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:
Preface 15. In the Wake of War: Consolidating a Triumphant Union, 1865-1877 Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address (1865) Mississippi Black Codes (1865) A Sharecrop Contract (1882) Congressional Testimony on the Actions of the Ku Klux Klan (1872) Civil Rights Cases (1883) VI. THE EMERGENCE OF MODERN AMERICA, 1877-1900 16. Standardizing the Nation: Innovations in Technology, Business, and Culture, 1877-1890 Russell Conwell, from Acres of Diamonds (1915) Helen Hunt Jackson, from A Century of Dishonor (1881) Charles Loring Brace, “The Life of the Street Rats” (1872) Josiah Strong, from Our Country (1885) William L. Riordon, from Plunkitt of Tammany Hall (1905) Richard K. Fox, from Coney Island Frolics (1883) 17. Challenges to Government and Corporate Power: Resistance and Reform, 1877-1890 Lee Chew, from Life of a Chinese Immigrant (1903) Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) Henry Grady, "The New South" (1886) Terence V. Powderly, Preamble to the Constitution of the Knights of Labor (1878) Edward Bellamy, from Looking Backward (1888) Jane Addams, from Twenty Years at HullHouse (1910) 18. Political and Cultural Conflict in a Decade of Depression and War: The 1890s Frederick Jackson Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” (1893) The Omaha Platform of the Populist Party (1892) From Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Booker T. Washington, Atlanta Exposition Address (1895) W.E.B. Du Bois, from “Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others” (1903) The Secret Oath of the American Protective Association (1893) William Graham Sumner, from “On Empire and the Philippines” (1898) William McKinley, “Decision on the Philippines” (1900)   VII. REFORM AT HOME, REVOLUTION ABROAD, 1900-1929 19. The Promise and Perils of Progressive Reform, 1900-1912 Ida B. Wells-Barnett, from A Red Record (1895) John Spargo, from The Bitter Cry of Children (1906) Ida Tarbell, from The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904) The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine (1904) Theodore Roosevelt, from The New Nationalism (1910) Woodrow Wilson, from The New Freedom (1913) National American Woman Suffrage Association, Mother’s Day Letter (1912) 20. War and Revolution, 1912-1920 Boy Scouts of America, from “Boy Scouts Support the War Effort” (1917) Newton D. Baker, “The Treatment of German-Americans” (1918) Eugene Kennedy, A “Doughboy” Describes the Fighting Front (1918) Eugene V. Debs, Statement to the Court (1918) Woodrow Wilson, The Fourteen Points (1918) A. Mitchell Palmer, "The Case Against the Reds" (1920)  21. The Promise of Consumer Culture: The 1920s Comprehensive Immigration Law (1924) Calvin Coolidge, Honoring Charles Lindbergh (1927) Marcus Garvey, Aims and Objectives of the UNIA (1923) VIII. FROM DEPRESSION AND WAR TO WORLD POWER, 1929-1953 22. Hardship and Hope in the 1930s: The Great Depression Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address (1933) Huey Long, “Share Our Wealth” (1935)       Eleanor Roosevelt, from “My Day” Column (1939) 23. Global Conflict: World War II, 1937-1945 Albert Einstein, Letter to President Roosevelt (1939) Franklin D. Roosevelt, The Four Freedoms (1941) Charles A. Lindbergh, from Des Moines Speech (1941) A. Phillip Randolph, "Why Should We March?" (1942) Korematsu v. United States (1944) 24. Cold War and Hot War, 1945-1953 Harry S. Truman, The Truman Doctrine (1947) George Marshall, The Marshall Plan (1947) Joseph R. McCarthy, from Speech Delivered to the Women’s Club of Wheeling, West Virginia (1950) Margaret Chase Smith, from "Declaration of Conscience" (1950) Whittaker Chambers, from Foreword to Witness (1952) IX. THE COLD WAR AT FULL TIDE, 1953-1979 25. Domestic Dreams and Atomic Nightmares, 1953-1963 Brown v. Board of Education (1954) Jo Ann Gibson Robinson, The Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955) Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell Address (1961) From John F. Kennedy, Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) 26. The Nation Divides: The VietnamWar and Social Conflict, 1964-1971 Students for a Democratic Society, Port Huron Statement (1962) National Organization for Women, Statement of Purpose (1966) Curtis Sitcomer, “Harvest of Discontent” (1967) The Tonkin Gulf Incident (1964) Kevin MacCauley, Oral History on the 1968 Siege of Khe Sanh 27. Reconsidering National Priorities, 1972-1979 Roe v. Wade (1973) House Judiciary Committee, Conclusion on Impeachment Resolution (1974) Ione Malloy, Southie Won’t Go: A Teacher’s Diary of the Desegregation of South Boston High School (1975) Jimmy Carter, The “Crisis of Confidence” Speech (1979) X. A Nation of Immigrants, A Global Economy, 1979—2001 28. The Cold War Returns–and Ends, 1979-1991 Ronald Reagan, Speech to the House of Commons (1982) David E. Wildmon, The Conscience of a Christian Conservative (1985) George H. W. Bush, Address to the Nation Announcing Allied Military Action in the Persian Gulf (1991) 29. Post—Cold War America, 1991-2000 Bill Clinton, First Inaugural Address (1993) Articles of Impeachment against William Jefferson Clinton (1998) 30. A Global Nation for the New Millennium Owen Burdick, Witnessing the 9-11 Terrorist Attack in New York (2001) Barbara Lee, Speech in Opposition to the U.S. War in Afghanistan (2001) Wayne Allard, Testifying in Favor of The Federal Marriage Amendment (2004) Credits