i. from colony to constitution: 1620---
a. colonial mind
john smith: a description of new england excerpt 1616
mayflower compact 1620
john winthrop: the little speech excerpt 1639
roger williams: the bloody tenet of persecution, for cause of
conscience excerpt 1644
benjamin franklin: the way to wealth 1757
b. making the revolution
samuel adams: the rights of the colonists excerpt 1772
patrick henry: give me liberty or give me death 1775
thomas jefferson: declaration of independence 1776
thomas paine: the american crisis i excerpt 1777
c. american character and thoughts on the constitution
hector st. john de crevecoeur: letters from an american farmer what
is an american excerpt1782
james madison: the federalist essays no. 10 1787
george washington: first inaugural address 1789
ii. democratic development and cultural formation:1820--1863
a. development and democracy
andrew jackson: the majority is to govern excerpt 1829
alexis de tocqueville: social condition of the anglo-americansfrom
democracy in america 1835
ralph waldo emerson: the american scholar excerpt 1837
henry david thoreau: civil disobedience excerpt 1848
b. voices of the disadvantaged
elizabeth cady stanton:
the seneca falls declaration of sentiments and resolutions
1848
frederick douglass: speech at the anti-slavery association
excerpt 1848
seattle: the indian''s night promises to be dark 1853
c. causes of the civil war
george fitzhugh: cannibals all! or, slaves without masters
excerpt 1857
abraham lincoln: the emancipation proclamation 1863
iii. reconstruction and industrialization: 1865--1900
a. the american dream: imagination and faith
horatio alger: ragged dick excerpt 1867
walt whitman: democracy excerpt 1867
b. visions of and criticisms about progress
thomas alva edison: on the industrial research laboratory
1887
frederick turner: the significance of the frontier in american
history excerpt 1893
thorstein veblen: "conspicuous consumption"excerpt from the theory
of the leisure class 1899
john dewey: my pedagogic creed excerpt 1897
iv. the rise of the american age: 1900---1950
a. business and entrepreneurialism
john wanamaker: on the department store excerpt 1900
frederick winslow taylor: on scientific management excerpt
1912
henry ford: my life and work excerpt 1922
b. the voice of the oppressed
w.e.b dubois: the souls of black folks excerpt 1903
"manifesto" of industrial workers of the world 1905
c. american ideas
william james: pragmatism excerpt 1907
wooow wilson: the meaning of democracy 1912
h. l. mencken: preface to the american language 1919
herbert hoover: american individualism excerpt 1922
henry fairchild: the melting-pot mistake excerpt 1926
d. the conquer of fear, a vision of american mission and the will
to prevail
franklin d. roosevelt: first inaugural address 1933
henry luce: the american century excerpt 1941
william faulkner: speech on acceptance of the nobel prize
1950
v. contemporary america: dominance and struggle: 1950---2009
a. social criticism and the cold war fanaticism in the
fifties
david riesman: preface to the lonely crowd excerpt 1950
c. wright mills: preface to white collar:the american middle
classes excerpt 1951
joseph mccarthy: speech at wheeling, west virginia excerpt
1950
b. the atomized america: the turbulent sixties
tom hayden: students for a democratic society: the port huron
statement excerpt 1962
martin luther king: letter from the birmingham city jail excerpt
1963
lyndon baines johnson: the great society speech excerpt
1965
betty friedan: our revolution is unique excerpt 1968
c. reclaiming america in the age of the three worlds
henry a. kissinger: strengthening the world economic structure
1975
ronald reagan: farewell address 1988
d. toward the challenges in the new century
michael walzer: what does it mean to be an "american"? excerpt
1990
bill clinton: address before a joint session of congress excerpt
1993
toni morrison: nobel lecture 1993
george w. bush: speech addressed to the congress about the war
against terrorism 2001
samuel p. huntington: anglo-protestant culture excerpt from whoare
we? 2003
barack obama: inaugural address 2009