Sources for Forging America Volume One A Continental History of the United States

Alexandra E. Stern is Assistant Professor of Nineteenth-Century American History at The City College of New York.
Stefan Lund is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Virginia.

How to Read a Primary Source

Chapter 1. Beginnings to 1519
1.1 The Splendors of Hangzhou, China (c. 1235)
1.2 Hopi Origin Story: The Emergence (n.d.)
1.3 Christopher Columbus, Letter to Luis de St. Angel on His First Voyage (1493)
1.4 King Nzinga Mbemba (Afonso I), Excerpts from Letters to the King of Portugal (1526)
1.5 Visual Source: The Sigüenza Map (c. 1500)
1.6 Visual Source: Benin Plaque of the Oba with Europeans (c. 1500s)

Chapter 2. Contact Zones, 1450-1600
2.1 An Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico (1520)
2.2 Giovanni da Verrazzano, Excerpts from Letter to King Francis I of France (1524)
2.3 Michel de Montaigne, Excerpt from "On Cannibals" (c. 1580)
2.4 Tomás de Mercado, A Critique of the Slave Trade (1587)
2.5 Visual Source: Lázaro Luís, Portuguese Map of West Africa (1563)
2.6 Visual Source: Aztec Drawing of Smallpox Progression (1500s)

Chapter 3. Settler Colonies and Imperial Rivalries, 1585-1681
3.1 Richard Frethorne, Experiences of an Indentured Servant in Virginia (1623)
3.2 John Winthrop, "The Wicked Capitalism of Robert Keayne" (1639)
3.3 The Flushing Remonstrance (1657)
3.4 Chrestien Le Clercq, A Mi'kmaq Response to European Criticism (1676)
3.5 Visual Source: John White, Indian in Body Paint (c. 1585-1586) and Pictish Warrior (c. 1585-1593)
3.6 Visual Source: Enslaved Black People Working in a Sugar Mill in Hispaniola (1590)

Chapter 4. Colonial Convulsions and Rebellions, 1640-1700
4.1 John Easton, Metacom Relates Native Complaints about the English Settlers (1675)
4.2 Nathaniel Bacon, "Declaration in the Name of the People" (1676)
4.3 Pedro Naranjo, Reasons for the Pueblo Revolt (1680)
4.4 Ann Putnam, Confession (1706)
4.5 Visual Source: Murderous Attack on the Pequot Fort by English Settlers (1638)
4.6 Visual Source: Herman Moll, A View of ye Industry of ye Beavers of Canada (1715)

Chapter 5. Colonial Societies and Contentious Empires, 1625-1786
5.1 Documents from Court Cases Involving the Johnson Family (1645-1663)
5.2 Excerpts from Louisiana's Code Noir (1724)
5.3 Gottlieb Mittelberger, Journey to Pennsylvania in the Year 1750 (published in English in 1898)
5.4 George Cato, Oral History of the Stono Rebellion, WPA Narrative (1937)
5.5 Visual Source: Three Villages Robe (c. 1740)
5.6 Visual Source: John Greenwood, Portrait of Ann Arnold (aka "Jersey Nanny") (1748)

Chapter 6. Global War and American Independence, 1750-1776
6.1 Delawares Discuss the French & Indian War (1758)
6.2 King George III, Royal Proclamation (1763)
6.3 Response to Lord Dunmore's Proclamation in The Virginia Gazette (1775)
6.4 Mary Jemison, "Remembering the American Revolution in Indian Country" (1775-1777)
6.5 Visual Source: Benjamin West, The Death of General Wolfe (1770)
6.6 Visual Source: Paul Revere, The Able Doctor, or America Swallowing the Bitter Draught (1774)

Chapter 7. A Political Revolution, 1776-1791
7.1 Rev. Myles Cooper, Excerpts from The Patriots of North-America: A Sketch (1775)
7.2 The Sentiments of an American Woman (1780)
7.3 The Chickasaw Send a Message of Conciliation to Congress (1783)
7.4 James Madison, Excerpts from "Vices of the Political System of the United States" (1787)
7.5 Visual Source: Jean-Baptiste-Antoine DeVerger, _{American Soldiers at the Siege of Yorktown} (1781)
7.6 Visual Source: Edward Savage, The Washington Family (1789-1796)

Chapter 8. Securing a Republic, Imagining an Empire, 1789-1815
8.1 James Madison, Federalist No. 10 (1787)
8.2 Benjamin Rush, "Of the Mode of Education Proper in a Republic" (1798)
8.3 Rebel's Statement from Gabriel's Conspiracy (1800)
8.4 Tecumseh, Speech to Governor Harrison at Vincennes (1810)
8.5 Visual Source: Monticello's Entrance Hall (completed in 1809)
8.6 Visual Source: A Scene on the Frontiers as Practiced by the 'Humane' British and Their 'Worthy' Allies (1812)

Chapter 9. Expansion and Its Discontents, 1815-1836
9.1 Henry Clay, Excerpts from "On American Industry" (1824)
9.2 The Liberator, Excerpts from "A Voice from New-York!" and "A Voice from Providence!" (1831)
9.3 George W. Harkins, "Farwell to the American People" (1832)
9.4 Harriet Hanson Robinson, Excerpt from a Description of the 1836 Strike in Loom and Spindle, or, Life Among the Early Mill Girls (1898)
9.5 Visual Source: John Sartain after George Caleb Bingham, The County Election (1854)
9.6 Visual Source: Poster Opposing a New Railroad between Philadelphia and New York (1839)

Chapter 10. Social Reform and the New Politics of Slavery, 1820-1840
10.1 John C. Calhoun, Excerpts from South Carolina Exposition and Protest (1828)
10.2 Harriet Jacobs, White Residents of Edenton, NC, Respond to News of Nat Turner's Rebellion (1831, published 1861)
10.3 New-York Female Moral Reform Society, Excerpts from "Appeal to Women to Take Part in Moral Reform" (1836)
10.4 Frederick Douglass, "Colonization" (1849)
10.5 Visual Source: Childs & Inman, Intemperance and Temperance (1831)
10.6 Visual Source: Endicott & Swett, Nullification... Despotism (1833)

Chapter 11. Warring for the Pacific, 1836-1848
11.1 John L. O'Sullivan, Excerpt from "The Great Nation of Futurity" (1839)
11.2 Telegraph and Texas Register, "Untitled" (1836)
11.3 José María Flores, Address to the Mexican Army, Angeles Section of Operations (1846)
11.4 William Elsey Connelley, Excerpt from Doniphan's Expedition and the Conquest of New Mexico and California (1847)
11.5 Visual Source: H. Bucholzer, Matty Meeting the Texas Question (1844)
11.6 Visual Source: Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way (1862)

Chapter 12. Coming Apart, 1848-1857
12.1 Mary E. Blanchard, Letter to Benjamin Seaver Describing the Tumultuous Scene in Boston During the Trial and Return to Slavery of Anthony Burns (1854)
12.2 Examiner's Questions for Admittance to the American (or Know-Nothing) Party (1854)
12.3 W. F. Brannin, "Nicaragua National Song" (1856)
12.4 Mahala Doyle, Letter to John Brown (1859)
12.5 Visual Source: William C. Reynolds, Political Map of the United States, Designed to Exhibit the Comparative Area of the Free and Slave States (1856)
12.6 Visual Source: John Magee, Forcing Slavery Down the Throat of a Free Soiler (1856)

Chapter 13. A Slaveholders' Rebellion, 1856-1861
13.1 National Republican Platform (1860)
13.2 Frances Ellen Watkins, "A Free Black Woman Writes to Imprisoned John Brown" (1859)
13.3 Alexander Stephens, Excerpts from "Cornerstone Speech" (1861)
13.4 Arizona Territory Ordinance of Secession (1861)
13.5 Visual Source: Distribution of the Enslaved Population of the Southern States of the United States (1860)
13.6 Visual Source: Pot Holder: "Any Holder But a Slave Holder" (c. 1860s)

Chapter 14. The Wars of the Rebellion, 1861-1863
14.1 Edwin V. Sumner, Letter to Hon. Simon Cameron (1861)
14.2 Frederick Douglass, "How to End the War" (1861)
14.3 New York World, Draft Riot (1863)
14.4 Spottswood Rice, Letter to Slaveholder Kitty Diggs (1864)
14.5 Visual Source: The News from Minnesota (1862)
14.6 Visual Source: Sowing and Reaping (1863)

Chapter 15. Ending the War and (Re)Constructing the Nation, 1863-1865
15.1 Abraham Lincoln, Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (1863)
15.2 Nancy Johnson, Testimony by a Georgia Freedwoman about How Union Troops Stole Her Property (1873)
15.3 Excerpt from the Virginia Black Codes (1866)
15.4 Visual Source: Battleground Ruins in Charleston, SC (c. 1860-1865)
15.5 Visual Source: Thomas Nast, Pardon and Franchise (1865)

Chapter 16. The Promise and Limites of Reconstruction, 1865-1877
16.1 Thaddeus Stevens, Speech to Congress (1867)
16.2 Testimony of Mervin Givens to Congress about Ku Klux Klan Activity in South Carolina (1871)
16.3 Visual Source: Distinguished Members, Reconstructed Constitution of Louisiana (1868)
16.4 Visual Source: Philadelphia Mayoral Election Poster on Racial Segregation on Public Transit (1868)
16.5 Visual Source: Thomas Nast, Uncle Sam's Thanksgiving Dinner (1869)