Discovering The American Past: A Look at the Evidence, Texbook Outlines

by Wheeler, William Bruce; Becker, Susan

• ISBN13: 9780618102242
• ISBN10: 0618102248
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-07-01
• Publisher: CENGAGE LEARNING

Summary

Discovering the American Pastintroduces students to the analysis of historical evidence with a unique six-step process that allows students to follow a scholarly historical investigation from beginning to end. "The Problem" outlines the central question to be considered. "Background" places the problem in historical context, while "Method" discusses how to analyze primary source material relating to the problem. "Evidence" presents several primary source documents for students to analyze and thus reach conclusions about the problem. "Questions to Consider" focus on specific evidence and links between primary sources, and "Epilogue" explains the problem's historical outcome.

Table of Contents

Note: Each chapter includes The Problem, Background, The Method, Questions to Consider, and an Epilogue

First Encounters: The Confrontation Between Cortes and Montezuma (1519–1521)

The Evidence: European Accounts: Letter by Cortes to King Charles I of Spain Artwork

Native American Accounts: Written impressions of Cortes

The Threat of Anne Hutchinson

The Evidence: Excerpt from the trial transcript of

Rhythms of Colonial Life: The Statistics of Colonial Chesapeake Bay and Massachusetts Bay

The Evidence: Chesapeake Bay: Statistics on population, mortality rates, farms, marriage, migration, wealth distribution, and division of estates

Massachusetts Bay: Statistics on population, mortality rates, farms, marriage, migration, wealth distribution, and division of estates

What Really Happened in the Boston Massacre?

The Trial of Captain Thomas Preston

The Evidence: Map of the site of the Boston Massacre Excerpt from Captain Thomas Preston's deposition Excerpts from trial testimony of witnesses Drawing of position of "charged bayonets" Diagram of a musket Paul Revere's engraving of the Boston Massacre

The First American Party System: The Philadelphia Congressional Election of 1794

The Evidence: Background on the candidates Comments from newspapers Two opinions

Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson on the Whiskey Rebellion Miscellaneous background information

Map of Philadelphia wards

Tables showing cost of living, wages, and occupations

First-person accounts of the yellow fever epidemic

Map showing deaths from yellow fever

Map showing congressional voting by wards

Land, Growth, and Justice: The Removal of the Cherokees

The Evidence: Excerpt from President Andrew Jackson's First Annual Message to Congress Excerpt from Thomas Jefferson's writing to Captain Hendrick regarding the decline of the Indian population

A petition by Cherokee Women Letter from John Ridge (a Cherokee leader) to Albert Gallatin

Excerpt from William Penn (pseudonym for Jeremiah Evarts)

Excerpt from Senator Theodore Frelinghuysen's speech to Congress

Away from Home: The Working Girls of Lowell

The Evidence: Excerpt from the Boston

Quarterly Review on slave labor versus free labor

Excerpts from the Reverend Henry A. Mills, Lowell, As It Was, and As It Is Timetable of the Lowell Mills

Excerpt from the Voice of Industry

Title page of the Lowell Offering Selections from the Lowell Offering "Song of the Spinners" Selection from Lucy Larcom, A New England Girlhood Photos of women factory workers Letters from women factory workers Letters to Delia Page from family members

The "Peculiar Institution": Slaves Tell Their Own Story

The Evidence: Reminiscences and narratives from former slaves Slave Songs Excerpts from autobiographies of Frederick Douglass and Linda Brent (Harriet Jacobs)

Slavery and Territorial Expansion: The Wilmot Proviso Debate, February 1847

The Evidence: Excerpts from fourteen speeches given in the House of Representatives regarding the Wilmot Proviso

The Price for Victory: The Decision to Use African American Troops

The Evidence: From the North: Petition of northern blacks to President Lincoln Excerpts from reminiscences and newspaper articles

Excerpts from Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation

Excerpts from the diary of Salmon P. Chase (secretary of the treasury)

Selections from the writings of letters of President Lincoln

Excerpt from the diary of Salmon P. Chase

From the South: Excerpts from newspaper articles and editorials, correspondence, laws, and proclamations

Grant, Greeley, and the Popular Press: The Presidential Election of 1872

The Evidence: Political Cartoons by Matt Morgan Political Cartoons by Thomas Nast

Grant, Greeley, and the Popular Press: The Presidential Election of 1872

The Evidence: Political cartoons by Matt Morgan Political cartoons by Thomas Nast

The Road to True Freedom: African American Alternatives in the New South

The Evidence: Excerpt from Ida B. Wells's United States Atrocities, 1892 Booker T. Washington's Atlanta Exposition Address, 1895

Excerpt from Henry McNeal Turner's "The American Negro and His Fatherland," 1895

Excerpt from W.E.B. Du Bois's "The Talented Truth" (1903) and Niagara Address (1906)

Excerpt from Frances E.W. Harper's "Enlightened Motherhood," 1892

Table showing migration of Negro population by U.S. region, 1870–1920

How They Lived: Middle-Class Life, 1870–1917

The Evidence: Advertisements for clothing, beauty and health aids, firearms, books and home study courses, typewriters, insurance, bicycles, automobiles, household appliances and furnishings, 1881– 1916 Architectural drawings and descriptions of houses, 1878–1909

Excerpts on the new business of advertising, 1898–1927

Justifying American Imperialism: The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 1904

Photographs taken at the Louisiana Purchase InNternational Exposition, 1904

Excerpt from W.J. McGee's "Anthropology--A Congress of Nations at the Fair," 1904

Homogenizing a Pluralistic Nation: Propaganda During World War I Song and poetry, advertisements, posters, editorial cartoons, speeches, movie stills

The "New" Woman: Social Science Experts and the Redefinition of Women's Roles in the 1920s

Excerpts from the 1920s' social science literature

Documenting the Depression: The FSA Photographers and Rural Poverty Documentary photographs as instruments of reform

Presidential Leadership, Public Opinion, and the Coming of World War II: The USS Greer Incident, September 4, 1941 Gallup polls Deck log and rolls, newspaper reports, correspondence, speeches, and congressional testimony pertaining to the USS Greer incident

Separate but Equal? African American Educational Opportunities and the Brown Decision First section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution Excerpts from Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Excerpts from Amicus curiae briefs, Brown v. Board of Education (1952) Excerpts from the oral arguments, 1952 and 1953 Excerpts from the Brown I decision (1954)

A Generation in War and Turmoil: The Agony of Vietnam Sample release forms for oral history interviews Interviews with five males and two females (veterans and civilians) of the Vietnam War era Photographs

A Nation of Immigrants: The Fourth Wave in California Excerpts from life stories, memoirs, and autobiographies of fourth-wave immigrants

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