Table of Contents
1. Ancient America, Before 1492
Archaeology and History
The First Americans
African and Asian Origins
Paleo-Indian Hunters
Archaic Hunters and Gatherers
Great Plains Bison Hunters
Great Basin Cultures
Pacific Coast Cultures
Eastern Woodland Cultures
HISTORICAL QUESTION: "Who Were the First Americans?"
Agricultural Settlements and Chiefdoms
Southwestern Cultures
Woodland Burial Mounds and Chiefdoms
VISUALIZING HISTORY: "Daily Life in Chaco Canyon"
Native Americans in the 1490s
Eastern and Great Plains Peoples
Southwestern and Western Peoples
Cultural Similarities
The Mexica: A Mesoamerican Culture
Conclusion: The World of Ancient Americans
2. Europeans Encounter the New World, 1492-1600
Europe in the Age of Exploration
Mediterranean Trade and European Expansion
A Century of Portuguese Exploration
A Surprising New World in the Western Atlantic
The Explorations of Columbus
The Geographic Revolution and the Columbian Exchange
Spanish Exploration and Conquest
The Conquest of Mexico
The Search for Other Mexicos
Spanish Outposts in Florida and New Mexico
New Spain in the Sixteenth Century
The Toll of Spanish Conquest and Colonization
VISUALIZING HISTORY: "Weapons of Conquest"
DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "Justifying Conquest"
SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "Spreading Christianity in New Spain"
The New World and Sixteenth-Century Europe
The Protestant Reformation and the Spanish Response
Europe and The Spanish Example
Conclusion: The promise of the new world for europeans
3. The Southern Colonies in the Seventeenth Century, 1601-1700
An English Colony on Chesapeake Bay
The Fragile Jamestown Settlement
Cooperation and Conflict between Natives and Newcomers
From Private Company to Royal Government
A Tobacco Society
Tobacco Agriculture
A Servant Labor System
The Rigors of Servitude
Cultivating Land and Faith
BEYOND AMERICA'S BORDERS: "American Tobacco and European Consumers"
SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "The Gamble of Indentured Servitude"
Hierarchy and Inequality in the Chesapeake
Social and Economic Polarization
Government Policies and Political Conflict
Bacon's Rebellion
HISTORICAL QUESTION: "Why Did English Colonists Consider Themselves Superior to Indians and Africans?"
Toward a Slave Labor System
Religion and Revolt in the Spanish Borderland
The West Indies: Sugar and Slavery
Carolina: A West Indian Frontier
Slave Labor Emerges in the Chesapeake
Conclusion: The Growth of English Colonies Based on Export Crops and Slave Labor
4. The Northern Colonies in the Seventeenth Century, 1601-1700
Puritans and the Settlement of New England
Puritan Origins: The English Reformation
The Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony
The Founding of Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Evolution of New England Society
Church, Covenant, and Conformity
Government by Puritans for Puritanism
The Splintering of Puritanism
Religious Controversies and Economic Changes
VISUALIZING HISTORY: "Seats of Power"
DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "Hunting Witches in Salem, Massachusetts"
The Founding of the Middle Colonies
From New Netherland to New York
New Jersey and Pennsylvania
Toleration and Diversity in Pennsylvania
The Colonies and the English Empire
Royal Regulation of Colonial Trade
King Philip's War and the Consolidation of Royal Authority
BEYOND AMERICA'S BORDERS: "New France and the Indians: The English Colonies' Northern Borderlands"
Conclusion: An English Model of Colonization in North America
5. Colonial America in the Eighteenth Century, 1701-1770
A Growing Population and Expanding Economy in British North America
New England: From Puritan Settlers to Yankee Traders
Natural Increase and Land Distribution
Farms, Fish, and Atlantic Trade
The Middle Colonies: Immigrants, Wheat, and Work
German and Scots-Irish Immigrants
"God Gives All Things to Industry": Urban and Rural Labor
SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "A Sailor's Life in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World"
The Southern Colonies: Land of Slavery
The Atlantic Slave Trade and the Growth of Slavery
Slave Labor and African American Culture
Tobacco, Rice, and Prosperity
Unifying Experiences
Commerce and Consumption
Religion, Enlightenment, and Revival
Trade and Conflict in the North American Borderlands
Colonial Politics in the British Empire
DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "Spanish Priests Report on California Missions"
Conclusion: The Dual Identity of British North American Colonists
6. The British Empire and the Colonial Crisis, 1754-1775
The Seven Years' War, 1754-1763
French-British Rivalry in the Ohio Country
The Albany Congress
The War and Its Consequences
Pontiac's Rebellion and the Proclamation of 1763
VISUALIZING HISTORY: "Cultural Cross-Dressing in Eighteenth-Century Portraits"
The Sugar and Stamp Acts, 1763-1765
Grenville's Sugar Act
The Stamp Act
Resistance Strategies and Crowd Politics
Liberty and Property
SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "Pursuing Liberty, Protesting Tyranny"
The Townshend Acts and Economic Retaliation, 1767-1770
The Townshend Duties
Nonconsumption and the Daughters of Liberty
Military Occupation and "Massacre" in Boston
The Destruction of the Tea and the Coercive Acts, 1770-1774
The Calm before the Storm
Tea in Boston Harbor
The Coercive Acts
Beyond Boston: Rural New England
The First Continental Congress
Domestic Insurrections, 1774-1775
Lexington and Concord
Rebelling against Slavery
Conclusion: The Long Road to Revolution
7. The War for America, 1775-1783
The Second Continental Congress
Assuming Political and Military Authority
Pursuing Both War and Peace
Thomas Paine, Abigail Adams, and the Case for Independence
The Declaration of Independence
The First Year of War, 1775-1776
The American Military Forces
The British Strategy
Quebec, New York, and New Jersey
The Home Front
Patriotism at the Local Level
The Loyalists
Who Is a Traitor?
Prisoners of War
Financial Instability and Corruption
DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "Families Divide over the Revolution"
The Campaigns of 1777-1779: The North and West
Burgoyne's Army and the Battle of Saratoga
The War in the West: Indian Country
The French Alliance
The Southern Strategy and the End of the War
Georgia and South Carolina
Treason and Guerrilla Warfare
Surrender at Yorktown
The Losers and the Winners
BEYOND AMERICA'S BORDERS: "European Nations and the Peace of Paris, 1783"
Conclusion: Why the British Lost
8. Building a Republic, 1775-1789
The Articles of Confederation
Congress and Confederation
The Problem of Western Lands
Running the New Government
The Sovereign States
The State Constitutions
Who Are "the People"?
Equality and Slavery
SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "A Slave Sues for Her Freedom"
The Confederation's Problems
The War Debt and the Newburgh Conspiracy
The Treaty of Fort Stanwix
Land Ordinances and the Northwest Territory
The Requisition of 1785 and Shays's Rebellion, 1786-1787
The United States Constitution
From Annapolis to Philadelphia
The Virginia and New Jersey Plans
Democracy versus Republicanism
Ratification of the Constitution
The Federalists
The Antifederalists
The Big Holdouts: Virginia and New York
HISTORICAL QUESTION: "Was the New United States a Christian Country?"
Conclusion: The "Republican Remedy"
9. The New Nation Takes Form, 1789-1800
The Search for Stability
Washington Inaugurates the Government
The Bill of Rights
The Republican Wife and Mother
HISTORICAL QUESTION: "How Did America's First Congress Address the Question of Slavery?"
Hamilton's Economic Policies
Agriculture, Transportation, and Banking
The Public Debt and Taxes
The First Bank of the United States and the Report on Manufactures
The Whiskey Rebellion
Conflicts on America's Borders and Beyond
Creeks in the Southwest
Ohio Indians in the Northwest
France and Britain
The Haitian Revolution
BEYOND AMERICA'S BORDERS: "France, Britain, and Woman's Rights in the 1790s"
Federalists and Republicans
The Election of 1796
The XYZ Affair
The Alien and Sedition Acts
DOCUMETING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "The Crisis of 1798: Sedition"
Conclusion: Parties Nonetheless
10. Republicans in Power, 1800-1824
Jefferson's Presidency
Turbulent Times: Election and Rebellion
The Jeffersonian Vision of Republican Simplicity
Dangers Overseas: The Barbary Wars
Opportunities and Challenges in the West
The Louisiana Purchase
The Lewis and Clark Expedition
Osage and Comanche Indians
VISUALIZING HISTORY: "Cultural Exchange on the Lewis and Clark Trail"
Jefferson, the Madisons, and the War of 1812
Impressment and Embargo
Dolley Madison and Social Politics
Tecumseh and Tippecanoe
The War of 1812
Washington City Burns: The British Offensive
Women's Status in the Early Republic
Women and the Law
Women and Church Governance
Female Education
SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "One Woman's Quest to Provide Higher Education for Women"
Monroe and Adams
From Property to Democracy
The Missouri Compromise
The Monroe Doctrine
The Election of 1824
The Adams Administration
Conclusion: Republican Simplicity Becomes Complex
11. The Expanding Republic, 1815-1840
The Market Revolution
Improvements in Transportation
Factories, Workingwomen, and Wage Labor
Bankers and Lawyers
Booms and Busts
DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "Mill Girls Stand Up to Factory Owners, 1834"
The Spread of Democracy
Popular Politics and Partisan Identity
The Election of 1828 and the Character Issue
Jackson's Democratic Agenda
Jackson Defines the Democratic Party
Indian Policy and the Trail of Tears
The Tariff of Abominations and Nullification
The Bank War and Economic Boom
Cultural Shifts, Religion, and Reform
The Family and Separate Spheres
The Education and Training of Youths
The Second Great Awakening
The Temperance Movement and the Campaign for Moral Reform
Organizing against Slavery
BEYOND AMERICA'S BORDERS: "Transatlantic Abolition"
Van Buren's One-Term Presidency
The Politics of Slavery
Elections and Panics
SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "Going Ahead or Gone to Smash: An Entrepreneur Struggles in the 1830s"
Conclusion: The Age of Jackson or the Era of Reform?
12. The New West and the Free North, 1840-1860
Economic and Industrial Evolution
Agriculture and Land Policy
Manufacturing and Mechanization
Railroads: Breaking the Bonds of Nature
Free Labor: Promise and Reality
The Free-Labor Ideal
Economic Inequality
Immigrants and the Free-Labor Ladder
VISUALIZING HISTORY: "The Path of Progress"
BEYOND AMERICA'S BORDERS: "Global Prosperity in the 1850s"
The Westward Movement
Manifest Destiny
Oregon and the Overland Trail
The Mormon Exodus
The Mexican Borderlands
Expansion and the Mexican-American War
The Politics of Expansion
The Mexican-American War, 1846-1848
Victory in Mexico
Golden California
Reforming Self and Society
The Pursuit of Perfection: Transcendentalists and Utopians
Woman's Rights Activists
Abolitionists and the American Ideal
Conclusion: Free Labor, Free Men
13. The Slave South, 1820-1860
The Growing Distinctiveness of the South
Cotton Kingdom, Slave Empire
The South in Black and White
The Plantation Economy
DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "Defending Slavery"
Masters and Mistresses in the Big House
Paternalism and Male Honor
The Southern Lady and Feminine Virtues
HISTORICAL QUESTION: "How Often Were Slaves Whipped?"
Slaves in the Quarter
Work
Family and Religion
Resistance and Rebellion
The Plain Folk
Plantation Belt Yeomen
Upcountry Yeomen
Poor Whites
The Culture of the Plain Folk
Black and Free: On the Middle Ground
Precarious Freedom
Achievement despite Restrictions
The Politics of Slavery
The Democratization of the Political Arena
Planter Power
Conclusion: A Slave Society
14. The House Divided, 1846-1861
The Bitter Fruits of War
The Wilmot Proviso and the Expansion of Slavery
The Election of 1848
Debate and Compromise
The Sectional Balance Undone
The Fugitive Slave Act
Uncle Tom's Cabin
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
Realignment of the Party System
The Old Parties: Whigs and Democrats
The New Parties: Know-Nothings and Republicans
The Election of 1856
BEYOND AMERICA'S BORDERS: "Filibusters: The Underside of Manifest Destiny"
Freedom under Siege
"Bleeding Kansas"
The Dred Scott Decision
Prairie Republican: Abraham Lincoln
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "A Purse of Her Own: Petitioning for the Right to Own Propert"
The Union Collapses
The Aftermath of John Brown's Raid
Republican Victory in 1860
Secession Winter
Conclusion: Slavery, Free Labor, and the Failure of Political Compromise
15. The Crucible of War, 1861-1865
"And the War Came"
Attack on Fort Sumter
The Upper South Chooses Sides
The Combatants
How They Expected to Win
Lincoln and Davis Mobilize
Battling It Out, 1861-1862
Stalemate in the Eastern Theater
Union Victories in the Western Theater
The Atlantic Theater
International Diplomacy
Union and Freedom
From Slaves to Contraband
From Contraband to Free People
The War of Black Liberation
SEEKING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "The Right to Fight: Black Soldiers in the Civil War"
The South at War
Revolution from Above
Hardship Below
The Disintegration of Slavery
The North at War
The Government and the Economy
Women and Work at Home and at War
Politics and Dissent
Grinding Out Victory, 1863-1865
Vicksburg and Gettysburg
Grant Takes Command
The Election of 1864
The Confederacy Collapses
HISTORICAL QUESTION: "Why Did So Many Soldiers Die?"
Conclusion: The Second American Revolution
16. Reconstruction, 1863-1877
Wartime Reconstruction
"To Bind Up the Nation's Wounds"
Land and Labor
The African American Quest for Autonomy
DOCUMENTING THE AMERICAN PROMISE: "The Meaning of Freedom"
Presidential Reconstruction
Johnson's Program of Reconciliation
White Southern Resistance and Black Codes
Expansion of Federal Authority and Black Rights
Congressional Reconstruction
The Fourteenth Amendment and Escalating Violence
Radical Reconstruction and Military Rule
Impeaching a President
The Fifteenth Amendment and Women's Demands
The Struggle in the South
Freedmen, Yankees, and Yeomen
Republican Rule
White Landlords, Black Sharecroppers
HISTORICAL QUESTION: "What Did the Ku Klux Klan Really Want?"
VISUALIZING HISTORY: "A Post-Slavery Encounter"
Reconstruction Collapses
Grant's Troubled Presidency
Northern Resolve Withers
White Supremacy Triumphs
An Election and a Compromise
Conclusion: "A Revolution But Half Accomplished"
