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American History to 1865 >> Content Detail

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This section provides information on the required readings for the course, which are also presented by session.

Every effort was made to locate as complete information as possible for historical documents, and links to online sources were included where available.

Required Readings

Maier, Pauline, Merritt Roe Smith, Alexander Keyssar, and Daniel Kevles. Inventing America: A History of the United States. Vol. 1. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2002. ISBN: 9780393974355.

Richter, Daniel K. Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780674011175.

Paine, Thomas. Common Sense (orig. January 1776). New York, NY: Dover, 1997. ISBN: 9780486296029.

Handlin, Oscar. Boston's Immigrants (orig. 1941). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780674079861.

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (orig. 1845). New York, NY: Dover, 1995. ISBN: 9780486284996.

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin (orig. (in book form) 1852). New York, NY: Penguin, 1981. ISBN: 9780140390032.

Readings by Session

Course readings.
WEEK #	TOPICS	READINGS
1	Introduction
2	The Indians' America; The First European Settlements; The Chesapeake and New England	Maier, et al. Chapters 1 and 2, pp. 3-79. For this week's discussion: Winthrop, John. "A Model of Christian Charity." A Sermon of 1630 (abridged). In Volume I of The Puritans: A Sourcebook of Their Writings. Revised edition. Edited by Perry Miller and Thomas H. Johnson. New York, NY: Harper Torchbooks, 1963, pp. 195-199. Some New England town covenants: - Dedham, Massachusetts: Smith, Frank. The History of Dedham, Massachusetts. Dedham, MA: The Transcript Press, 1936, pp. 7-9 and 9-10 for inhabitants' and freemen's oaths. - Springfield, Massachusetts: Burt, Henry M. Volume I of The First Century of Springfield. Springfield, MA: Henry M. Burt, 1898, pp. 156-60. "John Dane's Narrative." New England Historical and Genealogical Register VII (1854): 147-56. To be discussed next week: Richter. pp. 1-109.
3	The Extension of European Settlement; Empires; British Colonies in the Eighteenth Century	Maier, et al. Chapters 3 and 4, pp. 81-154. Richter. pp. 110-254.
4	Independence	Maier. Chapter 5, pp. 157-92. Paine. Common Sense. Mason, George. Draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights. Pennsylvania Gazette, June 12, 1776. The committee or "Jefferson" draft of the Declaration of Independence, with Congress's editings (June-July 1776). In Maier, Pauline. Appendix C of American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence. New York, NY: Knopf, 1997, pp. 236-241. ISBN: 9780679454922.
5	Creation of the American Republic: the States	Maier, et al. Chapter 6 and the first parts of chapter 7, pp. 195-243. The first state constitutions and declarations of rights of Virginia (1776), Pennsylvania (1776), and Massachusetts (1780): - The Virginia Constitution and Virginia Declaration of Rights - The Pennsylvania Constitution (which included the a Declaration of Rights) - The Massachusetts Declaration of Rights and Constitution. In Handlin, Oscar, and Mary Handlin. The Popular Sources of Political Authority: Documents on the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966, pp. 441-72. The Articles of Confederation, in Maier, et al. (appendices).
6	Creation of the American Republic: the Nation	Maier, et al. Chapter 7, pp. 195-247. Gov. Edmund Randolph's speech presenting the Virginia Plan from the Constitutional Convention, May 29, 1787. Available at: The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 reported by James Madison: May 29. The Constitution in Maier (appendices). Excerpt from the Virginia Ratifying Convention; the Virginia and New York instruments of ratification (1788).
7	Creation of the American Republic: the Nation (cont.); Race and Revolution; Review Midterm Exam	Jefferson, Thomas. "Query XIV: The Administration of Justice and Description of the Laws?" In Notes on the State of Virginia (written 1781, published 1785). (Scroll down to the part where Jefferson discusses what he proposes to do with Virginia's slave population, and why it couldn't just stay in Virginia.)
8	The Politics of the Early Republic	Maier. Chapters 8 and 9, pp. 249-314. Madison's speech in the First Federal Congress, June 8, 1789 , proposing amendments to the Constitution and the amendments as they emerged from Congress. (You need to go down a bit to get the relevant part of his speech.) The first ten amendments to the Constitution (the bill of rights), in Maier (appendices). Start Handlin.
9	Politics and Economic Development	Maier. Chapters 9 and 12, pp. 283-314 and 373-405. Finish Handlin.
10	The "Age of Jackson"; An Age of Reform	Maier. Chapters 11 and 13, pp. 343-371 and 407-432. Documents on Abolitionism: William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Philips. Garrison, William Lloyd. Editorial from The Liberator, January 1, 1831. ---. “Declaration of the National Anti-Slavery Convention," 1833. ---. Speech at the Fourth National Women’s Rights Convention, 1853. ---. "No Compromise with Slavery” speech, 1854. Philips, Wendell. “The Constitution, a Pro-Slavery Document.” In Against Slavery: An Abolitionist Reader. Edited by Mason Lowance. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2000, pp. 103-04, 119-30, and 241-45. ISBN: 9780140437584. Douglass. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. pp. 96.
11	Expansion and Its Consequences	Maier. Chapter 14 and 15, pp. 435-462 and 474-76. George Fitzhugh's Defense of Slavery. In Fitzhugh, George. “Slavery Justified,” a newspaper editorial from the Fredericksburg [Virginia] Democratic Recorder, circa 1849-51, republished as an Appendix to Sociology for the South: Or, The Failure of Free Society. Richmond, VA: A. Morris, 1854, pp. 226-78 (esp. 445ff). Start Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
12	"The Little Lady Who Caused This Big War"	Maier. Chapter 15, pp. 474-76. Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
13	The Crisis of the 1850's; Secession	Maier. The rest of chapter 15, pp. 465-474 and 476-494, and chapter 16, pp. 497-502. Abraham Lincoln's "House Divided" speech, June 1858. "Common Sense," an editorial of September 18, 1860, in the Charleston, SC, Mercury. South Carolina's Secession Ordinance, December 21, 1860. "Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Union," December 24, 1860. (Note: The South Carolina documents and other secession ordinances are available at: Ordinances of Secession.) Jefferson Davis's farewell speech to the Senate, January 21, 1861. Lincoln's first inaugural address, March 4, 1861.
14	The Civil War	Maier. The rest of chapter 16, pp. 502-33. Abraham Lincoln on Race and Slavery: A selection of documents from Abraham Lincoln: A Documentary Portrait Through His Speeches and Writings. Edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1964. ISBN: 9780804709422.
15	Results of the Civil War; Review	Maier. Chapter 17, first two sections, pp. 535-553. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution in Maier appendices (and while you're at it take a look at the 11th and 12th amendments, too).
	Final Exam

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