Rosenfeld Susan. Encyclopedia of American Historical Documents

Подождите немного. Документ загружается.

Desert Land Act of 1877 1016

Chief Joseph, “I Will Fight No More

Forever,” 1877 1016

Dawes Severalty Act, 1887 1017

Forest Reserve Act, 1891 1019

Frederick Jackson Turner, “The

Significance of the Frontier in

American History,” 1893 1025

Carey Desert Land Grant Act, 1894 1026

Cultural Diversity and National Unity 1026

Charles Darwin, Introduction to

On the Origin of Species, 1859 1026

Civil Rights Act, 1875 1028

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 1030

Jacob A. Riis, How the Other Half Lives,

1890 1032

Frances E.Willard, “The Do Everything

Policy,” 1893 1033

Booker T. Washington, “Atlanta

Compromise Speech,” 1895 1039

National Association of Colored Women

(NACW), Resolutions, 1895 1041

Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896 1042

Theodore Roosevelt, “Strenuous Life,” 1899 1052

Mary Antin, The Promised Land, 1912 1056

The Rise of the American Labor Movement 1058

Knights of Labor Constitution, 1878 1058

The Haymarket “Massacre,” 1886 1060

Constitution of the American Federation

of Labor, 1886 1064

Sherman Antitrust Act, 1890 1066

In re Debs, 1895 1067

Holden v. Hardy, 1898 1072

Politics, Economy, and Society 1079

Victoria C. Woodhull, Memorial, 1870;

Reply from the House of Representatives,

Report #22, 1871 1079

Victoria C. Woodhull, Address to the

Judiciary Committee of the House of

Representatives, 1871 1082

Specie Resumption Act of 1875 1085

Minor v. Happersett, 1875 1086

Bland-Allison Act, 1878 1092

U.S. House of Representatives,

Committee on Privileges and Elections,

Negative Report Regarding Proposed

Amendment, 1878 1093

Reynolds v. United States, 1879 1094

Pendleton Act, 1883 1101

Electoral Count Act, 1887 1104

Sherman Silver Purchase Act, 1890 1106

“Pitchfork” Ben Tillman, “Shell Manifesto,”

1890 1107

Ocala Platform, 1890 1110

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “The Solitude of

Self,” 1892 1111

Thomas Watson, “Negro Question in the

South,” 1892 1115

William Jennings Bryan, “Cross of Gold”

Speech, 1896 1120

William Allen White, “What’s the Matter

with Kansas?”, 1896 1124

Gold Standard Act, 1900 1125

The Development of an Expansionist

Foreign Policy 1129

Alaska Purchase Treaty, 1867 1129

Burlingame Treaty, 1868 1131

Olney-Pauncefote Treaty, 1896 1132

Hawaiian Treaty, 1897, 1898 1135

William McKinley, War Message, 1898 1136

Treaty of Paris, 1898 1142

Platform of American Anti-Imperialist

League, 1899 1145

Circular Letter (also known as The Open

Door Policy), 1899 1146

Foraker Act, 1900 1147

William Jennings Bryan, Imperialism

Speech, 1900 1154

Suggested Reading 1800

Encyclopedia of American Historical Documents is a valuable ready reference

for anyone interested in American history. Its documents were culled from a

number of sources, most notably Landmark Documents in American History.

Landmark Documents contains more than 1,600 documents, almost all in their

entirety, that correspond to the 10 eras of the National American History

Standards (www.sscnet.ucla.edu/nchs/standards). It is an unparalleled resource

that also contains biographies, images, and a time line. However, it is available

only to subscribing Internet users. The Encyclopedia contains between approx-

imately 50 and 65 documents per era, a number of them excerpts only, espe-

cially those that fall under Eras 9 and 10 (1945–present).

The introduction provides a brief overview of the project and sets out the

way in which documents were selected and some caveats for using them. Each

era begins with an overview of the entire period. While these are based on the

overviews provided by the American History Standards, they are mostly original

works by this editor, and they cover the topics represented in the documents.

Each document also has an introduction. These describe when and why the

document was created and explain its significance for its own time, for American

history in general, and, if applicable, its relevance today. In addition, the intro-

ductions also discuss related documents not included in the encyclopedia. Many

introductions are taken in whole or in part from Landmark Documents. Often,

however, I supply additional information.

The selection of documents is completely my own. However, I would like to

thank my editor, Owen Lancer; Sabrina Schram, who located a number of doc

uments for Eras 1 and 2; and the reference librarians at Wayne State University,

Detroit, Michigan, and in Annapolis, Maryland, who assisted me. I would also

like to thank my husband, Fred Stielow, for his support throughout this project.

—Susan Rosenfeld

Annapolis, Maryland

Preface

★

xvii

Introduction

★

Encyclopedia of American Historical Documents contains records of major sig-

nificance from the period of European exploration of the Americas (15th cen-

tury) to the present, including documents that address terrorism in the wake of

the September 11, 2001, attacks. Organization and themes are drawn from

the standards for each of the 10 eras of the National American History

Standards for grades 9–12 (www.sscnet.ucla.edu/nchs/standards). For each era,

the documents are presented by topic (usually a combination of several “stan-

dards”) in roughly chronological order. These five themes run through each of

the 10 eras:

1. Diversity of people in America

2. Development, establishment, and maintenance of American democracy

3. The American environment

4. Development of American economy and technology

5. Intellectual life and popular culture

Often, documents relate to more than one of the major themes; in these cases,

these documents were placed under the topic for which they had the greatest

impact or relevance.

A selection of suggested representative readings by topic is included after

the overview of each era. Most selections are more general books suitable for

high school students, rather than scholarly monographs or works that focus on

a narrow topic or geographical area. With the exception of a few classics, such as

The Education of Henry Adams (Era 6), the list consists of recent works. The

sources from which documentary selections are derived were omitted from

these lists.

Not every “landmark” document could be included in this compilation.

Fortunately, many of the documents are available in standard reference works

or on the Internet (although some may be accessible only to database sub-

scribers).

The documents were selected using several criteria:

1. Only one document on a particular topic. Other relevant documents are

noted in the introduction and in a “See also” list following the document.

2. Documents with resonance for the 21st century. These were given preference

over documents with only contemporary importance. For example, the

xviii Introduction

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which is still in effect and still controver-

sial, was selected over the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963.

3. Documents that represent tur

ning points in U.S. history and culture. These

include such items as landmark Supreme Court decisions, international

treaties, and texts related to scientific and cultural matters, such as Darwin’s

On the Origin of Species or the announcement of the eradication of polio.

4. Documents that have multiple significance for U.S. history and culture. For

example, both the Kennedy-Nixon debates, which had political significance

and which demonstrated the increasing influence of television on American

culture, and the comments on the Equal Rights Amendment by Con-

gresswoman Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American woman to be nom-

inated for president by a major political party, were included.

5. Controversial items. These are important for evaluating controversial issues,

as examples such as the Three-fifths Compromise of 1787 and Truman’s 1947

Loyalty Program, included in the text, underscore the complexities of histor-

ical situations in their times.

years, but also for certain edited or translated earlier documents. Lyrics to pop-

ular music of the Vietnam era, for example, such as Bob Dylan’s “The Times

They Are A-Changing,” an antiwar anthem, and “The Ballad of the Green

Beret,” which applauded the American military, helped define American culture

in the Vietnam era, but they could not be included because of their copyright.

Another problem related to the reproduction of documents, such as those about

the European and African legacies of the United States, is lack of easily available

and uncopyrighted translations.

Still another difficulty concerns racial descriptions of blacks and Indians in

exploration narratives and even in government documents. In the early part of

American history, descriptions of Native Americans and many of those regard-

ing people of African heritage come almost exclusively from literate people of

European descent, and they are often unflattering at best. The descriptions

included provide a more comprehensive and accurate portrayal of daily life, as

well as demonstrate how these groups were perceived; others show how the

Native Americans perceived Europeans and European Americans.

Those caveats aside, Encyclopedia of American Historical Documents pro-

vides a comprehensive picture of American history from the voyages of Eric

the Red and Columbus through the passage of the Homeland Security Bill.

ERA 1

Three Worlds Meet

(Beginnings to ca. 1620)

Era 1 brings together the influences of Europe, people

native to the New World, and people native to Africa. It

provides an introduction into how our diverse American

society was created. In this section, five long-range

changes set in motion principally by the Columbian voy-

ages are addressed:

1. Redistribution of the world’s population, including mil-

lions of Europeans, most voluntarily, but with some

criminals given a choice between execution and immi-

gration—the New World or the next world. At least

10–12 million Africans also come to the New World en-

slaved. Most are sent to South America and the

Caribbean.

2. England, France, Portugal, Spain, and Holland estab-

lish trading outposts and colonial communities in Africa

and South Asia as well as the New World.

3. Large amounts of gold, silver, and New World com-

modities such as tobacco fostered commercial expan-

sion and capitalist enterprise.

4. As the new colonies emerge far from the monarchies

that spawn them, ideas of representative government

are able to take hold.

5. New World plantations require a large work force that

can withstand the climate and harsh conditions. African

slavery provides it. Slaves become a vital component for

Europeans in South America, the Caribbean, and even-

tually the southern United States.

The first set of documents here goes back to the ear-

liest known European contact with North America and

includes a number of exploration narratives. These not

only describe the hardships suffered by early explorers

but provide their comments about the native peoples

they encountered and the environment they observed. In

the next set, treaties, charters, and other legal and reli-

gious documents that influenced the peopling of the New

World are represented, including two of the major in-

fluences on the Protestant Reformation. The third set

provides a glimpse into the lives of the sorts of people

who came to America in the 16th and 17th centuries: a

16th-century English family and a 17th-century victim

of the African slave trade. It also includes an introduc-

tion to an argument for the English to explore the New

World and a treatise lamenting the effect of the tobacco

trade on British commerce. The fourth covers the expe-

riences of the earliest colonists in what is now the north-

eastern United States, and the last covers the beginnings

of representative government in New England and

Virginia.

★