Constructing the American Past : A Source Book of a People's History

by Gorn, Elliott J.; Roberts, Randy; Bilhartz, Terry D.

• ISBN13: 9780321002174
• ISBN10: 0321002172
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-11-01
• Publisher: Pearson College Div

Summary

Students get involved in discovering history for themselves when using Constructing the American Past. Readers evaluate primary sources and then develop informed interpretations of American History.

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii	(2)
Introduction Doing History	xv
CHAPTER 1 Contact and Conquest: The Meeting of the Old and New Worlds	1	(20)
Historical Context	1	(5)
The Documents	6	(13)
1. Journal of Christopher Columbus's First Voyage	6	(5)
2. Bartolome de Las Casas, From The Devastation of the Indies: A Brief Account	11	(4)
3. The Aztec Account of the Spanish Conquest, Florentine Codex, as Collected by Bernadino de Sahagun	15	(4)
Postscript	19	(1)
Questions	19	(1)
Defining Terms	19	(1)
Probing the Sources	19	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	19	(1)
Additional Reading	20	(1)
CHAPTER 2 Dying and Surviving in Virginia	21	(26)
Historical Context	21	(5)
The Documents	26	(18)
1. Arthur Barlowe, "Narrative of the 1584 Voyage"	26	(2)
2. Thomas Harriot, From A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia	28	(1)
3. John White, "Narrative of the 1590 Virginia Voyage"	29	(1)
4. George Percy, "Discourse"	30	(1)
5. John Smith, From Journal	31	(3)
6. John Smith, "A Map of Virginia with a Description of the Country"	34	(4)
7. From Nova Britannia, 1609	38	(2)
8. From Laws Divine, Moral and Martial, 1611	40	(1)
9. "The State of the Colony in Virginia," 1622	41	(2)
10. Richard Frethorne, An Indentured Servant Describes Life in Virginia in a Letter to His Parents	43	(1)
Postscript	44	(1)
Questions	45	(1)
Defining Terms	45	(1)
Probing the Sources	45	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	45	(1)
Additional Reading	45	(2)
CHAPTER 3 The Puritan Experience in New England	47	(24)
Historical Context	47	(4)
The Documents	51	(18)
1. John Winthrop, "A Model of Christian Charity"	51	(3)
2. From The Apologia of Robert Keayne	54	(2)
3-4. Education and Literacy	56	(3)
5-6. Home and Family	59	(2)
7. Mary Rowlandson, The Sovereignty and Goodness of God	61	(5)
8-11. Salem's Struggle with Satan	66	(3)
Questions	69	(1)
Defining Terms	69	(1)
Probing the Sources	69	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	69	(1)
Additional Reading	70	(1)
CHAPTER 4 "What, Then, Is the American, This New Man?": William Byrd II, Jonathan Edwards, Benjamin Franklin	71	(24)
Historical Context	71	(2)
The Documents	73	(20)
1. The Diaries of William Byrd	74	(8)
2. The Memoirs of Jonathan Edwards	82	(3)
3. The Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin	85	(8)
Questions	93	(1)
Defining Terms	93	(1)
Probing the Sources	93	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	93	(1)
Additional Reading	94	(1)
CHAPTER 5 What Kind of Revolution? Justifications for Rebellion	95	(26)
Historical Context	95	(4)
The Documents	99	(20)
1. Joseph Galloway, "Plan of Union"	100	(1)
2. Samuel Seabury, "An Alarm to the Legislature"	101	(1)
3. Benjamin Franklin on the Galloway Plan and the North Resolution	102	(2)
4. Thomas Paine, From Common Sense	104	(4)
5. John Wesley's Sermon	108	(1)
6-8. Lord Dunmore's Proclamation and Responses	109	(2)
9. The Declaration of Independence	111	(4)
10. Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams	115	(1)
11. Thomas Jefferson, From Notes on the State of Virginia	116	(1)
12. Letter from Benjamin Banneker to Thomas Jefferson	117	(2)
13. Reply of Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Banneker	119	(1)
Questions	119	(1)
Defining Terms	119	(1)
Probing the Sources	119	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	119	(1)
Additional Reading	120	(1)
CHAPTER 6 Counting America: Reading the First Federal Census of 1790	121	(26)
Historical Context	121	(3)
The Documents	124	(20)
1. From The Federalist Papers	124	(2)
2. Excerpt from Article I, Section 2, of the United States Constitution	126	(2)
3. Summary of the First Census of the United States	128	(2)
4. Census Data from South Carolina	130	(3)
5. Census Data from Philadelphia	133	(5)
6. David Ramsay, From The History of South Carolina	138	(4)
7. Isaac Weld, Jr., From Travels Through the States of North America	142	(2)
Questions	144	(1)
Defining Terms	144	(1)
Probing the Sources	144	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	145	(1)
Additional Reading	145	(2)
CHAPTER 7 Shouting for Glory: Camp Meeting Christianity Described, Decried, and Defended	147	(12)
Historical Context	147	(2)
The Documents	149	(8)
1. Fanny Lewis, "Glory! Glory! This Is the Happiest Day I Ever Saw"	149	(2)
2. William Thacher, "The Melting Power of God"	151	(1)
3. Barton Stone, "The Smile of Heaven Shone"	152	(1)
4. Martin J. Spalding, "A Fanaticism as Absurd as It Was Blasphemous"	153	(1)
5. "Camp-Meetings, and Agricultural Fairs"	154	(2)
6. From An Apology for Camp Meetings	156	(1)
Questions	157	(1)
Defining Terms	157	(1)
Probing the Sources	157	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	158	(1)
Additional Reading	158	(1)
CHAPTER 8 Living and Dying in Bondage: The Slave Conspiracy of 1822	159	(20)
Historical Context	159	(3)
The Documents	162	(14)
1. The Trials	163	(6)
2. "Gracious Heaven When I Think What I Have Escaped": Anna Hayes Johnson Letters to Her Cousin	169	(1)
3. "The Conspiracy Had Spread Wider and Wider": John Potter to Langdon Cheves	170	(2)
4. "White Men, Too, Would Engender Plots": Newspapers Report the Vesey Conspiracy	172	(2)
5. David Walker's Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World	174	(2)
Postscript	176	(1)
Questions	177	(1)
Defining Terms	177	(1)
Probing the Sources	177	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	177	(1)
Additional Reading	177	(2)
CHAPTER 9 Remembering the Alamo	179	(26)
Historical Context	179	(4)
The Documents	183	(18)
Document Set 1. The Prelude	183	(4)
Document Set 2. The Battle	187	(10)
Document Set 3. The Aftermath	197	(4)
Postscript	201	(1)
Questions	202	(1)
Defining Terms	202	(1)
Probing the Sources	202	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	202	(1)
Additional Reading	203	(2)
CHAPTER 10 Women in Antebellum America	205	(20)
Historical Context	205	(2)
The Documents	207	(16)
1. A. J. Graves, "Religious Women"	208	(1)
2. Catharine Beecher, "The Peculiar Responsibilities of American Women"	209	(1)
3. Sarah M. Grimke, "On the Condition of Women in the United States"	210	(4)
4. Harriet Jacobs, From Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl	214	(2)
5. Declaration of Sentiments	216	(2)
6. Lucy Larcom, From A New England Girlhood	218	(3)
7. Malenda Edwards and Mary Paul Letters	221	(2)
Questions	223	(1)
Defining Terms	223	(1)
Probing the Sources	223	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	223	(1)
Additional Reading	223	(2)
CHAPTER 11 A House Divided: Free Labor, Slave Labor	225	(20)
Historical Context	225	(2)
The Documents	227	(16)
1. George Fitzhugh, From Cannibals All!	229	(2)
2. Hinton Rowan Helper, From The Impending Crisis of the South	231	(3)
3. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates	234	(4)
4. Harriet Beecher Stowe, From Uncle Tom's Cabin; or Life Among the Lowly	238	(2)
5. Frederick Douglass, Open Letter to Thomas Auld	240	(3)
Questions	243	(1)
Defining Terms	243	(1)
Probing the Sources	243	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	243	(1)
Additional Reading	243	(2)
CHAPTER 12 A War within a War: The New York City Draft Riots	245	(22)
Historical Context	245	(3)
The Documents	248	(16)
1. Enrollment Act of 1863	248	(1)
2. Ellen Leonard, "Three Days of Terror"	249	(8)
3. From The Diary of George Templeton Strong	257	(3)
4. To the Laboring Men of New York	260	(1)
5. Dearly Beloved!	261	(1)
6. "The Raging Riot--Its Character, and the True Attitude Toward It"	262	(2)
7. A Letter from One of the Rioters	264	(1)
8. The $300 Exemption	264	(1)
Questions	264	(1)
Defining Terms	264	(1)
Probing the Sources	265	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	265	(1)
Additional Reading	265	(2)
CHAPTER 13 Reconstruction and the Rise of the Ku Klux Klan	267	(20)
Historical Context	267	(2)
The Documents	269	(16)
1. Initiation Oath of the Knights of the White Camelia	270	(2)
2. Testimony of Victims of the Ku Klux Klan	272	(2)
3. Congressional Inquiry into Klan Activities	274	(4)
4. Hon. Job E. Stevenson of Ohio, Speech to the House of Representatives	278	(4)
5. Benjamin Bryant, From Experience of a Northern Man Among the Ku-Klux	282	(2)
6. W. H. Gannon, "How to Extirpate Ku-Kluxism from the South"	284	(1)
Questions	285	(1)
Defining Terms	285	(1)
Probing the Sources	286	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	286	(1)
Additional Reading	286	(1)
Credits	287	(5)
Index	292