Sources for America's History, Volume 1: To 1877
Eighth EditionJames A. Henretta; Eric Hinderaker; Rebecca Edwards; Robert O. Self
©2014ISBN:9781457651700
Take notes, add highlights, and download our mobile-friendly e-books.
Enrich the study of U.S. history through a diverse set of voices from the past. The collection of primary sources found in Sources for Americas History, Volume 1: To 1877 fosters historical thinking skills while putting a human face on Americas diverse history. With documents ranging from speeches and political cartoons by celebrated historical figures, to personal letters and diary entries by ordinary people, youll get a more vivid picture of the past.
E-book
Read online (or offline) with all the highlighting and notetaking tools you need to be successful in this course.
Learn MoreTable of Contents
PLEASE NOTE: VOLUME 1 INCLUDES CHAPTERS 1-16 AND VOLUME 2 INCLUDES CHAPTERS 15-31.
CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction for Students
Part 1: TRANSFORMATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA (1450–1700)
CHAPTER 1: Colliding Worlds, 1450–1600 1-1 | An Englishman Describes the Algonquin People
THOMAS HARIOT, A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (1588)
1-2 | Peasants Working a Lord’s Estate
LIMBOURG BROTHERS, March: Peasants at Work from the "Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry" (15th Century)
1-3 | Columbus Encounters Native Peoples
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, Journal of the First Voyage (1492)
1-4 | Las Casas Describes European Atrocities
BARTOLOME DE LAS CASAS, A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies (1552)
1-5 | Huejotzingo Petitions the Spanish King for Relief
COUNCIL OF HUEJOTZINGO, Letter to the King of Spain (1560) 12
1-6 | Debating the Morality of Slavery
BROTHER LUIS BRANDAON, Letter to Father Sandoval (1610) 16
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS
CHAPTER 2: American Experiments, 1521–1700
2-1 | Indians Resist Spanish Control
Testimony of Acoma Indians (1599)
2-2 | "City Upon a Hill" Sermon
JOHN WINTHROP, A Model of Christian Charity (1630)
2-3 | The Limits of the Puritan Community
The Trial of Anne Hutchinson (1637)
2-4 | Maryland Protects Religious Belief
Maryland Act of Religious Toleration (1649)
2-5 | Slave Labor on the Rise
EDMUND WHITE, Letter to Joseph Morton (1687)
2-6 | Spreading the Gospel Among the Iroquois
REV. FATHER LOUIS CELLOT, Letter to Father François Le Mercier (1656)
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS
PART 1 DOCUMENT SET: Developing Patterns of Atlantic World Exchange, 1450 1700
P1-1 | The Aztec God Tlaloc with Maize
Meal of Maize and Beans, the Sixth Month of the Aztec Solar Calendar (c. 1585)
P1-2 | Florida Natives Welcome the Returning French
THEODORE DE BRY, The Natives of Florida Worship the Column Erected by Commander on His First Voyage (1591)
P1-3 | A European Encounters the Algonquin Indians
THOMAS MORTON, Manners and Customs of the Indians (of New England) (1637)
P1-4 | The Trade in Goods and Slaves
THOMAS PHILLIPS, A Journal of a Voyage Made in the Hannibal (1693–1694)
P1-5 | Making the Case for Colonization
RICHARD HAKLUYT, A Discourse of Western Planting (1584)
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS
PART 2: BRITISH NORTH AMERICA AND THE ATLANTIC WORLD (1660–1763)
CHAPTER 3: The British Atlantic World, 1660–1750
3-1 | Bostonians Welcome the Glorious Revolution
The Declaration of the Gentlemen, Merchants and Inhabitants of Boston, and the Country Adjacent (1689)
3-2 | The Onondaga Pledge Support to Colonies
CANASSATEGO, Papers Relating to an Act of the Assembly of the Province of New York (1742)
3-3 | Virginia Tightens Slave Codes
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF VIRGINIA, An Act for Suppressing Outlying Slaves (1691)
3-4 | Gentility and the Planter Elite
WILLIAM BYRD II, Diary Entries (1709–1712)
3-5 | Trade Creates Dynamic Commercial Economy
JOHN BARNARD, The Autobiography of the Rev. John Barnard (1766)
3-6 | Colonists Assert Their Rights
LORD CORNBURY, Letter to the Lords of Trade (1704)
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS
CHAPTER 4: Growth, Diversity, and Conflict, 1720–1763
4-1 | A Revivalist Warns Against Old Light Ministers
GILBERT TENNENT, Dangers of an Unconverted Ministry (1740) 81
4-2 | Sarah Osborn on Her Experiences During the Religious Revivals
SARAH OSBORN, Memoirs of the Life of Mrs. Sarah Osborn (1814)
4-3 | Anglican Minister on the Manners and Religion of the Carolina Backcountry
CHARLES WOODMASON, Journal (1766–1768)
4-4 | Franklin Calls for Colonial Unity
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Albany Plan of Union (1754)
4-5 | Colonists Argue for an Alliance with Indians Against the French
State of the British and French Colonies in North America (1755) 93
4-6 | The North Carolina Regulators Protest British Control
Petition from the Inhabitants of Orange County, North Carolina (1770)
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS
PART 2 DOCUMENT SET: The Causes and Consequences of the Peopling of North America, 1660–1763
P2-1 | The Horrors of the Middle Passage
OLAUDAH EQUIANO, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written by Himself (1794)
P2-2 | German Immigrant Describes Carolina Opportunities
Letter from Christen Janzen to His Family (1711)
P2-3 | An Indentured Servant Confesses to Murder
The Vain Prodigal Life and Tragical Penitent Death of Thomas Hellier (1680)
P2-4 | Celebrating an Indian Defeat
A Ballad of Pigwacket (1725)
P2-5 | Colonial Settlements Raise Indian Alarms
Journal of James Kenny (1761–1763)
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS
PART 3: REVOLUTION AND REPUBLICAN CULTURE (1763–1820)
CHAPTER 5: The Problem of Empire, 1763–1776
5-1 | A Virginia Planter Defends the Natural Rights of Colonies
RICHARD BLAND, Inquiry into the Rights of the British Colonies (1766)
5-2 | Colonists Protest Parliament’s Acts
STAMP ACT CONGRESS, Declaration of Rights (1765)
5-3 | A Loyalist Decries the Boston Mob
PETER OLIVER, Origin and Progress of the American Rebellion (1781)
5-4 | Worcester Loyalists Protest the Committee of Safety
A Protest by the Worcester, Massachusetts, Selectmen (1774)
5-5 | The Danger of Too Much Liberty
THOMAS HUTCHINSON, Letter to Thomas Whately (1769)
5-6 | Thomas Paine Attacks the Monarchy
THOMAS PAINE, Common Sense (1776)
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS
CHAPTER 6: Making War and Republican Governments, 1776–1789
6-1 | Democratic Spirit Empowers the People
Instructions to the Delegates from Mecklenburg to the Provincial Congress at Halifax in November (1776)
6-2 | A Call to "Remember the Ladies"
ABIGAIL AND JOHN ADAMS, Correspondence (1776)
6-3 | Enslaved Blacks Adopt the Cause of Liberty
PRINCE HALL, Petition for Freedom to the Massachusetts Council and the House of Representatives (1777)
6-4 | A Republican Hero Emerges
JAMES PEALE, General George Washington at Yorktown (c. 1782)
6-5 | A Shaysite Defends the "Risings of the People"
DANIEL GRAY, Address to the People of Several Towns (1786)
6-6 | Madison Defends the Constitution
JAMES MADISON, Federalist No. 10 and Federalist No. 51 (1787)
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS
CHAPTER 7: Hammering Out a Federal Republic, 1787–1820
7-1 | Hamilton Diverges from Jefferson on the Economy
ALEXANDER HAMILTON, Letter to Edward Carrington (1792)
7-2 | Jefferson’s Agrarian Vision for the New Republic
THOMAS JEFFERSON, Notes on the State of Virginia (1781)
7-3 | A Federalist Warns Against French Influence on American Politics
FISHER AMES, Foreign Politics (c. 1801–1805)
7-4 | Anxiety Over Western Expansion
THE PANOPLIST AND MISSIONARY HERALD, Retrograde Movement of National Character (1818)
7-5 | A Shawnee Chief Calls for Native American Unity
TECUMSEH, "Sleep Not Longer, O’ Choctaws and Chickasaws" (1811)
7-6 | New England Federalists Oppose the War of 1812
Report of the Hartford Convention (1815)
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS
CHAPTER 8: Creating a Republican Culture, 1790–1820
8-1 | Building the Economy
J. HILL, Junction of Erie and Northern Canal (c. 1830–1832)
8-2 | In Praise of Domestic Manufacturing
THE WEEKLY REGISTER, Home Influence (1813)
8-3 | Warren Discusses Women’s Roles
MERCY OTIS WARREN, Letter to a Young Friend (1790) and Letter to Catharine Sawbridge Macaulay Graham (1791)
8-4 | An Argument for the Education of Republican Women
BENJAMIN RUSH, Thoughts Upon Female Education (1787)
8-5 | Jefferson Warns Against Slavery’s Expansion
THOMAS JEFFERSON, Letter to John Holmes (1820)
8-6 | An Egalitarian View of Religion
LORENZO DOW, Analects Upon the Rights of Man (1816)
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS
PART 3 DOCUMENT SET: The Emergence of Democratic Ideals and a New National Identity, 1763–1820
P3-1 | Rallying Americans to the Cause of Freedom
JOHN DICKINSON, The Liberty Song (1768)
P3-2 | Defining the American Character
J. HECTOR ST. JOHN DE CRÈVECOEUR, Letters from an American Farmer (1782)
P3-3 | Women’s Right to Education in the New Republic
JUDITH SARGENT MURRAY, On the Equality of the Sexes (1790)
P3-4 | A Warning for the Young Republic
George Washington’s Farewell Address (1796)
P3-5 | A Woman’s Perspective on Backcountry America
MARGARET VAN HORN DWIGHT, A Journey to Ohio (1810)
P3-6 | Democratic Enthusiasm Shapes Religion
JAMES FLINT, Letters from America (1820)
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS
PART 4: OVERLAPPING REVOLUTIONS (1800–1860)
CHAPTER 9: Transforming the Economy, 1800–1860
9-1 | A Factory Girl Remembers Mill Work
LUCY LARCOM, Among Lowell Mill-Girls: A Reminiscence (1881)
9-2 | Making the Case for Internal Improvements
HON. P. B. PORTER, Speech on Internal Improvements (1810)
9-3 | A View of the Factory System
Repeating Fire-Arms. A Day at the Armory of Colt’s Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company (1857)
9-4 | Contrasting Images of Urban Life
Frontispiece from Sunshine and Shadow in New York (1868)
9-5 | Taking the Temperance Pledge
Preface to The Temperance Manual of the American Temperance Society for the Young Men of the United States (1836)
9-6 | Finney Discussing the Revival of Religion
CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY, Lectures on Revivals of Religion (1835)
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS
CHAPTER 10: A Democratic Revolution, 1800–1844
10-1 | A Professional Politician on the Necessity of Political Parties
MARTIN VAN BUREN, The Autobiography of Martin Van Buren (1854)
10-2 | Insurgent Democrats Flex Political Power
FITZWILLIAM BYRDSALL, The History of the Loco-Foco or Equal Rights Party (1842)
10-3 | President Defeats Monopoly Threat
ANDREW JACKSON, Veto Message Regarding the Bank of the United States (1832)
10-4 | Whig Partisan Describes Party’s Political Economy
HENRY CAREY, The Harmony of Interests (1851)
10-5 | Decrying Jackson’s Use of Presidential Power
King Andrew the First (c. 1833)
10-6 | Native American Women Urge Resistance to Removal Policy
CHEROKEE WOMEN, Petition (1821 [1831?])
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS
CHAPTER 11: Religion and Reform, 1800–1860
11-1 | A Transcendentalist View of Women’s Rights
MARGARET FULLER, Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845)
11-2 | Mormon Leader’s Vision of Religious Community
JOSEPH SMITH, History of Joseph Smith, the Prophet (c. 1830s)
11-3 | Remembering Bowery Culture
ABRAM C. DAYTON, Last Days of Knickerbocker Life in New York (1882)
11-4 | Attacking the Legal Disabilities of Women
SARAH GRIMKÉ, Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Woman (1837)
11-5 | Abolitionist Decries Slavery’s Dehumanizing Power
DAVID WALKER, Preamble to Walker’s Appeal in Four Articles (1830)
11-6 | Antiabolitionist Attacks Reformers’ Efforts
CALVIN COLTON, Abolition a Sedition (1839)
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS
CHAPTER 12: The South Expands: Slavery and Society, 1800–1860
12-1 | Reporting on the South’s Peculiar Institution
ETHAN ANDREWS, Slavery and the Domestic Slave-Trade (1836)
12-2 | Witness to the Punishment of a Runaway Slave
LEVI COFFIN, Reminiscences of Levi Coffin (1876)
12-3 | A Southern City Affirms the Morality of the Slave Trade
Proceedings of the Charleston City Council (1856)
12-4 | Religious Life of Enslaved African Americans
Slave Songs of the United States (1867)
12-5 | Southern Hospitality on Display
SUSAN DABNEY SMEDES, Memorials of a Southern Planter (1887)
12-6 | Free Blacks Push for Elevation of the Race
Proceedings of the Colored National Convention (1848)
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS
PART 4 DOCUMENT SET: Environment and Identity in an Age of Revolutions , 1800–1860
P4-1 | Commerce Overcomes Nature’s Obstacles
Canal Commissioners of Ohio Contract (c. 1820s)
P4-2 | Cultivating the "Garden of Graves"
JOSEPH STORY, Address Delivered on the Dedication of the Cemetery at Mount Auburn (1831)
P4-3 | A Woman’s Perspective on the Overland Journey West
EMMELINE B. WELLS, Diary (1846)
P4-4 | Depicting America’s Transcendent Landscape
ASHER BROWN DURAND, Kindred Spirits (1849)
P4-5 | Assessing Climate’s Effect on Americans
FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED, A Journey Through Texas (1854)
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS
PART 5: CREATING AND PRESERVING A CONTINENTAL NATION (1844–1877)
CHAPTER 13: Expansion, War, and Sectional Crisis, 1844–1860
13-1 | The Lure of the West
LANSFORD HASTINGS, The Emigrant’s Guide to Oregon and California (1845)
13-2 | Two Views of the War with Mexico
JOHN D. SLOAT, To the Inhabitants of California (1846) and GENERAL FRANCISCO MEJIA, A Proclamation at Matamoros (1846)
13-3 | A Southern Perspective on the Political Crisis
JOHN C. CALHOUN, Speech on the Slavery Question (1850)
13-4 | Attacking the Slave Power Conspiracy
CHARLES SUMNER, The Crime of Kansas (1856)
13-5 | Supreme Court Rules Against Antislavery Cause
Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
13-6 | A Southern Woman Reacts to Lincoln’s Election
KEZIAH GOODWIN HOPKINS BREVARD, Diary (1860–1861)
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS
CHAPTER 14: Two Societies at War, 1861–1865
14-1 | A Southern Woman Opposes Secession
MARY BERKELEY MINOR BLACKFORD, Letter to John Minor (1861)
14-2 | War’s Impact on Southern Economy
STAUNTON SPECTATOR, The Uses of Economy (1862)
14-3 | A Battlefield View of the Cost of War
CORNELIA HANCOCK, Letters of a Civil War Nurse (1863)
14-4 | Political Divisions over Freeing the Slaves
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Emancipation Proclamation (1863) and JEFFERSON DAVIS, President’s Message (1863)
14-5 | Hearing the News of Emancipation
HARRY SMITH, Fifty Years of Slavery (1891)
14-6 | Redistributing the Land to Black Refugees
WILLIAM T. SHERMAN, Special Field Order No. 15 (1865)
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS
CHAPTER 15: Reconstruction, 1865–1877
15-1 | President Focuses on Work of Reconstruction
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Last Public Address (1865)
15-2 | A Freed Family’s Dream of Landownership
BETTY POWERS, Federal Writers’ Project Interview (c. 1936)
15-3 | A Former Slave Owner Complains of "Negro Problem"
FRANCES BUTLER LEIGH, Letter to a Friend in England (1867)
15-4 | A Liberal Republican Opposes Universal Suffrage
CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS JR., The Protection of the Ballot in National Elections (1869)
15-5 | Nast Lampoons Freedmen’s Government
THOMAS NAST, Colored Rule in a Reconstructed State (1874)
15-6 | African American Congressman Urges Support of Civil Rights Bill
ROBERT BROWNE ELLIOTT, Speech to Congress (1874)
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS
CHAPTER 16: Conquering a Continent, 1854–1890
16-1 | Promoting the Transcontinental Railroad
The Pacific Railway Act (1862)
16-2 | Railroad Transforms the Nation
CURRIER & IVES, Across the Continent (1868)
16-3 | Harvesting the Bison Herds
J. WRIGHT MOOAR, Buffalo Days (1933)
16-4 | Addressing the Indian Question
FRANCIS A. WALKER, Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs (1872)
16-5 | Remembering Indian Boarding School Days
MOURNING DOVE, A Salishan Autobiography (1990)
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS
PART 5 DOCUMENT SET: Americans Debate the Meaning of the Constitution , 1844–1877
P5-1 | Women Reformers Demand Citizenship Rights
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON, Declaration of Rights and Sentiments (1848)
P5-2 | Defining Native American Rights and Limits
STATUTES OF CALIFORNIA, An Act for the Government and Protection of Indians (1850)
P5-3 | The Catholic Threat to American Politics
SAMUEL F. B. MORSE, Foreign Conspiracy Against the Liberties of the United States (1855)
P5-4 | Debating the Meaning of the Constitution
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Cooper Union Address (1860)
P5-5 | Southern Leader Contrasts Union and Confederate Constitutions
ALEXANDER STEPHENS, "Cornerstone" Speech (1861)
P5-6 | Freedman Claiming the Rights of Citizenship
REV. HENRY McNEAL TURNER, Speech Before the Georgia State Legislature (1868)
COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS