PART I: DISCOVERY AND EARLY SETTLEMENT Introduction / 1 1 Fernando Colon: The Life of the Admiral Christopher Columbus / 3 Columbus' son provides an account of his father's explorations in a narrative beginning in September of 2 Bartolome de Las Casas: The Destruction of the Indies / 14 Las Casas' shocking reports of the horrors of Spanish conquest, many of ivhicli he witnessed. 3 Chief Elias Johnson: On the Founding of the Indian Nations / 19 From his 1881 book of tribal recollection, Chief Johnson tells the story of the formation in about 15/0 of the Iroquois Confederacy. 4 John White: The Lost Colony of Roanoke I 22 The colonial governor recounts the fate of the 1587 settlement. 5 Father Paul Le Jeune: Encounter with the Indians / 31 A Jesuit missionary’s 1634 description of native- American life shows the development of fundamental misunderstandings between whites and native Americans. 6 John Smith: Description of Virginia I 38 With a mixture of admiration, distrust, and disapproval, Captain Smith describes the native Americans he and other settlers encountered during the colonization of Virginia in the early 1600s. 7 To William Pond: A Letter from Massachusetts Bay I 42 A settler describes the harsh conditions prevailing in the New England colony in the 1630s. 8 Cotton Mather et al.: Children in Colonial America I 45 Letters, public records, sermons, and legal documents demonstrate attitudes toivard children in pre-Revolutionary America. Questions for Part 1/57 PART II: FROM COLONIES TO REPUBLIC Introduction / 59 9 Mary Jemison: Captured by the Indians / An. eighteenth-century white woman describes her assimilation into native-American culture. 10 Gottlieb Mittelberger: On the Misfortune of Indentured Servants / 68 A young German describes his 1750 arrival in America and the sale of labor and freedom in exchange for trans-Atlantic passage. 11 Olaudah Equiano: The African Slave Trade I 73 An important eyewitness account of the African slave trade from a kidnapped Ibo prince. 12 Michel-Guillaume-Jean de Crevecoeur: What Is an American? / 79 In a letter published in 1782, a French-born farmer, consul, and writer tries to define the character of an American. 13 Thomas Preston: An Account of the Boston Massacre / 87 The 1770 massacre witnessed by a British soldier. 14 George R. T. Hewes: A Patriot Shoemaker I 91 A rare opportunity to see an ordinary citizen taking a great part in a great historical event, the Boston Tea Party. 15 English Cartoonists View the American Revolution / 97 English cartoons such as these became a major form of political commentary in the era of the American revolution. 16 Thomas Paine: On the Colonial Army's Retreat from New York I 103 In his 1776 pamphlet, The Crisis, Paine describes the status of the conflict between the colonies and Britain. 17 Joseph Plumb Martin: A Soldier's View of Victory at Yorktown I 110 A loyal common soldier views the fundamental realities of the American Revolution. Questions for Part II / 119 PART III: THE GROWTH OF A NEW NATION Introduction / 121 18 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark: Crossing the Great Divide / 122 Two explorers and naturalists relate their often harrowing experiences in journeying to the Pacific Northwest. 19 Peter Cartwright: Autobiography of a Circuit Rider / 131 A Methodist evangelist describes his career in religion and preaching in the early 1800s. 20 John Ross: The Trail of Tears / 140 Ross epitomized the politically astute Indian who competed with whites and fought against Cherokee removal from the tribe's Georgia home. 21 John Doyle: A Young Irishman Comes to America, 1818 I 148 A young Irishman who adapted quickly and well to his new life in America. 22 James Fenimore Cooper: Shooting Pigeons / 151 In his 1823 novel, Pioneers, Cooper provides a vivid description of environmental destruction. 23 Ramon Martinez Caro: Santa Anna Loses Texas I 157 An account of the battle of San Jacinto by an active participant on the Mexican side. 24 Edward Gould Buffum: Six Months in the Gold Mines / 166 The California gold rush reported by a former army lieutenant. 25 Harriet Hanson Robinson: The Lowell Textile Workers / 174 Robinson tells of her experiences and observations as a young factory zvorker in the 1830s. 26 Priscilla Merriman Evans: Pulling a Handcart to the Mormon Zion I 183 The pregnant Mrs. Evans arrived in Salt Lake City in 1856 after walking much of the way from Iowa City. Questions for Part III / 194 PART IV: REFORM, SLAVERY, CIVIL WAR, AND RECONSTRUCTION Introduction / 195 27 Timothy Shay Arthur: Ten Nights in a Bar Room / 197 Popular in its time, this attack on the tavern is part of the antebellum crusade against alcohol. 28 Charles Ball, Josiah Henson, Francis Henderson, Jacob Stroyer, and Peter Randolph: Life under the Lash I 205 Accounts of life on the plantation from former slaves who had escaped to freedom. 29 Henry Merrell: Creating Industry in the Antebellum South I 214 New York born, Merrell spent most of his adult life developing industries such as textile mills pre-Civil War. 30 The Index of American Design: Playthings / 220 Toys, made at home or by artisans, document the material culture of early Americans. 31 Harriet Jacobs: A Perilous Passage in the Life of a Slave Girl / 224 Writing under a pseudonym, a woman slave tells of her sexual exploitation. 32 Harriet Tubman: A Biography by Her Contemporaries I 235 From an 1865 publication comes a description of the early life of Harriet Tubman, based on a series of interviews. 33 Sojourner Truth: Two Speeches / 242 In speeches delivered in 1851 and 1853, the former slave links abolitionist ideas with demands for women's rights. 34 Thomas Henry Tibbles: With Old John Brown in Kansas I 245 A journalist recounts events he witnessed at age sixteen in "Bleeding Kansas." 35 Clara Barton: Nursing on the Firing Line / 252 The "angel of the battlefields" tells of her experiences of war in Victorian times. 36 George Ward Nichols: Marching with Sherman's Army / 261 Sherman's campaign through Georgia and the Carolinas. 37 Pauline DeCaradeuc Heyward: A Southern Woman's Wartime Journal I 268 A report of Sherman's march from the Southern point-of-view, a woman on a South Carolina plantation. 38 Felix Harwood et al.: African Americans' Reactions to Reconstruction / 273 Interviews conducted in the 1930s capture the experiences of former slaves in the years following the Civil War. 39 Sarah Jane Foster: Teacher of the Freedmen / 279 An educator and missionary from Maine, the author thought that prejudice against black men would melt The Grimes Family Papers: A Sharecrop Contract I 286 A Document provides an example of a new economic arrangement that became common m the South of the 1870s and 80s Questions for Part IV / 289