Constructing the American Past, Volume I

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

• ISBN13: 9780321093424
• ISBN10: 0321093429
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-09-21
• Publisher: Pearson Higher Education

Summary

This popular collection consists of a variety of primary sources, all grouped around central themes in American history to 1877. Each chapter in this book focuses on a particular problem in American history to 1877, such as the making of the Constitution in 1787, providing the reader with several points of view from which to examine the historical evidence. For anyone interested in American history to 1877.

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii
Introduction Doing History	xv
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	15	(4)
Bernadino de Sahagun
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	(17)
``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)
Education and Literacy	51	(3)
Home and Family	54	(2)
From The Sovereignty and Goodness of God	56	(4)
Mary Rowlandson
Salem's Struggle with Satan	60	(3)
Questions	63	(1)
Defining Terms	63	(1)
Probing the Sources	63	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	63	(1)
Additional Reading	64	(1)
Eighteenth-Century American Voices	65	(26)
Historical Context	65	(2)
The Documents	67	(21)
The Diaries of William Byrd	68	(7)
Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano	75	(2)
The Memoirs of Jonathan Edwards	77	(2)
Memoirs of the Life of Mrs. Sarah Osborn	79	(3)
The Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin	82	(6)
Questions	88	(1)
Defining Terms	88	(1)
Probing the Sources	89	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	89	(1)
Additional Reading	89	(2)
What Kind of Revolution? Justifications for Rebellion	91	(26)
Historical Context	91	(4)
The Documents	95	(20)
``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	(4)
Thomas Paine
From ``A Sermon Preached at St. Matthew's, Bethnal Green, on Sunday, Nov. 12, 1775''	103	(2)
John Wesley
Lord Dunmore's Proclamation and Responses	105	(2)
Correspondence of Abigail and John Adams	107	(2)
The Declaration of Independence	109	(3)
From Notes on the State of Virginia	112	(1)
Thomas Jefferson
Letter from Benjamin Banneker to Thomas Jefferson	113	(1)
Reply of Thomas Jefferson to benjamin Banneker	114	(1)
Questions	115	(1)
Defining Terms	115	(1)
Probing the Sources	115	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	115	(1)
Additional Reading	115	(2)
Forming a More Perfect Union: The Constitution of 1787 versus 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	132	(1)
Additional Reading	133	(2)
Shouting for Glory: Camp Meeting Christianity Described, Decried, and Defended	135	(12)
Historical Context	135	(2)
The Documents	137	(8)
``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)
Questions	145	(1)
Defining Terms	145	(1)
Probing the Sources	145	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	145	(1)
Additional Reading	145	(2)
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'': Ann 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	(20)
Historical Context	193	(2)
The Documents	195	(16)
``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
Declaration of Sentiments	204	(2)
From A New England Girlhood	206	(3)
Lucy Larcom
Malenda Edwards and Mary Paul Letters	209	(2)
Questions	211	(1)
Defining Terms	211	(1)
Probing the Sources	211	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	211	(1)
Additional Reading	211	(2)
A House Divided: Free Labor, Slave Labor	213	(20)
Historical Context	213	(2)
The Documents	215	(15)
From Cannibals All!	216	(3)
George Fitzhugh
From The Impending Crisis of the South	219	(3)
Hinton Rowan Helper
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates	222	(3)
From Uncle Tom's Cabin; or Life Among the Lowly	225	(2)
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Open Letter to Thomas Auld	227	(3)
Frederick Douglass
Questions	230	(1)
Defining Terms	230	(1)
Probing the Sources	230	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	230	(1)
Additional Reading	231	(2)
A War within a War: The New York City Draft Riots	233	(20)
Historical Context	233	(3)
The Documents	236	(15)
Enrollment Act of 1863	236	(1)
``Three Days of Terror''	237	(7)
Ellen Leonard
From the Diary of George Templeton Strong	244	(2)
To the Laboring Men of New York	246	(1)
Dearly Beloved!	247	(1)
``The Raging Riot-Its Character, and the True Attitude Toward It''	248	(2)
A Letter from One of the Rioters	250	(1)
The $300 Exemption	250	(1)
Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address	250	(1)
Questions	251	(1)
Defining Terms	251	(1)
Probing the Sources	252	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	252	(1)
Additional Reading	252	(1)
Reconstruction and the Rise of the Ku Klux Klan	253	(20)
Historical Context	253	(2)
The Documents	255	(15)
Initiation Oath of the Knights of the White Camelia	256	(2)
Testimony of Victims of the Ku Klux Klan	258	(1)
Congressional Inquiry into Klan Activities	259	(5)
Hon. Job E. Stevenson of Ohio, Speech to the House of Representatives	264	(3)
From Experience of a Northern Man Among the Ku-Klux	267	(2)
Benjamin Bryant
``How to Extirpate Ku-Kluxism from the South''	269	(1)
W. H. Gannon
Questions	270	(1)
Defining Terms	270	(1)
Probing the Sources	270	(1)
Interpreting the Sources	270	(1)
Additional Reading	270	(3)
Credits	273	(6)
Index	279