This collection of primary sources includes both classic and lesser-known documents describing the rich mosaic of American life from the pre-contact era to the present day. The sources, both public and private documents—ranging from letters, diary excerpts, stories, novels, to speeches, court cases, and government reports—tell the story of American history in the words of those who lived it.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1–New World Encounters • Christopher Columbus, Letter to Luis de Sant’ Angel (1493) • Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, “Indians of the Rio Grande” (1528—1536) • Bartholomé de Las Casas, “Of the Island of Hispaniola” (1542) • Jacques Marquette, from The Mississippi Voyage of Joliet and Marquette (1673) • Thomas Mun, from England’s Treasure by Foreign Trade(1664) Chapter 2–Conflicting Visions: England’s Seventeenth-Century Colonies • John Smith, “The Starving Time” (1624) • The Laws of Virginia (1610—1611) • John Winthrop, “A Model of Christian Charity” (1630) • Excerpt from the Trial of Anne Hutchinson (1637) Chapter 3–Putting Down Roots: Opportunity and Oppression in Colonial Society • Bacon’s Rebellion: The Declaration (1676) • William Bull, Report on the Stono Rebellion (1739) • Gottlieb Mittelberger, The Passage of Indentured Servants (1750) • Elizabeth Sprigs, Letter to Her Father (1756) • Olaudah Equiano, The Middle Passage (1788) • Alexander Falconbridge, The African Slave Trade (1788) Chapter 4–Experience of Empire: Eighteenth-Century America • William Byrd II, Diary (1709) • Michel-Guillaume-Jean de Crèvecouer, from Letters from an American Farmer (1782) • Benjamin Franklin, “Upon Hearing George Whitefield Preach” (1771) • Jonathan Edwards, from “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (1741) • James Oglethorpe, Establishing the Colony of Georgia (1733) Chapter 5–The American Revolution: From Gentry Protest to Popular Revolt, 1763—1783 • John Dickinson, from Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania (1768) • Address of the Inhabitants of Anson County to Governor Martin (1774) • Patrick Henry, “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” (1775) Chapter 6–The Republican Experiment • George Washington, The Newburg Address (1783) • Publius (James Madison), Federalist Paper #10(1788) • George Mason, “Objections to This Constitution of Government” (1787) • “Petition for Access to Education” (1787) • Molly Wallace, Valedictory Oration (1792) • Judith Sargent Murray, “On the Equality of the Sexes” (1790) • Benjamin Banneker, Letter to Thomas Jefferson (1791) Chapter 7–Democracy in Distress: The Violence of Party Politics, 1788—1800 • George Washington, Farewell Address (1796) • The Alien and Sedition Acts (1798) Chapter 8–Republican Ascendancy: The Jeffersonian Vision • Marbury v. Madison(1803) • Meriwether Lewis, Journal (1805) • Tecumseh, Letter to Governor William Henry Harrison (1810) Chapter 9–Nation Building and Nationalism • The Harbinger, Female Workers of Lowell (1836) • Mary Paul, Letters Home (1845, 1846) Chapter 10–The Triumph of White Men’s Democracy • Andrew Jackson, First Annual Message to Congress (1829) • “Memorial of the Cherokee Nation” (1830) • Henry Clay, Speech Opposing President Jackson’s Veto of the Bank Bill (1832) • Davy Crockett, Advice to Politicians (1833) • José María Sánchez, from “A Trip to Texas” (1828) Chapter 11–Slaves and Masters • Nat Turner, Confession (1831) • Benjamin Drew, Narratives of Escaped Slaves (1855) • George Fitzhugh, “The Blessings of Slavery” (1857) Chapter 12–The Pursuit of Perfection • Charles Finney, “Religious Revival” (1835) • Nathaniel Hawthorne, A Letter from Brook Farm (1841) • Dorothea Dix, Appeal on Behalf of the Insane (1843) • William Lloyd Garrison, from The Liberator(1831) • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Declaration of Sentiments (1848) Chapter 13–An Age of Expansionism • John L. O’Sullivan, “The Great Nation of Futurity” (1845) • Thomas Corwin, Against the Mexican War (1847) • Henry David Thoreau, from “Civil Disobedience” (1849) • Elizabeth Dixon Smith Greer, Journal (1847—1850) • Chief Seattle, Oration (1854) Chapter 14–The Sectional Crisis • Harriet Beecher Stowe, from Uncle Tom’s Cabin(1852) • Dred Scott v. Sanford(1857) • Frederick Douglass, Independence Day Speech (1852) • The Ostend Manifesto (1854) • John Brown, Address to the Virginia Court (1859) Chapter 15–Secession and the Civil War • James Henry Gooding, Letter to President Lincoln (1863) • Jefferson Davis, Second Inaugural Address as President of the Confederate States of America (1862) • Clara Barton, Medical Life at the Battlefield (1862) • Theodore A. Dodge, from Civil War Diary (1863) • Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address (1863) Chapter 16–The Agony of Reconstruction • Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address (1865) • Mississippi Black Codes (1865) • A Sharecrop Contract (1882) • Civil Rights Cases(1883) • Congressional Testimony on the Actions of the Ku Klux Klan (1872) • Henry Grady, “The New South” (1886) Credits