encounter the New World, 1492–1600

OPENING VIGNETTE: Queen Isabella of Spain supports Christopher Columbus’ risky plan to sail west across the Atlantic

Europe in the Age of Exploration

A Surprising New World in the Western Atlantic

Spanish Exploration and Conquest

HISTORICAL QUESTION: Why Did CortŽs Win?

DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: Justifying Conquest

SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: Spreading Christianity in New Spain

The New World and Sixteenth-Century Europe

Conclusion: The Promise of the New World for Europeans

3. The Southern Colonies in the Seventeenth Century, 1601–1700

OPENING VIGNETTE: Pocahontas ÒrescuesÓ John Smith

An English Colony on the Chesapeake

A Tobacco Society

Tobacco Agriculture

BEYOND AMERICA’S BORDERS: American Tobacco and European Consumers

DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: Virginia Laws Governing Servants and Slaves

The Evolution of Chesapeake Society

HISTORICAL QUESTION: Why Did English Colonists Consider Themselves Superior to Indians and Africans?



Religion and Revolt in the Spanish Borderland

Toward a Slave Labor System

GLOBAL COMPARISON: Migration to the New World from Europe and Africa, 1492–1700

Conclusion: The Growth of English Colonies Based on Export Crops and Slave Labor

4. The Northern Colonies in the Seventeenth Century, 1601–1700

OPENING VIGNETTE: Roger Williams is banished from Puritan Massachusetts

Puritan Origins: The English Reformation

Puritans and the Settlement of New England

DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: King Philip Considers Christianity

The Evolution of New England Society

HISTORICAL QUESTION: Why Were Some New Englanders Accused of Being Witches?

The Founding of the Middle Colonies

The Colonies and the English Empire

BEYOND AMERICA’S BORDERS: New France and the Indians: The British Colonies’ Northern Borderlands

Conclusion: An English Model of Colonization in North America

5. Colonial America in the Eighteenth Century, 1701–1770

OPENING VIGNETTE: The Robin Johns experience horrific turns of fortune in the Atlantic slave trade

A Growing Population and Expanding Economy in British North America

New England: From Puritan Settlers to Yankee Traders

SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: A Sailor’s Life in the Eighteenth–Century Atlantic World

The Middle Colonies: Immigrants, Wheat, and Work

The Southern Colonies: Land of Slavery

Unifying Experiences

THE PROMISE OF TECHNOLOGY: Newspapers: ÒThe Spring of KnowledgeÓ

GLOBAL COMPARISON: Large Warships in European Navies, 1660–1760

DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: Missionaries Report on California Missions

Conclusion: The Dual Identity of British North American Colonists

6. The British Empire and the Colonial Crisis, 1754–1775

OPENING VIGNETTE: Loyalist governor Thomas Hutchinson stands his ground in radical Massachusetts

The Seven Years’ War, 1754–1763

HISTORICAL QUESTION: How Long Did the Seven Years’ War Last in Indian Country?

The Sugar and Stamp Acts, 1763–1765

SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: Pursuing Liberty, Protesting Tyranny

The Townshend Acts and Economic Retaliation, 1767–1770

The Tea Party and the Coercive Acts, 1770–1774

DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: How News of the Powder Alarm Traveled

Domestic Insurrections, 1774–1775

Conclusion: How Far Does Liberty Go?

7. The War for America, 1775–1783

OPENING VIGNETTE: Deborah Sampson masquerades as a man to join the Continental army

The Second Continental Congress

THE PROMISE OF TECHNOLOGY: Arming the Soldiers: Muskets and Rifles

The First Year of War, 1775–1776

GLOBAL COMPARISON: How Tall Were Eighteenth–Century Men on Average?

BEYOND AMERICA’S BORDERS: Prisoners of War in the Eighteenth Century

The Home Front

DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: Families Divide over the Revolution

The Campaigns of 1777–1779: The North and West

The Southern Strategy and the End of the War

Conclusion: Why the British Lost

8. Building a Republic, 1775–1789

OPENING VIGNETTE: James Madison comes of age in the midst of revolution

The Articles of Confederation

The Sovereign States

SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: A Slave Sues for Her Freedom

The Confederation’s Problems

The United States Constitution

Ratification of the Constitution

HISTORICAL QUESTION: Was the New United States a Christian Country?

Conclusion: The ÒRepublican RemedyÓ

9. The New Nation Takes Form, 1789–1800

OPENING VIGNETTE: Brilliant and brash, Alexander Hamilton becomes a polarizing figure in the 1790s

The Search for Stability

BEYOND AMERICA’S BORDERS: France, Britain, and Woman’s Rights in the 1790s

Hamilton’s Economic Policies

GLOBAL COMPARISON: National Census Taking Worldwide

HISTORICAL QUESTION: How Did Washington, D.C., Become the Federal Capital?

Conflicts West, East, and South

Federalists and Republicans

DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: The Crisis of 1798: Sedition

Conclusion: Parties Nonetheless

10. Republicans in Power, 1800–1824

OPENING VIGNETTE: The Shawnee chief Tecumseh attempts to forge a pan–Indian confederacy

Jefferson’s Presidency

HISTORICAL QUESTION: How Could a Vice President Get Away with Murder?

The Madisons in the White House

THE PROMISE OF TECHNOLOGY: Stoves Transform Cooking

Women’s Status in the Early Republic

SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: One Woman’s Quest to Provide Higher Education for Women

Monroe and Adams

Conclusion: Republican Simplicity Becomes Complex

11. The Expanding Republic, 1815–1840

OPENING VIGNETTE: The rise of Andrew Jackson, symbol of a self–confident and expanding nation

The Market Revolution

THE PROMISE OF TECHNOLOGY: Early Steamboats

The Spread of Democracy

Jackson Defines the Democratic Party

Cultural Shifts, Religion, and Reform

GLOBAL COMPARISON: Changing Trends in Age of First Marriage for Women

BEYOND AMERICA’S BORDERS:Transatlantic Abolition

Van Buren’s One–Term Presidency

SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: Going Ahead or Gone to Smash: An Entrepreneur Struggles in the 1830s

Conclusion: The Age of Jackson or the Era of Reform?

12. The New West and Free North, 1840–1860

OPENING VIGNETTE: With the support of his wife, Abraham Lincoln struggles to survive in antebellum America

Economic and Industrial Evolution

THE PROMISE OF TECHNOLOGY: The Telegraph: The ÒWonder Working WireÓ

Free Labor: Promise and Reality

The Westward Movement



Expansion and the Mexican–American War

HISTORICAL QUESTION: Who Rushed for California Gold?

Reforming Self and Society

BEYOND AMERICA’S BORDERS: Back to Africa: The United States in Liberia

Conclusion: Free Labor, Free Men

13. The Slave South, 1820–1860

OPENING VIGNETTE: Slave Nat Turner leads a revolt to end slavery

The Growing Distinctiveness of the South

DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: Defending Slavery

BEYOND AMERICA’S BORDERS: White Gold: The International Empire of Cotton

Masters, Mistresses, and the Big House

HISTORICAL QUESTION: How Often Were Slaves Whipped?

Slaves and the Quarter

Black and Free: On the Middle Ground

The Plain Folk

The Politics of Slavery

Conclusion: A Slave Society

14. The House Divided, 1846–1861

OPENING VIGNETTE: Abolitionist John Brown takes his war against slavery to Harpers Ferry, Virginia

The Bitter Fruits of War

THE PROMISE OF TECHNOLOGY: Daguerrotypes: The ÒSunbeam ArtÓ

The Sectional Balance Undone

BEYOND AMERICA’S BORDERS: Filibusters: The Underside of Manifest Destiny

Realignment of the Party System

SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: ÒA Purse of Her OwnÓ: Petitioning for the Right to Own Property

Freedom Under Siege

The Union Collapses

Conclusion: Slavery, Free Labor, and the Failure of Political Compromise

15. The Crucible of War, 1861–1865

OPENING VIGNETTE: Runaway slave William Gould enlists in the U.S. navy

ÒAnd the War CameÓ

The Combatants

Battling It Out, 1861–1862

THE PROMISE OF TECHNOLOGY: CSS H.L. Hunley: The World’s First Successful Submarine

GLOBAL COMPARISON: European Cotton Imports, 1860–1870

Union and Freedom

SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: The Right to Fight: Black Soldiers in the Civil War

The South at War

The North at War

Grinding out Victory, 1863–1865

HISTORICAL QUESTION: Why Did So Many Soldiers Die?

Conclusion: The Second American Revolution Selected Bibliography

16. Reconstruction, 1863–1877

OPENING VIGNETTE: James T. Rapier emerges in the early 1870s as Alabama’s most prominent black leader

Wartime Reconstruction

DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: The Meaning of Freedom

Presidential Reconstruction

THE PROMISE OF TECHNOLOGY: Filling the ÒEmpty SleeveÓ: Artificial Limbs

Congressional Reconstruction

The Struggle in the South

HISTORICAL QUESTION: What Did the Ku Klux Klan Really Want?

Reconstruction Collapses

Conclusion: ÒA Revolution But Half AccomplishedÓ

17. The Contested West, 1870–1900

OPENING VIGNETTE: Native American boarding school students celebrate Indian citizenship

Conquest and Empire in the West

BEYOND AMERICA’S BORDERS: Imperialism, Colonialism, and the Treatment of the Sioux and the Zulu

Gold Fever and the Mining West

THE PROMISE OF TECHNOLOGY: Hydraulic Mining

Land Fever

DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: Young Women Homesteaders and the Promise of the West

Conclusion: The Mythic West

18. Business and Politics in the Gilded Age, 1870–1895

OPENING VIGNETTE: Mark Twain and the Gilded Age

Old Industries Transformed, New Industries Born

GLOBAL COMPARISON: Railroad Track Mileage, 1890

DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: Rockefeller and His Critics

THE PROMISE OF TECHNOLOGY: Electrifying America: The War of the Currents

From Competition to Consolidation

HISTORICAL QUESTION: Social Darwinism: Did Wealthy Industrialists Practice What They Preached?

Politics and Culture

Presidential Politics

Economic Issues and Party Realignment

Conclusion: Business Dominates an Era



19. The City and Its Workers, 1870–1900

OPENING VIGNETTE: Workers build the Brooklyn Bridge

The Rise of the City

GLOBAL COMPARISON: European Emigration, 1870–1890

SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: Seeking Refuge: A Russian Jew Flees the Pogroms

At Work in Industrial America

Workers Organize

At Home and at Play

City Growth and City Government

BEYOND AMERICA’S BORDERS: The World’s Columbian Exposition and Nineteenth–Century World’s Fairs

Conclusion: Who Built the Cities?

20. DISSENT, DEPRESSION, AND WAR, 1890–1900

OPENING VIGNETTE: Frances Willard participates in the creation of the Populist Party in 1892

The Farmers’ Revolt

GLOBAL COMPARISON: Share of the World Wheat Market, 1860–1890

DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: Populist Voices of Protest

The Labor Wars

Women’s Activism

Depression Politics

The United States and the World

BEYOND AMERICA’S BORDERS: Regime Change in Hawaii

War and Empire

HISTORICAL QUESTION: Did Terrorists Sink the Maine?

Conclusion: Rallying around the Flag

21. Progressivism from the Grass Roots to the White House, 1890–1916

OPENING VIGNETTE: Jane Addams founds Hull House

Grassroots Progressivism

BEYOND AMERICA’S BORDERS: Protecting the World’s Workers: The National Consumers’ League

Progressivism: Theory and Practice

Progressivism Finds a President: Theodore Roosevelt

THE PROMISE OF TECHNOLOGY: Flash Photography and the Birth of Photojournalism

HISTORICAL QUESTION: Progressives and Conservation: Should Hetch Hetchy Be Dammed or Saved?

Progressivism Stalled

Woodrow Wilson and Progressivism at High Tide

The Limits of Progressive Reform

Conclusion: The Transformation of the Liberal State



22. World War I: The Progressive Crusade at Home and Abroad, 1914–1920

OPENING VIGNETTE: General Pershing struggles to protect the autonomy of the American Expeditionary Force

Woodrow Wilson and the World

ÒOver ThereÓ

HISTORICAL QUESTION: What Did the Doughboys Find in France?

GLOBAL COMPARISON: Casualties of the First World War

The Crusade for Democracy at Home

DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: The Final Push for Woman Suffrage

A Compromised Peace

Democracy at Risk

BEYOND AMERICA’S BORDERS: Bolshevism

Conclusion: Troubled Crusade

23. From New Era to Great Depression, 1920–1932

OPENING VIGNETTE: Henry Ford puts America on wheels

The New Era

THE PROMISE OF TECHNOLOGY: Household Appliances: Laborsaving Devices for Women?

The Roaring Twenties

HISTORICAL QUESTION: Was There a Sexual Revolution in the 1920s?

SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: A Place of One’s Own: The Quest for Home Ownership

Resistance to Change

The Great Crash

Life in the Depression

Conclusion: Dazzle and Despair

24. The New Deal Experiment, 1932–1939

OPENING VIGNETTE: The Bonus Army marches into Washington, D.C.

Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Patrician in Government

BEYOND AMERICA’S BORDERS: Fascism: Adolf Hitler and National Socialism

Launching the New Deal

Challenges to the New Deal

Toward a Welfare State

SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: Textile Workers Strike for Better Wages and Working Conditions

The New Deal from Victory to Deadlock

GLOBAL COMPARISON: National Populations and Economies, circa 1938

Conclusion: Achievements and Limitations of the New Deal



25. The United States and the Second World War, 1939–1945

OPENING VIGNETTE: Colonel Paul Tibbets drops the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan

Peacetime Dilemmas

The Onset of War

Mobilizing for War

DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: Japanese Internment

GLOBAL COMPARISON: Weapons Produced by the Axis and Allied Powers during World War II

Fighting Back

The Wartime Home Front

BEYOND AMERICA’S BORDERS: Nazi Anti–Semitism and the Atomic Bomb

Toward Unconditional Surrender

HISTORICAL QUESTION: Why Did the Allies Win World War II?

Conclusion: Allied Victory and America’s Emergence as a Superpower

26. Cold War Politics in the Truman Years, 1945–1953

OPENING VIGNETTE: Helen Gahagan Douglas, congresswoman and loyal Truman ally, supports the Marshall Plan, the creation of NATO, and the war in Korea

From the Grand Alliance to Containment

DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: The Emerging Cold War

Truman and the Fair Deal at Home

HISTORICAL QUESTION: What Happened to Rosie the Riveter?

SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: The GI Bill Transforms Higher Education

The Cold War Becomes Hot: Korea

Conclusion: The Cold War’s Costs and Consequences

27. The Politics and Culture of Abundance, 1952–1960

OPENING VIGNETTE: Vice President Nixon and Russian premier Khrushchev debate the merits of U.S. and Soviet societies

Eisenhower and the Politics of the ÒMiddle WayÓ

Liberation Rhetoric and the Practice of Containment

SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: Operation Pedro Pan: Young Political Refugees Take Flight

New Work and Living Patterns in an Economy of Abundance

THE PROMISE OF TECHNOLOGY: Air–Conditioning

The Culture of Abundance

GLOBAL COMPARISON: The Baby Boom in International Perspective

Emergence of a Civil Rights Movement

DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: The Brown Decision

Conclusion: Peace and Prosperity Mask Unmet Challenges

28. Reform, Rebellion, and Reaction, 1960–1974

OPENING VIGNETTE: Fannie Lou Hamer leads grassroots struggles of African Americans for voting rights and political empowerment

Liberalism at High Tide

The Second Reconstruction

A Multitude of Movements

DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: Student Protest

THE PROMISE OF TECHNOLOGY: The Pill

The New Wave of Feminism

BEYOND AMERICA’S BORDERS: Transnational Feminisms

Liberal Reform in the Nixon Administration

Conclusion: Achievements and Limitations of Liberalism

29. Vietnam and the Limits of Power, 1961–1975

OPENING VIGNETTE: American GIs arrive in Vietnam

New Frontiers in Foreign Policy

Lyndon Johnson’s War against Communism

HISTORICAL QUESTION: Why Couldn’t the United States Bomb Its Way to Victory in Vietnam?

THE PROMISE OF TECHNOLOGY: The Military Helicopter

A Nation Polarized

BEYOND AMERICA’S BORDERS: 1968: A Year of Protest

Nixon, DŽtente, and the Search for Peace in Vietnam

Conclusion: An Unwinnable War

30. America Moves to the Right, 1969–1989

OPENING VIGNETTE: Phyllis Schlafly promotes conservatism

Nixon and the Rise of Postwar Conservatism

SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: A Mother Campaigns for a Say in Her Children’s Education

Constitutional Crisis and Restoration

The ÒOutsiderÓ Presidency of Jimmy Carter

GLOBAL COMPARISON: Energy Consumption per Capita, 1980

Ronald Reagan and the Conservative Ascendancy

HISTORICAL QUESTION: Why Did the ERA Fail?

Continuing Struggles over Rights

DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: Protecting Gay and Lesbian Rights

Ronald Reagan Confronts an ÒEvil EmpireÓ

Conclusion: Reversing the Course of Government

31. The End of the Cold War and the Challenges of Globalization, Since 1989

OPENING VIGNETTE: Colin Powell adjusts to a post–Cold War world

Domestic Stalemate and Global Upheaval: The Presidency of George H. W. Bush

SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: Suing for Access: Disability Rights and the Courts



The Clinton Administration’s Search for the Middle Ground

The United States in a Globalizing World

GLOBAL COMPARISON: Countries with the Highest Military Expenditures, 2005

THE PROMISE OF TECHNOLOGY: The Internet

BEYOND AMERICA’S BORDERS: Jobs in a Globalizing Era

President George W. Bush: Conservatism at Home and Radical Initiatives Abroad

Conclusion: Defining the Government’s Role at Home and Abroad

Appendices

I. Documents

II.
Facts and Figures: Government, Economy, and Demographics

III.
Research Resources in U.S. History

Index

Atlas of the Territorial Growth of the United States