Research Catalog

Title

Essential documents of American history / edited by Bob Blaisdell.

Publication

• Mineola, New York : Dover Publications, 2016.
• ©2016

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Blaisdell, Robert

Description

2 volumes (xvii, 497 pages, xvi, 435 pages); 21 cm

Summary

This compact volume offers a broad selection of the most important documents in American history. Brief introductions to each document place the works in historical context.

Alternative Title

• From colonial times to the Civil War
• From Reconstruction to the Twenty-first Century

Subjects

• Indians of North America > History
• United States > History > 18th century
• Civil rights movements > United States > History > 20th century
• United States > Race relations > History > 20th century
• Korean War, 1950-1953 > United States
• United States > History > 19th century
• World War, 1939-1945 > United States
• United States > History > Civil War, 1861-1865
• United States > History > Revolution, 1775-1783
• United States > History > Sources
• Women's rights > United States > History > 20th century
• United States > Politics and government > Sources
• United States > History > 20th century
• United States > History > Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
• Vietnam War, 1961-1975 > United States
• Equal rights amendments > United States > History > 20th century
• World War, 1914-1918 > United States

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (volume 1: page 497, volume 2: page 435)

Contents

• Colonial America : King James I, First Charter of Virginia (April 10, 1606) -- Powhatan, Wahunsonacock, speech to Captain John Smith at Jamestown (c.1609) -- The Pilgrims of Cape Cod, Mayflower Compact (November 11, 1620) -- Captain John Underhill, narrative of the Pequot War (1637) -- Nathaniel Ward, the liberties of the Massachusetts Collonie in New England (December 1641) -- Massachusetts School of Laws of April 14, 1642, and November 11, 1647 -- The Germantown Mennonite protest against slavery (February 18, 1688) -- Reverend Deodat Lawson, statement on the Salem witches and witches' testimony (1692) -- Benjamin Franklin, Plan of Union (1754) -- The Stamp Act (March 22, 1765) -- Declarations of the Rights and Grievances of the Colonists (October 19, 1765) -- Benjamin Franklin and a committee of the House of Commons, examination on the state of the colonies during the Stamp Act controversy (1766). The fight for independence : First Continental Congress, Declaration and Resolves (October 14, 1774) -- Patrick Henry, speech, "Give me liberty of give me death" (March 23, 1775) -- Continental Congress, Declaration of the causes and necessity of taking up arms (July 6, 1775) -- Thomas Paine, selections from Common Sense (February 14, 1776) -- Virginia Bill of Rights (June 12, 1776) -- Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776) -- Samuel Adams, speech, American independence (August 1, 1776) -- Thomas Paine, essay from The American Crisis, "These are the times that try men's souls" (December 23, 1776) -- Articles of Confederation (November 15, 1777) -- Articles of Capitulation, Yorktown (October 19, 1781) -- Hector de Crevecoeur, Letters from an American farmer, "What is an American?" (1782) -- Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, "Thoughts on the peace, and the probable advantages thereof" (April 19, 1783) -- The United States and Great Britain, Treaty of Peace (1783). The early Republic and the Constitution : James Madison, memoranda on "vices of the political system of the United States" (April 1787) -- Edmund Randolph, the "Virginia Plan" offered to the Federal Convention (May 29, 1787) -- Gunning Bedford of Delaware, speech in debate in the Constitutional Convention on small states versus the large states (June 30, 1787) -- Northwest ordinance (July 13, 1787) -- Luther Martin, John Rutledge, George Mason, Charles Pinchney and others, debate in the Constitutional Convention on the slave trade (August 21-22, 1787) -- Benjamin Franklin, address to the Constitutional Convention (September 17, 1787) -- The Constitution of the United States of America (September 17, 1787) -- George Mason, notes, objections to the Constitution (October 1787) -- James Madison, The Federalist, No. 10, "The union as a safeguard against domestic faction and insurrection" (November 22, 1787) -- James Madison, The Federalist, no. 51, "checks and balances" (February 6, 1788) -- John Jay, address to the people of the state of New York by "a citizen of New York" (March-April 1788) -- Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist, no. 85, "concluding remarks" (May 28, 1788) -- Patrick Henry, speech at the Virginia Ratifying Convention on "altering our government" (June 4, 1788). The new nation : President George Washington, first inaugural address (April 30, 1789) -- Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, report on the subject of a national bank (December 13, 1790) -- Seneca chiefs Cornplanter, HalfTown and Big Tree, address to President Washington, "the land we live on our fathers received from God" (December 1790) -- The Bill of Rights, amendments I-X to the Constitution (December 15, 1791) -- The United States and the Six Nations, treaty (November 11, 1794) -- President George Washington, farewell address (September 19, 1796) -- Alien and sedition laws (June 25 and July 14, 1798) -- President Thomas Jefferson, first inaugural address (March 4, 1801) -- President Thomas Jefferson, instructions to Meriwether Lewis (June 20, 1803) -- The Louisiana Purchase, treaty with France (October 21, 1803) -- Red Jacket, Sagoyewatha, speech, "the Great Spirit" (1805) -- Act to prohibit the importation of slaves (March 2, 1807) -- Tecumseh, speech to the Choctaws and Chickasaws (September 1811) -- House Speaker Henry Clay, debate on the continuance of the War of 1812 (December 29, 1812-January 14, 1813) -- The Missouri Compromise (March 6, 1820) -- President James Monroe, The Monroe Doctrine (December 2, 1823) -- Senator Daniel Webster, speech in reply to Senator Robert Hayne, "the United States a nation" (January 26, 1830) -- William Lloyd Garrison, prospectus for The Liberator (January 1, 1831) -- President Andrew Jackson, veto of the bank bill (July 10, 1832) -- President Andrew Jackson, seventh annual message to Congress, "Indian removal" (December 7, 1835) -- Senator John C. Calhoun, speech on the reception of abolitionist petitions (February 6, 1837) -- Horace Mann, lecture, "the necessity of education in a Republican government" (1845) -- President James K. Polk, annual message to Congress, reasons for the war in Mexico (May 11, 1846) -- Declaration of sentiments and resolutions, Woman's Rights Convention, Seneca Falls (July 20, 1848). Into the Civil War : Senator John C. Calhoun, speech on the Compromise of 1850, "the slavery question" (March 4, 1850) -- Senator Daniel Webster, speech, "seventh of March" (March 7, 1850) -- The Fugitive Slave Act (September 18, 1850) -- Frederick Douglass, speech, "what to the slave is the Fourth of July?" (July 5, 1852) -- Senator Charles Sumner, speech, "the crime against Kansas" (May 19-20, 1856) -- Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney et al., papers and decision on Dred Scott v. Sandford (March 6, 1857) -- Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, Dred Scott Decision (March 6, 1857) -- John Brown, interrogation concerning his actions at Harpers Ferry (October 18, 1859) -- The state of South Carolina, Ordinance of Secession and Declaration of Independence (December 20, 1860) -- Senator Jefferson Davis, farewell address to the Senate, "on withdrawal from the Union" (January 21, 1861) -- President Abraham Lincoln, first inaugural address (March 4, 1861) -- Major-General Benjamin Butler, query regarding "contraband" to the Secretary of War Simon Cameron (July 30, 1861) -- President Abraham Lincoln, preliminary emancipation proclamation (September 22, 1862) -- President Abraham Lincoln, final emancipation proclamation (January 1, 1863) -- President Abraham Lincoln, "Gettysburg Address," delivered at the dedication to the cemetery at Gettysburg (November 19, 1863) -- Major-General William T. Sherman, letter to the Mayor and City Council of Atlanta (September 12, 1864) -- President Abraham Lincoln, second inaugural address (March 4, 1865) -- Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant of the Army of the Potomac and Commander of the Confederate States General Robert E. Lee, correspondence regarding surrender (April 9, 1865) -- General Robert E. Lee, farewell address to the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia (April 10, 1865) -- The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution (December 6, 1865). Source and author guide -- Bibliography.
• Post-war to World War : Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, speech on the Fourteenth Amendment (May 8, 1866) -- United States and Russia, treaty and the Alaska Purchase (March 30, 1867) -- Red Cloud, speech, "The Great Spirit made us both" (June 16, 1870) -- Chief Joseph, speech "I will fight no more forever" (October 5, 1877) -- Susan B. Anthony, address on behalf of the woman suffrage movement (January 23, 1880) -- Helen Hunt Jackson, conclusion, A century of dishonor: a sketch of the United States government's dealings with some of the Indian tribes (1881) -- Chinese Exclusion Act (May 6, 1882) -- Sitting BUll, Tatanka Yotanka, testimony before a Senate select committee (August 21, 1883) -- Commissioner of Indian Affairs, annual report, "massacre at Wounded Knee," (December 29, 1890) -- The Populist Party platform (July 4, 1892) -- William Jennings Bryan, speech at the Democratic National Convention, "The cross of gold" (July 8, 1896) -- SUpreme Court, Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) -- Women's Christian Temperance Union, declaration of principles (1902) -- W.E.B. Du Bois, Credo (1904) -- President Theodore Roosevelt, fourth annual message to Congress, "The Roosevelt corollary to the Monroe Doctrine" (December 6, 1904) -- Ida B. Wells-Barnett, speech, "This awful slaughter" (May 8, 1909) -- Emma Goldman, speech, "The tragedy of women's emancipation (1910) -- John Muir, The Yosemite, "Hetch Hetchy Valley" (1912) -- Marry Harris "Mother" Jones, "Appeal to the cause of miners in the Paint Creek District" speech (August 15, 1912). The World Wars : President Woodrow Wilson, first Lusitania note (May 13, 1915) -- President Woodrow Wilson, Joint Address to Congress, "The fourteen points" (January 8, 1918) -- President Woodrow Wilson, address in support of the League of Nations (September 25, 1919) -- Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, ratification of women's right to vote (August 18, 1920) -- Marcus Garvey, speech, "the handwriting is on the wall" (August 31, 1921) -- Margaret Sanger, speech, morality of birth control (November 18, 1921) -- William W. Husband, report of the Commissioner General of Immigration, The Per Centum Limit Act of 1921 (June 30, 1923) -- William Jennings Bryan, The Scopes "Monkey Trial" (July 16, 1925) -- The Sacco-Vanzetti Case, Bartolomeo Vanzetti, statement to court after being sentenced to death (April 9, 1927) -- Alfred E. Smith, speech, "Religious prejudice and politics" (September 20, 1928) -- President Herbert Hoover, speech, "Rugged individualism" (October 22, 1928) -- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, first inaugural address (March 4, 1933) -- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, communications on American official recognition of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (November 16, 1933) -- United States v. one book called "Ulysses" (December 6, 1933) -- Social Security Act (August 14, 1935) -- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, State of the Union message, "The four freedoms" (January 6, 194) -- President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill, joint declaration, "The Atlantic Charter" (August 14, 1941) -- Charles Lindbergh, speech, "America first" (September 11, 1941) -- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, war message to Congress (December 8, 1941) -- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Japanese Relocation Order (February 19, 1942) -- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, fireside chat on the fifth war loan drive (June 12, 1944). Into the Cold War : President Harry S. Truman, message to Congress, "The Truman Doctrine" (March 12, 1947) -- Secretary of State George C. Marshall, speech, "The Marshall Plan" (June 5, 1947) -- Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, address to the Republican Women's Club of Wheeling, West Virginia, "Enemies from within" (February 9, 1950) -- Senator Margaret Chase Smith, speech to the Senate, "Declaration of conscience" (June 1, 1950) -- President Harry S. Truman, statement on the Korean War (June 27, 1950) -- President Harry S. Truman, address about policy in the Far East and the recall of General Douglas MacArthur (April 11, 1951) -- Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, speech before the Council on Foreign Relations, "The strategy of massive retaliation" (January 12, 1954) -- Supreme Court, Brown v. Board of Education (May 17, 1954, and April 11, 1955) -- President Dwight D. Eisenhower, address to the American people on the situation in Little Rock (September 24, 1957) -- President John F. Kennedy, inaugural address (January 20, 1961) -- President John F. Kennedy, special message to Congress on urgent national needs (Americans in space) (May 25, 1961) -- President John F. Kennedy, proclamation 3504, Interdiction of the delivery of offensive weapons to Cuba (October 22, 1962) -- Governor of Alabama George C. Wallace, inaugural address "Segregation forever (January 14, 1963) -- Martin Luther King, Jr., speech, "I have a dream" (August 28, 1963) -- Malcolm X, speech, the black revolution (April 8. 1964) -- President Lyndon B. Johnson, speech, "The Great Society" (May 22, 1964) -- President Lyndon B. Johnson, on Vietnam and on the decision not to seek reelection (March 31, 1968) -- Congressperson Shirley Chisholm, speech, the Equal Rights Amendment (May 21, 1969) -- Apollo 11, astronaut narratives ("first men on the moon") (July 16-24, 1969) -- Supreme Court, papers and decisions on Roe v. Wade (January 22, 1973) -- President Richard M. Nixon, speech, "Watergate" (April 30, 1973) -- Russell Means, speech, the American Indian Movement (1973) -- Harvey Milk, "The hope speech" (March 10, 1978) -- President Ronald Reagan, address to the National Association of Evangelicals (the "Evil Empire" speech) (March 8, 1983) -- President Ronald Reagan, addresses to the Nation on the Iran arms and contra aid controversy (November 13, 1986 and March 4, 1987) -- Urvashi Vaid, gay rights speech at the march on Washington (April 25, 1993). Into the Twenty-first Century : Elizabeth Birch, first convention speech by a gay organization's leader, the Democratic National Convention (August 15, 2000) -- 9/11 Commission Report ("heroism and horror") (September 11, 2001) -- President George W. Bush, speech, "Weapons of mass destruction" (March 17, 2003) -- State Senator Barak Obama, keynote address, Democratic National Convention (July 27, 2004) -- Senator Barak Obama, presidential election night speech (November 4, 2008). Source and author guide -- Bibliography.

Call Number

E183

ISBN

• 0486797309
• 9780486797304

OCLC

898086843

Title

Essential documents of American history / edited by Bob Blaisdell.

Publisher

Mineola, New York : Dover Publications, 2016.

Copyright Date

©2016

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (volume 1: page 497, volume 2: page 435)

Added Author

Blaisdell, Robert, editor.

Note

Subtitle on Volume 1: From colonial times to the Civil War

Subtitle on Volume 2: From Reconstruction to the Twenty-first Century

Research Call Number

*R-USLHG E183 .E84 2016