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

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

• ISBN13: 9780321216427
• ISBN10: 0321216423
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-01-01
• Publisher: Longman

Summary

This popular reader consists of a variety of primary sources, grouped around central themes in American history. Students get involved in discovering history for themselves when reading Constructing the American Past. Each chapter focuses on a particular problem in American history, providing students with several points of view from which to examine the historical evidence. Introductions and study questions prompt students to participate in interpreting the past and challenge them to understand the problems in relation to the big picture of American history.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Introduction: Doing History	xiii
Contact and Conquest: The Meeting of the Old and New Worlds	1	(20)
Historical Context	1	(4)
The Documents	5	(14)
Privileges and Prerogatives Granted by Their Catholic Majesties to Christopher Columbus: 1492	6	(1)
Journal of Christopher Columbus's First Voyage	6	(5)
Bartolome de Las Casas, From The Destruction of the Indies: A Brief Account	11	(4)
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	20	(1)
Additional Reading	20	(1)
Dying and Surviving in Virginia	21	(22)
Historical Context	21	(4)
The Documents	25	(16)
Charter to Sir Walter Raleigh: 1584	26	(1)
``Narrative of the 1584 Voyage''	26	(2)
Arthur Barlowe
From A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia	28	(1)
Thomas Harriot
``Narrative of the 1590 Virginia Voyage''	29	(1)
John White
``Discourse''	30	(2)
George Percy
From Journal	32	(1)
John Smith
Powhatan's Speech to Captain John Smith: 1609	33	(1)
From Nova Britannia, 1609	34	(2)
From Laws Divine, Moral and Martial, 1611	36	(1)
``The State of the Colony in Virginia,'' 1622	37	(2)
An Indentured Servant Describes Life in Virginia in a Letter to His Parents	39	(2)
Richard Frethorne
Postscript	41	(1)
Questions	42	(1)
Defining Terms	42	(1)
Probing the Sources	42	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	42	(1)
Additional Reading	42	(1)
The Puritan Experience in New England	43	(22)
Historical Context	43	(3)
The Documents	46	(18)
``A Model of Christian Charity''	47	(2)
John Winthrop
Excerpts from the Trial of Anne Hutchinson	49	(1)
From The Apologia of Robert Keayne	50	(1)
Massachusetts School Law of 1647	51	(1)
The New England Primer, c. 1687	52	(2)
The Poetry of Anne Bradstreet	54	(1)
Increase Mather to Michael Wigglesworth	55	(1)
From The Sovereignty and Goodness of God	56	(5)
Mary Rowlandson
``Christ Knows How Many Devils There Are,'' 1692	61	(1)
Samuel Parris
Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases	62	(1)
Ann Putmam's Deposition, 1692	63	(1)
Ann Putnam's Confession, 1706	63	(1)
Questions	64	(1)
Defining Terms	64	(1)
Probing the Sources	64	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	64	(1)
Additional Reading	64	(1)
Eighteenth-Century American Voices	65	(26)
Historical Context	65	(2)
The Documents	67	(22)
The Diaries of William Byrd	68	(7)
Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano	75	(2)
The Memoirs of Jonathan Edwards	77	(3)
Memoirs of the Life of Mrs. Sarah Osborn	80	(2)
The Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin	82	(7)
Questions	89	(1)
Defining Terms	89	(1)
Probing the Sources	89	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	89	(1)
Additional Reading	90	(1)
What Kind of Revolution? Justifications for Rebellion	91	(8)
Historical Context	91	(4)
The Documents	95	(4)
``Plan of Union''	95	(1)
Joseph Galloway
``An Alarm to the Legislature''	96	(2)
Samuel Seabury
Benjamin Franklin on the Galloway Plan and the North Resolution	98	(1)
From Common Sense	99	(18)
Thomas Paine
From ``A Sermon Preached at St. Matthew's, Bethnal Green, on Sunday, Nov. 12, 1775''	103	(1)
John Wesley
Lord Dunmore's Proclamation and Responses	104	(3)
Revolutionary Battle Flag	107	(1)
``God Arising and Pleading His People's Cause''	107	(1)
Correspondence of Abigail and John Adams	108	(2)
The Declaration of Independence	110	(2)
From Notes on the State of Virginia	112	(2)
Thomas Jefferson
Letter from Benjamin Banneker to Thomas Jefferson	114	(1)
Reply of Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Banneker	115	(1)
Questions	116	(1)
Defining Terms	116	(1)
Probing the Sources	116	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	116	(1)
Additional Reading	116	(1)
Forming a More Perfect Union: Friends, Foes, and the Disfranchised	117	(18)
Historical Context	117	(2)
The Documents	119	(12)
Selections from the Constitution of 1787	119	(5)
From the Speeches of Patrick Henry in the Virginia State Ratifying Convention	124	(2)
Observations on the New Constitution, and on the Federal and State Conventions by a Columbian Patriot	126	(3)
Mercy Otis Warren
Selections from the Letters of George Washington	129	(1)
Selections from The Federalist Papers	130	(1)
Postscript	131	(1)
Questions	132	(1)
Defining Terms	132	(1)
Probing the Sources	132	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	133	(1)
Additional Reading	133	(2)
Shouting for Glory: Camp Meeting Christianity Described, Decried, and Defended	135	(12)
Historical Context	135	(2)
The Documents	137	(9)
``Glory! Glory! This Is the Happiest Day I Ever Saw''	137	(1)
Fanny Lewis
``The Melting Power of God''	138	(1)
William Thacher
``The Smile of Heaven Shone''	139	(1)
Barton Stone
``A Fanaticism as Absurd as It Was Blasphemous''	140	(1)
Martin J. Spalding
``Camp-Meetings, and Agricultural Fairs''	141	(2)
From An Apology for Camp Meetings	143	(2)
Plan of the Camp	145	(1)
Questions	146	(1)
Defining Terms	146	(1)
Probing the Sources	146	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	146	(1)
Additional Reading	146	(1)
Living and Dying in Bondage: The Slave Conspiracy of 1822	147	(20)
Historical Context	147	(3)
The Documents	150	(14)
The Trials	151	(5)
``Gracious Heaven When I Think What I Have Escaped'': Anna Hayes Johnson Letters to Her Cousin	156	(2)
``The Conspiracy Had Spread Wider and Wider'': John Potter to Langdon Cheves	158	(1)
``White Men, Too, Would Engender Plots'': Newspapers Report the Vesey Conspiracy	159	(3)
David Walker's Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World	162	(2)
Postscript	164	(1)
Questions	164	(1)
Defining Terms	164	(1)
Probing the Sources	165	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	165	(1)
Additional Reading	165	(2)
Remembering the Alamo	167	(26)
Historical Context	167	(3)
The Documents	170	(21)
The Prelude	170	(4)
The Battle	174	(10)
The Aftermath	184	(7)
Postscript	191	(1)
Questions	191	(1)
Defining Terms	191	(1)
Probing the Sources	191	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	192	(1)
Additional Reading	192	(1)
Women in Antebellum America	193	(22)
Historical Context	193	(2)
The Documents	195	(17)
``Religious Women''	195	(1)
A. J. Graves
``The Peculiar Responsibilities of American Women''	196	(2)
Catharine Beecher
``On the Condition of Women in the United States''	198	(3)
Sarah M. Grimke
From Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl	201	(3)
Harriet Jacobs
Words from a Native-American Female	204	(1)
Declaration of Sentiments	205	(2)
From A New England Girlhood	207	(2)
Lucy Larcom
Malenda Edwards and Mary Paul Letters	209	(3)
Questions	212	(1)
Defining Terms	212	(1)
Probing the Sources	212	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	213	(1)
Additional Reading	213	(2)
A House Divided: Free Labor, Slave Labor	215	(22)
Historical Context	215	(2)
The Documents	217	(18)
Opinion of Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, March 6, 1857, in the case of Dred Scott v. John Sandford	218	(1)
Dissenting Opinion, Justice John McClean, March 6, 1857	219	(2)
From Cannibals All!	221	(3)
George Fitzhugh
From The Impending Crisis of the South	224	(3)
Hinton Rowan Helper
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates	227	(3)
From Uncle Tom's Cabin; or Life Among the Lowly	230	(2)
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Open Letter to Thomas Auld	232	(3)
Frederick Douglass
Questions	235	(1)
Defining Terms	235	(1)
Probing the Sources	235	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	235	(1)
Additional Reading	235	(2)
A War Within a War: The New York City Draft Riots	237	(20)
Historical Context	237	(3)
The Documents	240	(15)
Enrollment Act of 1863	240	(1)
Ellen Leonard, ``Three Days of Terror''	241	(7)
From The Diary of George Templeton Strong	248	(2)
To the Laboring Men of New York	250	(1)
Dearly Beloved!	251	(1)
``The Raging Riot---Its Character, and the True Attitude Toward It''	252	(2)
A Letter from One of the Rioters	254	(1)
The $300 Exemption	254	(1)
Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address	254	(1)
Questions	255	(1)
Defining Terms	255	(1)
Probing the Sources	256	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	256	(1)
Additional Reading	256	(1)
Reconstruction and the Rise of the Ku Klux Klan	257	(20)
Historical Context	257	(2)
The Documents	259	(15)
Initiation Oath of the Knights of the White Camelia	260	(2)
Testimony of Victims of the Ku Klux Klan	262	(1)
Congressional Inquiry into Klan Activities	263	(5)
Hon. Job E. Stevenson of Ohio, Speech to the House of Representatives	268	(3)
From Experience of a Northern Man Among the Ku-Klux	271	(2)
Benjamin Bryant
``How to Extirpate Ku-Kluxism from the South''	273	(1)
W. H. Gannon
Questions	274	(1)
Defining Terms	274	(1)
Probing the Sources	274	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	274	(1)
Additional Reading	274	(3)
Credits	277	(2)
Index	279