Thinking Through the Past A Critical-Thinking Approach to U.S. History, Volume I: To 1877

by Hollitz, John

• ISBN13: 9780618416783
• ISBN10: 0618416781
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-08-03
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

This reader for the U.S. history survey course contains both primary and secondary sources concerned with motivation, causation, and the role of ideas and economic interests in history. The text's historiographical approach gives students the opportunity to strengthen their critical-thinking skills through the comparison of historical sources. Each chapter includes an introduction to the historical problem, information on the setting and the investigation, questions to consider, sources, and a conclusion. New! Volume I includes two new chapters: "Evaluating One Historian's Argument: The 'Other Side' of the American Revolution" and "Ideology and Society: The Bounds of Womanhood in the North and South." New! The new chapters in Volume II include "Evaluating a Historical Argument: American Manhood and Philippine Annexation," which replaces "The Populist Appeal," and "Why Historical Interpretation Matters: The Battle Over Multicultural Education."

Table of Contents

Preface	xv
Introduction	1	(6)
The Truth About Textbooks: Indians and the Settlement of America	7	(13)
Setting	8	(2)
Investigation	10	(1)
Sources	11	(7)
History of the American People (1927)	11	(2)
The American Pageant (1966)	13	(2)
The Brief American Pageant (2000)	15	(3)
Conclusion	18	(1)
Further Reading	19	(1)
Notes	19	(1)
The Raw Materials of History: Childhood in Puritan New England	20	(17)
Setting	21	(1)
Investigation	22	(1)
Sources	23	(12)
Elizabeth Eggington (1664)	24	(1)
Margaret Gibbs (1670)	25	(1)
Henry Gibbs (1670)	26	(1)
The Mason Children (1670)	27	(1)
Letter of Samuel Mathe, (Age 12) to His Father (ca. 1638)	28	(1)
Massachusetts Court Records	28	(2)
Lawrence Hammond, Diary Entry for April 23, 1688	30	(1)
Samuel Sewall on the Trials of His Fifteen-Year-Old Daughter (1696)	30	(1)
The Well-Ordered Family (1719)	30	(1)
The Duty of Children Toward Their Parents (1727)	31	(2)
The Roger Mowry House (ca. 1653)	33	(1)
The Eleazer Arnold House (ca. 1684)	34	(1)
Conclusion	35	(1)
Further Reading	35	(1)
Notes	35	(2)
Evaluating Primary Sources: Was Pennsylvania ``The Best Poor Man's Country''?	37	(19)
Setting	38	(1)
Investigation	39	(2)
Sources	41	(14)
An Historical and Geographical Account of Pennsylvania (1698)	41	(1)
Plantations in Pennsylvania (1743)	42	(1)
Journey to Pennsylvania (1756)	43	(2)
Advertisement for a Runaway (1759)	45	(1)
American Husbandry (1775)	45	(2)
William Penn on House Construction in Pennsylvania (1684)	47	(1)
Cabin, Berks County	48	(1)
Fairhill	49	(1)
Charles Norris's Mansion, Chestnut Street	50	(1)
Early Settlements in Pennsylvania (1696)	51	(1)
Newtown, Chester County (1696)	52	(1)
Wealth Distribution in Philadelphia, 1693--1774	52	(1)
Slaveholding in Philadelphia in 1767	53	(1)
Acquisition of Land by Former indentured Servants, 1686--1720	54	(1)
Conclusion	55	(1)
Further Reading	55	(1)
Note	55	(1)
Evaluating One Historian's Argument: The ``Other Side'' of the American Revolution	56	(29)
Setting	57	(2)
Investigation	59	(1)
Secondary Source	60	(8)
Common People in the Revolution (2001)	60	(8)
Primary Sources	68	(15)
An Account of a Stamp Act Riot (1765)	68	(1)
A Mob Punishes Merchants (1766)	69	(1)
A Gentleman Comments on the Mob (1774)	70	(1)
Mecklenburg County Resolves (1775)	71	(1)
The Alternative of Williamsburg (1775)	72	(2)
``A Dialogue between Orator Puff and Peter Easy'' (1776)	74	(1)
Correspondence between Patrick Henry and George Washington on Military Recruiting (1777)	75	(2)
Antislavery Petition of Massachusetts Free Blacks (1777)	77	(1)
Blacks Protest Taxation (1780)	78	(1)
Correspondence between Abigail and John Adams (1776)	79	(2)
``On the Equality of the Sexes'' (1790)	81	(2)
Conclusion	83	(1)
Further Reading	83	(1)
Notes	84	(1)
Motivation in History: Charles Beard and the Founding Fathers	85	(20)
Setting	86	(1)
Investigation	87	(1)
Secondary Source	88	(5)
An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States (1913)	88	(5)
Primary Sources	93	(9)
Public Security Holdings of the Delegates at the Constitutional Convention (1788)	93	(2)
Occupations of the Delegates to the New York State Ratifying Convention (1788)	95	(1)
The Founding Fathers Debate the Establishment of Congress (1787)	96	(2)
Federalist #10 (1788)	98	(2)
Federalist #15 (1788)	100	(1)
Address of the Albany Antifederal Committee (1788)	101	(1)
Conclusion	102	(1)
Further Reading	103	(1)
Notes	103	(2)
Ideas in History: Race in Jefferson's Republic	105	(28)
Setting	106	(2)
Investigation	108	(1)
Secondary Source	109	(8)
Within the ``Bowels'' of the Republic (1979)	109	(8)
Primary Sources	117	(14)
Thomas Jefferson on Indians and Blacks (1784)	117	(2)
Thomas Jefferson on the Indians' Future (1803)	119	(2)
A Jeffersonian Treaty with the Delaware Indians (1804)	121	(1)
Indian Land Cessions (1800--1812)	122	(1)
A Denunciation of White Tyranny (1811)	123	(1)
Thomas Jefferson on Black Colonization (1801)	124	(2)
A Petition to the Virginia Legislature (1810)	126	(1)
A Letter from a Man of Colour (1813)	126	(1)
A Black Response to Colonization (1817)	127	(2)
The Death of Jane McCrea (1804)	129	(1)
Quilting Frolic (1813)	130	(1)
Conclusion	131	(1)
Further Reading	131	(1)
Notes	132	(1)
The Problem of Historical Causation: The Second Great Awakening	133	(26)
Setting	135	(2)
Investigation	137	(1)
Secondary Source	138	(6)
The Second Great Awakening and the Transformation of American Christianity (1989)	138	(6)
Primary Sources	144	(13)
``The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery'' (1804)	144	(2)
``On Predestination'' (1809)	146	(1)
A Defense of Camp Meetings (1814)	147	(1)
Book of Mormon (1830)	147	(1)
A Methodist ``Circuit-Rider'' Discusses Education and the Ministry (1856)	148	(2)
Negro Methodists Holding a Meeting in Philadelphia (ca. 1812)	150	(1)
A Former Slave Discusses the Appeal of Methodism (1856)	151	(1)
Frances Trollope's Account of a Camp Meeting (1829)	151	(1)
Harriet Martineau on the Condition of American Women (1837)	152	(1)
Rebeccah Lee on the Appeal of Christianity (1831)	153	(1)
Philadelphia Journeymen Protest Their Conditions (1828)	153	(2)
Occupations of Methodist Converts in Philadelphia (1830s)	155	(1)
Alexis de Tocqueville on the Condition of Americans (1835)	155	(2)
Conclusion	157	(1)
Further Reading	158	(1)
Notes	158	(1)
Grand Theory and History: Democracy and the Frontier	159	(26)
Setting	160	(2)
Investigation	162	(1)
Secondary Source	162	(6)
The Significance of the Frontier in American History (1893)	162	(6)
Primary Sources	168	(15)
Sketch of Trappers (1837)	169	(1)
N. J. Wyeth's Instructions for Robert Evans at the Fort Hall Trading Post (1834)	170	(1)
Daguerreotype of The Stump Orator (1847)	170	(1)
Autobiography (1833)	171	(2)
Waneta, a Yanktonai (ca. 1823)	173	(2)
On Settling in Missouri (1839)	175	(1)
View of the Valley of the Mississippi (1832)	175	(1)
Life in the Gold Fields (1849)	176	(2)
An English-Chinese Phrase Book (1875)	178	(1)
A Camp Meeting (n.d.)	179	(1)
We Went to Kansas (1862)	179	(3)
Early View of Salt Lake City (1872)	182	(1)
Brigham Young on Land Distribution (1848)	182	(1)
Conclusion	183	(1)
Further Reading	184	(1)
Notes	184	(1)
History as Biography: Historians and Old Hickory	185	(24)
Setting	186	(2)
Investigation	188	(1)
Secondary Source	188	(7)
Andrew Jackson and the Search for Vindication (1976)	188	(7)
Primary Sources	195	(12)
Jackson on His Experiences During the Revolution (n.d.)	196	(1)
Andrew Jackson to Charles Henry Dickinson (1806)	197	(1)
Andrew Jackson to Rachel Jackson (1813)	198	(1)
List of Taxable Property (ca. 1792-1797)	199	(1)
Andrew Jackson to Rachel Jackson (1811)	199	(1)
The New Hermitage (1856)	200	(1)
Andrew Jackson to William Blount (1812)	201	(1)
Andrew Jackson to James Monroe (1817)	202	(1)
Andrew Jackson's Second Annual Message to Congress (1830)	203	(1)
Andrew Jackson (1828)	204	(2)
Address of the Republican General Committee of Young Men of the City and County of New York (1828)	206	(1)
Andrew Jackson's Nullification Proclamation (1832)	206	(1)
Conclusion	207	(1)
Further Reading	208	(1)
Notes	208	(1)
History ``From the Bottom Up'': Historians and Slavery	209	(22)
Setting	210	(2)
Investigation	212	(1)
Secondary Source	212	(7)
Community, Culture, and Conflict on an Antebellum Plantation (1980)	212	(7)
Primary Sources	219	(10)
Leaves from a Slave's Journal of Life (1842)	219	(2)
Harry McMillan, Interviewed by the American Freedmen's Inquiry Commission (1863)	221	(1)
Charity Bowery (1847--1848)	221	(1)
Uncle Ben (1910)	222	(1)
Sarah Fitzpatrick (1938)	223	(1)
A Slave's Letter to His Former Master (1844)	224	(2)
Lynchburg Negro Dance, An Artist's View of Slavery (1853)	226	(1)
A Slave Spiritual (ca. 1863)	226	(1)
Brer Rabbit Outsmarts Brer Fox	227	(1)
A Slave Child's Doll (ca. 1850)	228	(1)
A Plantation Plan (ca. 1857)	229	(1)
Conclusion	229	(1)
Further Reading	230	(1)
Notes	230	(1)
Ideology and Society: The Bounds of Womanhood in the North and South	231	(38)
Setting	233	(2)
Investigation	235	(1)
Secondary Sources	236	(12)
Housework and the Rise of a Domestic Ideology (1994)	236	(7)
Domestic Ideology in the South (1998)	243	(5)
Primary Sources	248	(19)
Woman in America (1841)	249	(1)
Treatise on Domestic Economy (1841)	250	(3)
Lowell Offering (1845)	253	(2)
The Evils of Factory Life (1845)	255	(1)
The Times That Try Men's Souls (1837)	256	(1)
A'n't I a Woman (1851)	257	(1)
Virtue, Love, & Temperance (1851)	258	(1)
The Ideal Southern Woman (1835)	259	(2)
``Woman's Progress'' (1853)	261	(1)
``Memoir on Slavery'' (1853)	262	(2)
Journal of Mary Moragne (1842)	264	(2)
Mary Boykin Chesnut on Slavery and Sex (1861)	266	(1)
Conclusion	267	(1)
Further Reading	267	(1)
Notes	268	(1)
Grand Theory, Great Battles, and Historical Causes: Why Secession Failed	269	(30)
Setting	271	(1)
Investigation	272	(1)
Secondary Sources	273	(11)
Blue over Gray: Sources of Success and Failure in the Civil War (1975)	273	(8)
Why the North Won (1988)	281	(3)
Primary Sources	284	(13)
The Impending Crisis (1857)	284	(1)
The Cotton Kingdom (1861)	285	(1)
An Account of the Battle of Gettysburg (1863)	286	(3)
General Ulysses S. Grant to Edwin M. Stanton (1865)	289	(1)
Affidavit of a Tennessee Freedman (1865)	290	(1)
Reverend Garrison Frazier on the Aspirations of His Fellow Blacks (1865)	291	(2)
Southern Women Feeling the Effects of Rebellion and Creating Bread Riots (1863)	293	(2)
Excerpt from Diary of Margaret Junkin Preston (1862)	295	(1)
``Kate,'' A Letter to a Friend (1862)	296	(1)
Account of a Slaveholding Family During Sherman's March (1864)	296	(1)
Conclusion	297	(1)
Further Reading	297	(1)
Notes	297	(2)
The Importance of Historical Interpretation: The Meaning of Reconstruction	299	(28)
Setting	300	(2)
Investigation	302	(1)
Secondary Sources	303	(14)
Seeds of Failure in Radical Race Policy (1966)	303	(6)
Negro State Legislators in South Carolina During Reconstruction (1982)	309	(8)
Primary Sources	317	(9)
Colored Rule in a Reconstructed (?) State (1874)	318	(1)
The Ignorant Vote---Honors Are Easy (1876)	319	(1)
Black Response to a South Carolina White Taxpayers' Convention Appeal to Congress (1874)	320	(2)
Statement of Colored People's Convention in Charleston, South Carolina (1865)	322	(1)
A Republican Newspaper's Description of a Local Political Meeting (1867)	323	(1)
Testimony of Abram Colby (1872)	323	(1)
Lewis McGee to the Governor of Mississippi (1875)	324	(1)
Testimony of Emanuel Fortune (1872)	325	(1)
Testimony of Henry M. Turner (1872)	325	(1)
Conclusion	326	(1)
Further Reading	327	(1)
Notes	327