Reading the American Past: Volume I: To 1877 Selected Historical Documents

by Johnson, Michael P.

• ISBN13: 9780312564131
• ISBN10: 0312564139
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-01-05
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's

Summary

With five carefully selected documents per chapter, this two-volume primary source reader presents a wide range of documents representing political, social, and cultural history in a manageable, accessible way. Thirty-two new documents infuse the collection with the voices of an even wider range of historical actors. Expertly edited by Michael P. Johnson, one of the authors of The American Promise, the readings can be used to spark discussion in any classroom and fit into any syllabus. Headnotes and discussion questions help students approach the documents, and comparative questions encourage students to make connections across documents. Reading the American Pastis FREE when packaged with The American Promise, The American Promise: A Compact History, and Understanding the American Promise. For more information on the reader or on package ISBNs, please contact your local sales representative or click here

Author Biography

MICHAEL P. JOHNSON
Born and raised in Ponca City, Oklahoma, Michael P. Johnson studied at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, where he received a B.A., and at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, where he earned  his Ph.D.  He is currently professor of history at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He is the author, co-author, or editor of six books, including Reading the American Past, the documents reader designed to accompany The American Promise.  His research has been honored with fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanties, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavoral Sciences, and the Huntington Library, and with prizes from the Organization of American Historians and the Omohundro Insttute of Early American History and Culture.  He is also the recipient of university prizes for outstanding undergraduate teaching.

Table of Contents

Preface for Instructors 
Introduction for Students

 

1. ANCIENT AMERICA: BEFORE 1492 
     1-1 A Taino Origin Story 
          Ramón Pané, On Taino Religious Practices
     1-2 A Penobscot Origin Narrative 
          Joseph Nicolar, The Life and Traditions of the Red Men, 1893
     1-3 Genesis: The Christian Origin Narrative 
          “In the Beginning”
     1-4 Aristotle on Masters and Slaves 
          The Politics, ca. 300 B.C.
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS 

 

2. EUROPEANS ENCOUNTER THE NEW WORLD, 1492-1600 
     2-1 The King of the Congo Writes to the King of Portugal 
          King Afonso and King João III, Correspondence, 1526
     2-2 Columbus Describes His First Encounter with “Indians” 
          The Diario of Christopher Columbus's First Voyage to America, 1492-1493
     2-3 A Conquistador Arrives in Mexico, 1519-1520 
          Bernal Díaz del Castillo, The Conquest of New Spain, 1632
     2-4 A Mexican Description of the Conquest of Mexico 
          Mexican Accounts of Conquest from the Florentine Codex
     2-5 Cabeza de Vaca Describes His Captivity Among Native Americans in Texas and the Southwest, 1528-1536

          Narrative, 1542
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS 

 

3. THE SOUTHERN COLONIES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, 1601-1700 
     3-1 Richard Frethorne Describes Indentured Servitude in Virginia 
          Letter to Father and Mother, March 20, April 2, 3, 1623
     3-2 Opechancanough's 1622 Uprising in Virginia 
          Edward Waterhouse, Declaration, 1622
     3-3 Sex and Race Relations 
          Testimony from Virginia Court Records, 1681
     3-4 Bacon's Rebellion 
          Nathaniel Bacon, Declaration, 1676
     3-5 Pedro Naranjo Describes Pueblo Revolt
          Declaration of Pedro Naranjo of the Queres Nation, December 19, 1681
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS 

4. THE NORTHERN COLONIES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, 1601-1700 
     4-1 The Arbella Sermon 
          John Winthrop, A Model of Christian Charity, 1630
     4-2 Observations of New England Indians 
          Roger Williams, A Key into the Language of America, 1643
     4-3 Wampanoag Grievances at the Outset of King Philip's War 
          John Easton, A Relation of the Indian War, 1675
     4-4 A Provincial Government Enacts Legislation 
          The Laws of Pennsylvania, 1682
     4-5 Words of the Bewitched 
          Testimony against Accused Witch Bridget Bishop, 1692
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS 

 

5. COLONIAL AMERICA IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, 1701-1770 
     5-1 Elizabeth Ashbridge Becomes an Indentured Servant in New York 
          Elizabeth Ashbridge, Some Account of the Early Part of the Life of Elizabeth Ashbridge, Who Died in…1755 (1807)
     5-2 Poor Richard's Advice 
          Benjamin Franklin, Father Abraham's Speech from Poor Richard's Almanac, 1757
     5-3 An Anglican Criticizes New Light Baptists and Presbyterians in the South Carolina Backcountry 
          Charles Woodmason, Sermon on the Baptists and the Presbyterians, ca. 1768
     5-4 Advertisements for Runaway Slaves 
          South Carolina Gazette and Virginia Gazette, 1737-1745
     5-5 A Moravian Missionary Interviews Slaves in the West Indies, 1767-1768 
          Christian George Andreas Oldendorp, History of the Evangelical Brethren's Mission on the Caribbean Islands, 1777
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS 

 

6. THE BRITISH EMPIRE AND THE COLONIAL CRISIS, 1754-1775 
     6-1 Mary Jemison Is Captured by Seneca Indians during the Seven Years' War
          James E. Seaver, A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison, 1824
     6-2 An Oration on the Second Anniversary of the Boston Massacre 
          Joseph Warren, Boston Massacre Oration, March 5, 1772
     6-3 A Boston Shoemaker Recalls British Arrogance and the Boston Tea Party 
          George R. T. Hewes, Memoir, 1834
     6-4 Daniel Leonard Argues for Loyalty to the British Empire 
          To the Inhabitants of the Province of Massachusetts- Bay, 1774-1775
     6-5 Edmund Burke Urges Reconciliation with the Colonies 
          Speech to Parliament, March 22, 1775
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS 

 

7. THE WAR FOR AMERICA, 1775- 1783 
     7-1 Thomas Paine Makes the Case for Independence 
          Common Sense, January 1776
     7-2 Letters of John and Abigail Adams 
          Correspondence, 1776
     7-3 J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur Describes the Distresses of a Frontier Farmer during the Revolution
          J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, “Distresses of a Frontier Man,” 1782
     7-4 Boston King Seeks Freedom by Running Away to the British Army 
          Memoir, 1798
     7-5 Joseph Brant Appeals to British Allies to Keep Promises 
          Address to British Secretary of State Lord Germain, 1776
          Message to Governor of Quebec, Frederick Haldimand, 1783
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS 

 

8. BUILDING A REPUBLIC, 1775-1789 
     8-1 Richard Allen Founds the First African Methodist Church 
          Life, Experience, and Gospel Labours, 1833
     8-2 Thomas Jefferson on Slavery and Race 
          Notes on the State of Virginia, 1782
     8-3 Benjamin Rush Proposes a Proper Education for a Republic
          Benjamin Rush, “Of the Mode of Education Proper in a Republic,” 1786
     8-4 Making the Case for the Constitution 
          James Madison, Federalist Number 10, 1787
     8-5 Mercy Otis Warren Opposes the Constitution 
          Observations on the New Constitution, 1788
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS 

9. THE NEW NATION TAKES FORM, 1789-1800
     9-1 Alexander Hamilton on the Economy 
          Report on the Subject of Manufactures, 1791
     9-2 Mary Dewees Moves West to Kentucky 
          Journal, 1788-1789
     9-3 Judith Sargent Murray Insists on the Equality of the Sexes
          Judith Sargent Murray, “On the Equality of the Sexes,” 1790
     9-4 A French Sugar Planter Describes the French and Saint Domingue Revolutions 
          A Sugar Planter of Saint Domingue Experiences Revolution in France and Saint Domingue, 1791
     9-5 President George Washington's Parting Advice to the Nation 
          Farewell Address to the People of the United States, 1796
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS 

 

10. REPUBLICANS IN POWER, 1800-1824
     10-1 President Thomas Jefferson's Private and Public Indian Policy 
          Letter to Governor William H. Harrison, February 27, 1803
          Address to the Wolf and People of the Mandan Nation, December 30, 1806
     10-2 Meriwether Lewis Describes the Shoshone 
          The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1805
     10-3 A Slave Demands That Thomas Jefferson Abolish Slavery
          A  Slave to Thomas Jefferson, November 30, 1808
     10-4 James Forten Protests Pennsylvania Law Threatening Enslavement of Free African Americans 
          Letters from a Man of Colour, on a Late Bill before the Senate of Pennsylvania, 1813
     10-5 James Hamilton's Path to Enlistment during the War of 1812 
          Confession, 1818
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS 

 

11. THE EXPANDING REPUBLIC, 1815-1840
     11-1 President Andrew Jackson's Parting Words to the Nation 
          Farewell Address, March 4, 1837
     11-2 Cherokees Debate Removal 
          John Ross, Answer to Inquiries from a Friend, 1836
          Elias Boudinot, A Reply to John Ross, 1837

     11-3 Alexis de Toqueville Describes the Three Races in the United States
          Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1835
     11-4 David Walker Demands Emancipation 
          Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World, 1829
     11-5 Sarah Grimké on the Status of Women 
          Letters on the Equality of the Sexes, 1838
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS 

 

12. THE NEW WEST AND FREE NORTH, 1840-1860 
     12-1 Abraham Lincoln Explains the Free Labor System
          Abraham Lincoln, “Address before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society,” Milwaukee, Wisconsin , September 30, 1859
     12-2 The Anxiety of Gain: Henry W. Bellows on Commerce and Morality 
          The Influence of the Trading Spirit upon the Social and Moral Life of America, 1845
     12-3 Gold Fever 
          Walter Colton, California Gold Rush Diary, 1849-1850
     12-4 That Woman Is Man's Equal: The Seneca Falls Declaration 
          Declaration of Sentiments, 1848
     12-5 A Farmer's View of His Wife 
          Eliza Farnham, Conversation with a Newly Wed Westerner, 1846
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS 

 

13. THE SLAVE SOUTH, 1820-1860 
     13-1 Madison Hemings Recalls Life as Thomas Jefferson's Enslaved Son 
          Interview, 1873
     13-2 Plantation Rules 
          Bennet Barrow, Highland Plantation Journal, May 1, 1838
     13-3 Fanny Kemble Learns about Abuses of Slave Women
          Frances Anne Kemble, Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-1839
     13-4 Nat Turner Explains Why He Became an Insurrectionist 
          The Confessions of Nat Turner, 1831
     13-5 The Proslavery Argument 
          James Henry Hammond, Letter to an English Abolitionist, 1845
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS 

 

14. THE HOUSE DIVIDED, 1846-1861 
     14-1 The Kansas- Nebraska Act 
          Abraham Lincoln, Speech in Peoria, Illinois, October 16, 1854
     14-2 The Antislavery Constitution 
          Frederick Douglass, The Constitution of the United States: Is It Proslavery or Antislavery? 1860
     14-3 The Proslavery Constitution 
          Jefferson Davis, Speech before the U.S. Senate, May 1860
     14-4 Levi Coffin Describes Margaret Garner's Attempt to Escape Slavery
           Levi Coffin, Reminiscences, 1880
     14-5 Abolitionist Lydia Maria Child Defends John Brown and Attacks the Slave Power 
          Correspondence between Lydia Maria Child and Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise, 1859
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS 

 

15. THE CRUCIBLE OF WAR, 1861-1865 
     15-1 President Lincoln's War Aims 
          Letter to Horace Greeley, August 22, 1862
          The Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863
          The Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863
     15-2 A Former Slave's War Aims 
          Statement from an Anonymous Former Slave, New Orleans, 1863
     15-3 The New York Draft Riots
          Report of the Committee of Merchants for the Relief of Colored People Suffering from the Late Riots in the City of New York, 1863
     15-4 Susie King Taylor Describes Her Wartime Experiences 
          Susie King Taylor, Reminiscences of My Life in Camp, 1902
     15-5 General William T. Sherman Explains the Hard Hand of War 
          Correspondence, 1864
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS 

 

16. RECONSTRUCTION, 1863-1877 
     16-1 Carl Schurz Reports on the Condition of the Defeated South 
          Report on the Condition of the South, 1865
     16-2 Black Codes Enacted in the South 
          Mississippi Black Code, November 1865
     16-3 Former Slaves Seek to Reunite Their Families 
          Advertisements from the Christian Recorder, 1865- 1870
     16-4 Planter Louis Manigault Visits His Plantations and Former Slaves, 1867 
          Louis Manigault, “A Narrative of a Post-Civil War Visit to Gowrie and East Hermitage Plantations,” March 22, 1867
     16-5 Klan Violence against Blacks
          Elias Hill, Testimony before Congressional Committee Investigating the Ku Klux Klan, 1871
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS