V. 1. To 1877. 1. Ancient America : before 1492. A Taino origin story : Ramón Pané, On Taino religious practices ; A Penobscot origin narrative : Joseph Nicolar, The life and traditions of the Red men, 1893 ; Genesis : the Christian origin narrative : "In the beginning" ; Aristotle on masters and slaves : The politics, ca. 300 B.C.

2. Europeans encounter the new world, 1492-1600. The King of the Congo writes to the King of Portugal : King Afonso and King João III, Correspondence, 1526 ; Columbus describes his first encounter with "Indians" : The diario of Christopher Columbus's first voyage to America, 1492-1493 ; A conquistador arrives in Mexico, 1519-1520 : Bernal Díaz del Castillo, The conquest of New Spain, 1632 ; A Mexican description of the conquest of Mexico : Mexican accounts of conquest from the Florentine Codex ; Cabeza de Vaca describes his captivity among Native Americans in Texas and the Southwest, 1528-1536 : Narrative, 1542

3. The southern colonies in the seventeenth century, 1601-1700. Richard Frethorne describes indentured servitude in Virginia : Letter to father and mother, March 20, April 2, 3, 1623 ; Opechancanough's 1622 uprising in Virginia : Edward Waterhouse, Declaration, 1622 ; Sex and race relations : Testimony from Virginia Court records, 1681 ; Bacon's Rebellion : Nathaniel Bacon, Declaration, 1676 ; Pedro Naranjo describes Pueblo Revolt : Declaration of Pedro Naranjo of the Queres Nation, December 19, 1681

4. The northern colonies in the seventeenth century, 1601-1700. The Arbella sermon : John Winthrop, A model of Christian charity, 1630 ; Observations of New England Indians : Roger Williams, A key into the language of America, 1643 ; Wampanoag grievances at the outset of King Philip's War : John Easton, A relation of the Indian War, 1675 ; A provincial government enacts legislation : The laws of Pennsylvania, 1682 ; Words of the bewitched : Testimony against accused witch Bridget Bishop, 1692

5. Colonial America in the eighteenth century, 1701-1770. Elizabeth Ashbridge becomes an indentured servant in New York : Elizabeth Ashbridge, Some account of the early part of the life of Elizabeth Ashbridge, who died in ... 1755 (1807) ; Poor Richard's advice : Benjamin Franklin, Father Abraham's speech from Poor Richard's Almanac, 1757 ; An Anglican criticizes New Light Baptists and Presbyterians in the South Carolina backcountry : Charles Woodmason, Sermon on the Baptists and the Presbyterians, ca. 1768 ; Advertisements for runaway slaves : South Carolina Gazette and Virginia Gazette, 1737-1745 ; A Moravian missionary interviews slaves in the West Indies, 1767-1768 : Christian George Andreas Oldendorp, History of the Evangelical Brethren's Mission on the Caribbean Islands, 1777.

6. The British Empire and the colonial crisis, 1754-1775. Mary Jemison is captured by Seneca Indians during the Seven Years' War : James E. Seaver, A narrative of the life of Mrs. Mary Jemison, 1824 ; An oration on the second anniversary of the Boston Massacre : Joseph Warren, Boston Massacre oration, March 5, 1772 ; A Boston shoemaker recalls British arrogance and the Boston Tea Party : George R.T. Hewes, Memoir, 1834 ; Daniel Leonard argues for loyalty to the British Empire : To the inhabitants of the Province of Massachusetts-Bay, 1774-1775 ; Edmund Burke urges reconciliation with the Colonies : Speech to Parliament, March 22, 1775

7. The war for America, 1775- 1783. Thomas Paine Makes the case for independence : Common sense, January 1776 ; Letters of John and Abigail Adams : Correspondence, 1776 ; J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur describes the distresses of a frontier farmer during the Revolution : "Distresses of a frontier man," 1782 ; Boston King seeks freedom by running away to the British Army : Memoir, 1798 ; Joseph Brant appeals to British allies to keep promises : Address to British Secretary of State Lord Germain, 1776, Message to Governor of Quebec, Frederick Haldimand, 1783

8. Building a republic, 1775-1789. Richard Allen founds the First African Methodist Church : Life, experience, and gospel labours, 1833 ; Thomas Jefferson on slavery and race : Notes on the State of Virginia, 1782 ; Benjamin Rush proposes a proper education for a republic : Of the mode of education proper in a republic, 1786 ; Making the case for the Constitution : James Madison, Federalist Number 10, 1787 ; Mercy Otis Warren opposes the Constitution : Observations on the new Constitution, 1788

9. The new nation takes form, 1789-1800. Alexander Hamilton on the Economy : Report on the Subject of Manufactures, 1791 ; Mary Dewees Moves West to Kentucky : Journal, 1788-1789 ; Judith Sargent Murray Insists on the Equality of the Sexes : Judith Sargent Murray, "On the Equality of the Sexes," 1790 ; A French Sugar Planter Describes the French and Saint Domingue Revolutions A Sugar Planter of Saint Domingue Experiences Revolution in France and Saint Domingue, 1791 ; President George Washington's Parting Advice to the Nation : Farewell Address to the People of the United States, 1796

10. Republicans in power, 1800-1824. President Thomas Jefferson's private and public Indian policy : Letter to Governor William H. Harrison, February 27, 1803, Address to the Wolf and People of the Mandan Nation, December 30, 1806 ; Meriwether Lewis describes the Shoshone : The journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1805 ; A slave demands that Thomas Jefferson abolish slavery : A slave to Thomas Jefferson, November 30, 1808 ; James Forten protests Pennsylvania law threatening enslavement of free African Americans : Letters from a man of colour, on a late bill before the Senate of Pennsylvania, 1813 ; James Hamilton's path to enlistment during the War of 1812 : Confession, 1818.

11. The expanding republic, 1815-1840. President Andrew Jackson's parting words to the nation : Farewell address, March 4, 1837 ; Cherokees debate removal : John Ross, Answer to inquiries from a friend, 1836, Elias Boudinot, A reply to John Ross, 1837 ; Alexis de Toqueville describes the three races in the United States : Democracy in America, 1835 ; David Walker demands emancipation : Appeal to the Colored citizens of the world, 1829 ; Sarah Grimké on the status of women : Letters on the equality of the sexes, 1838

12. The new west and free north, 1840-1860. Abraham Lincoln explains the free-labor system : Address before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, September 30, 1859 ; The anxiety of gain : Henry W. Bellows on commerce and morality : The influence of the trading spirit upon the social and moral life of America, 1845 ; Gold fever : Walter Colton, California Gold Rush diary, 1849-1850 ; That woman is man's equal : The Seneca Falls declaration : Declaration of sentiments, 1848 ; A farmer's view of his wife : Eliza Farnham, Conversation with a newly wed Westerner, 1846

13. The slave south, 1820-1860. Madison Hemings recalls life as Thomas Jefferson's enslaved son : Interview, 1873 ; Plantation rules : Bennet Barrow, Highland Plantation journal, May 1, 1838 ; Fanny Kemble learns about abuses of slave women : Journal of a residence on a Georgian plantation in 1838-1839 ; Nat Turner explains why he became an insurrectionist : The confessions of Nat Turner, 1831 ; The proslavery argument : James Henry Hammond, Letter to an English abolitionist, 1845

14. The house divided, 1846-1861. The Kansas-Nebraska Act : Abraham Lincoln, Speech in Peoria, Illinois, October 16, 1854 ; The antislavery Constitution : Frederick Douglass, The Constitution of the United States : Is it proslavery or antislavery? 1860 ; The proslavery Constitution : Jefferson Davis, Speech before the U.S. Senate, May 1860 ; Levi Coffin describes Margaret Garner's attempt to escape slavery : Reminiscences, 1880 ; Abolitionist Lydia Maria Child defends John Brown and attacks the slave power : Correspondence between Lydia Maria Child and Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise, 1859

15. The crucible of war, 1861-1865. President Lincoln's war aims : Letter to Horace Greeley, August 22, 1862, The Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863, The Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863 ; A Former slave's war aims : Statement from an anonymous former slave, New Orleans, 1863 ; The New York Draft Riots : Report of the Committee of Merchants for the Relief of Colored People Suffering from the Late Riots in the City of New York, 1863 ; Susie King Taylor describes her wartime experiences : Reminiscences of my life in camp, 1902 ; General William T. Sherman explains the hard hand of war : Correspondence, 1864

16. Reconstruction, 1863-1877. Carl Schurz reports on the condition of the defeated South : Report on the condition of the South, 1865 ; Black Codes enacted in the South : Mississippi Black Code, November 1865 ; Former slaves seek to reunite their families : Advertisements from the Christian Recorder, 1865-1870 ; Planter Louis Manigault visits his plantations and former slaves, 1867 : A narrative of a post-Civil War visit to Gowrie and East Hermitage Plantations, March 22, 1867 ; Klan violence against Blacks : Elias Hill, Testimony before Congressional Committee investigating the Ku Klux Klan, 1871.

v. 2. From 1865. 16. Reconstruction, 1863-1877. Carl Schurz reports on the condition of the defeated South : Report on the condition of the South, 1865 ; Black Codes enacted in the South : Mississippi Black Code, November 1865 ; Former slaves seek to reunite their families : Advertisements from the Christian Recorder, 1865-1870 ; Planter Louis Manigault visits his plantations and former slaves, 1867 : A narrative of a post-Civil War visit to Gowrie and East Hermitage Plantations, March 22, 1867 ; Klan violence against Blacks : Elias Hill, Testimony before Congressional Committee investigating the Ku Klux Klan, 1871

17. The contested west, 1870-1900. Pun Chi appeals to Congress in behalf of Chinese immigrants in California : A remonstrance from the Chinese in California, ca. 1870 ; Mattie Oblinger describes life on a Nebraska homestead : Mattie V. Oblinger to George W. Thomas, Grizzie B. Thomas, and Wheeler Thomas family, June 16, 1873 ; Texas Rangers on the Mexican Border : N.A. Jennings, A Texas Ranger, 1875 ; In-mut-too-yah-lat-lat describes White encroachment : Chief Joseph, Speech to a White audience, 1879 ; A plea to "citizenize" Indians : Richard Pratt, "Kill the Indian ... and save the man," 1892

18. Business and politics in the Gilded Age, 1870-1895. Marshall Kirkman likens railroad corporations to armies : The railway army, 1894 ; William Graham Sumner on social obligations : What social classes owe to each other, 1883 ; Henry Demarest Lloyd attacks monopolies : Wealth against commonwealth, 1894 ; Andrew Carnegie explains the gospel of wealth : Wealth, 1889 ; Henry George explains why poverty is a crime : An analysis of the crime of poverty, 1885

19. The city and its workers, 1870-1900. A textile worker explains the labor market : Thomas O'Donnell, Testimony before a U.S. Senate Committee, 1885 ; Domestic servants on household work : Interviews with journalist Helen Campbell, 1880s ; Jacob Riis describes abandoned babies in New York City's slums : Waifs of New York City's slums, 1890 ; Walter Wyckoff listens to revolutionary workers in Chicago : Among the revolutionaries, 1898 ; George Washington Plunkitt explains politics : William L. Riordon, Plunkitt of Tammany Hall, 1905

20. Dissent, depression, and war, 1890-1900. Mary Elizabeth Lease reports on women in the Farmers' Alliance : Women in the Farmers' Alliance, 1891 ; White supremacy in Wilmington, North Carolina : Gunner Jesse Blake, Narrative of the Wilmington "Rebellion" of 1898 ; Pinkertons defeated at Homestead : Pinkerton guard testimony, 1893 ; Conflicting views about labor unions : N.F. Thompson, Testimony before the Industrial Commission on the Relations and Conditions of Capital and Labor, 1900, Samuel Gompers, Letter to the American Federationist, 1894 ; Emilio Aguinaldo criticizes American imperialism in the Philippines : Case against the United States, 1899.

21. Progressivism from the grass roots to the White House, 1890-1916. Jane Addams on settlement houses : The subjective necessity for social settlements, 1892 ; A sociologist studies working-class saloons in Chicago : Royal Melendy, Ethical substitutes for the saloon, 1900 ; Mother Jones on the futility of class harmony : Letter to Mrs. Potter Palmer, January 12, 1907 ; Marie Jenney Howe parodies the opposition to women's suffrage : An anti-suffrage monologue, 1913 ; Booker T. Washington on racial accommodation : The Atlanta Exposition address, 1895 ; W.E.B. Du Bois on racial equality : Booker T. Washington and Others, 1903

22. World War I : the progressive crusade at home and abroad, 1914-1920. The North American Review considers war a blessing, not a curse : For freedom and democracy, April 1917 ; Eugene V. Debs attacks capitalist warmongers : Speech delivered in Canton, Ohio, June 16, 1918 ; A Doughboy's letter from the Front : Anonymous Soldier, Letter to Elmer J. Sutters, 1918 ; Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer defends America from Communists : The case against the "Reds," 1920 ; An African American responds to the Chicago Race Riot : Stanley B. Norvell, Letter to Victor F. Lawson, 1919

23. From new era to Great Depression, 1920-1932. Edward Earle Purinton celebrates American business as the salvation of the world : Big ideas from big business : try them out for yourself, April 16, 1921 ; Reinhold Niebuhr on christianity in Detroit : Diary entries, 1925-1928 ; The Ku Klux Klan defends Americanism : Hiram W. Evans, The Klan's fight for Americanism, 1926 ; Mothers seek freedom from unwanted pregnancies : Margaret Sanger, Motherhood in bondage, 1928 ; Marcus Garvey explains the goals of the Universal Negro Improvement Association : The Negro's greatest enemy, 1923

24. The New Deal experiment, 1932-1939. Martha Gellhorn reports on conditions in North Carolina in 1934 : Martha Gellhorn to Harry Hopkins, November 11, 1934 ; Working people's letters to New Dealers : Letter to Frances Perkins, January 27, 1935, Letter to Frances Perkins, March 29, 1935, Letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, November 23, 1936, Letter to Frances Perkins, July 27, 1937, Letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, November 27, 1939 ; Huey Long proposes redistribution of wealth : Speech to members of the Share Our Wealth Society, 1935 ; A Mexican American farmworker describes the importance of sticking together : Jose Flores, Interview, Farm Security Administration Migrant Labor Camp, El Rio, California, 1941 ; Conservatives criticize the New Deal : Herbert Hoover, Anti-New Deal campaign speech, 1936 ; Minnie Hardin, Letter to Eleanor Roosevelt, December 14, 1937

25. The United States and the second World War, 1939-1945. President Franklin D. Roosevelt requests declaration of war on Japan : Speech to Congress, December 8, 1941 ; A Japanese American war hero recalls Pearl Harbor : Grant Hirabayashi, Oral history, 1999 ; The Holocaust : a journalist reports on Nazi massacres of Jews : Varian Fry, The massacre of the Jews, December 21, 1942 ; Soldiers send messages home : Sergeant Irving Strobing, Radio address from Corregidor, Philippines, May 5 or 6, 1942, John Conroy, Letter, December 24, 1942, Allen Spach, Letter, February 1943, James McMahon, Letter, March 10, 1944, David Mark Olds, Letter, July 12, 1945 ; Rosies the Riveter recall working in war industries : Rosie the Riveter memoirs, ca. 2004.

26. Cold War politics in the Truman years, 1945-1953. General Marshall summarizes the lessons of World War II : For the common defense, 1945 ; George F. Kennan outlines containment : The long telegram, February 22, 1946 ; Cold War blueprint : NSC-68 : U.S. objectives and programs for national security, 1950 ; Senator Joseph McCarthy hunts Communists : Speech delivered in Wheeling, West Virginia, February 9, 1950 ; Donald M. Griffith recalls combat in the Korean War : Donald M. Griffith interview, 2003

27. The politics and culture of abundance, 1952-1960. Edith M. Stern attacks the domestic bondage of women : Women are household slaves, 1949 ; Vance Packard analyzes the age of affluence : The status seekers, 1959 ; George E. McMillan reports on racial conditions in the South in 1960 : Sit-downs : the South's new time bomb, 1960 ; Civil Defense in the nuclear shadow : North Dakota Civil Defense Agency, How you will survive, 1960 ; President Dwight D. Eisenhower warns about the military-industrial complex : Farewell address, January 1961

28. Reform, rebellion, and reaction, 1960-1974. New Left students seek Democratic social change : Students for a Democratic Society, The Port Huron statement, 1962 ; Martin Luther King Jr. explains nonviolent resistance : Letter from Birmingham City Jail, 1963 ; George C. Wallace denounces the Civil Rights Movement : The Civil Rights Movement : fraud, sham, and hoax, July 4, 1964 ; Black Power : Chicago Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee leaflet, 1967 ; Equal rights for women : National Organization for Women, Statement of purpose, October 29, 1966

29. Vietnam and the limits of power, 1961-1975. President Kennedy explains why we are in Vietnam : Bobbie Lou Pendergrass, Letter to President John F. Kennedy, February 18, 1963, President John F. Kennedy, Letter to Bobbie Lou Pendergrass, March 6, 1963 ; A secret government assessment of the Vietnam War : Robert S. McNamara, Actions recommended for Vietnam, October 14, 1966 ; Military discipline in an unpopular war : Robert D. Heinl Jr., The collapse of the Armed Forces, June 7, 1971 ; An American soldier in Vietnam : Arthur E. Woodley Jr., Oral history of a Special Forces Ranger ; John Kerry denounces the Vietnam War : Testimony before the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations, 1971

30. America moves to the right, 1969-1989. The Watergate tapes : Nixon, Dean, and Haldeman discuss the cancer within the Presidency : Transcript from tape-recorded meeting, March 21, 1973 ; Roe v. Wade and abortion rights : Supreme Court decision, 1973 ; Norma McCorvey explains how she became "Roe" of Roe v. Wade : Affidavit, United States District Court, District of New Jersey, 2000 ; President Ronald Reagan defends American morality : Address to the National Association of American Evangelicals, 1983 ; A Vietnamese immigrant on the West Coast : Anonymous Man, Oral history, 1983

31. The promises and challenges of globalization, since 1989. National Security of the United States requires preemptive war : The National Security Strategy of the United States, September 2002 ; A captured 9/11 terrorist confesses : Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, Confession, 2007 ; A Christian leader argues that Evangelical Christianity has been hijacked : Tony Campolo, Interview, 2004 ; Joseph Stiglitz describes capitalist fools' responsibility for the economic crisis : Capitalist fools, December 11, 2008 ; President Barack Obama declares a new beginning in U.S. relations with the Muslim world : On a new beginning, June 4, 2009.