John Majewski

I really enjoyed reading primary documents along with textbook for my 19th century history class. The dozens of documents encompass all sides and viewpoints, divided into 20 chapters in three sections: Republican America; Race, Slavery, and Civil War; The Progressive Era. Not surprisingly the styles and approaches are varied. I now know more about myself when I say that I am progressive. I felt more empathy with the authors gathered under this label. reading these and the others also helped me to see logical fallacies, value systems, conclusions drawn on limited information. But even the most rabid authors had at least a few valid observations or arguments, so nobody was black or white. The editor of the book is a professor at UCSB. He ave us one lecture during the course. He had the energy of a motivational speaker running around on the stage with a headmike, showing moveclips, animating powerpoints. I could admire not just his knowledge but his presentation.

@Amazon

Behold the book’s contents:

PART I: REPUBLICAN AMERICA, 1830 – 1850

Ch1. Andrew Jackson Vetoes the Second Bank of the US; Andrew Jackson, “Veto Message” (July 10, 1832)

Ch2. Godey’s Lady’s Book Promotes Domestic Ideology

* Female Education (December, 1830)
* Editors’ Table (February 1841)
* Remarkable Women (November 1834)

Ch3. Sarah Grimke Calls for Greater Equality; “On the Condition of Women in the US” (Brookline, 1837)

Ch4. The Seneca Falls Convention Advocates Complete Equality; “The First Convention Ever Called to Discuss the Civil and Political Rights of Women” (Seneca Falls, NY., July 19, 20, 1848); Declaration of Sentiments

PART II: RACE, SLAVERY, AND CIVIL WAR

Ch1. Amos Kendall Justifies Censorship of the Mails; “Postmaster General Amos Kendall’s Report on the Delivery of Abolition Materials in the Southern States” (1835)

Ch2. George Fitzhugh Attacks Wage Labor; “Cannibals All!” (1859)

Ch3. William H. Seward Calls for Support of the New Republican Party; “The Dangers of Extending Slavery, and the Contest and the Crisis” (1855)

Ch4. Hinton Rowan Helper Attacks Slavery; “The Impending Crisis” (1857)

Ch5. Republicans Adopt a Strong Antislavery Platform; “Republican National Platform, Adopted at Chicago” (1860)

Ch6. South Carolinians Justify Secession; “The Address of the People of South Carolina, Assembled in Convention, to the People of the Slaveholding States of the United States” (December 1860)

Ch7. Refugees from Slavery Flood Northern Lines; “Report of a Committee of Representatives of New York Yearly Meeting of Friends [Quakers”> Upon the Condition and Wants of the Colored Refugees” (December 1862)

Ch8. Lincoln’s Position on Slavery Gradually Changes

* Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address (March 1861)
* Letter to Horace Greeley (August 1862)
* Emancipation Proclamation (January 1863)
* Letter to James C. Conkling (August 1863)
* Second Inaugural Address (March 1865)

Ch9. Frederick Douglass Advocates Suffrage for African Americans; “What the Black Man Wants” (1864)

PART III: THE PROGRESSIVE ERA

Ch1. Theodore Roosevelt Articulates a New Nationalism; “The New Nationalism” (1910)

Ch2. Jane Addams Analyzes the Motivations of the Settlement House Movement (1910)

Ch3. Booker T. Washington Advocates Economic Advancement (1895)

Ch4. W. E. B. Du Bois Criticizes Booker T. Washington (1903)

Ch5. Elizabeth Cady Stanton Justifies Complete Equality; “The Solitude of Self” (1892)

Ch6. Jane Addams Extends Domestic Ideology to Municipal Government; “Why Women Should Vote” (1915)

Ch7. Suffrage Leaders Develop Sophisticated Political Tactics; “Suffragist” Machine Perfected in all States Under Mrs.Catt’s Rule (1917)… (mais)