We Are the American People: Our Nation's History through Its Documents, Volume I

Chapter 1:  Native America Through European Eyes: Strange and Disgusting Savages or Honest, Spiritual People?

Document 1.1 A Maidu Account of the Beginning of the World  

Document 1.2 The Iroquois Explain How the World Begins on a Turtle's Back 

Document 1.3 The Creation as Told in Genesis  

Document 1.4 Christopher Columbus: Journal Excerpts, First Voyage, 1492  

Document 1.5 Father Paul LeJeune Describes the Matagnais  

Document 1.6 Unknown Jesuits' Comparison of French and Native Lifestyles  

Document 1.7 Joseph-Francois Lafitau Compares American Natives to Primitive Societies  

Document 1.8 A Dutch View of the Mohawk Indians in the New Netherlands  

Document 1.9 Captain John Smith Describes the Native Inhabitants of Virginia  

Document 1.10 Thomas Morton Apprises the Indians of New England  

Document 1.11 Chief Powhatan Addresses Captain John Smith  

Chapter 2:  Justifying the "New England Way": The Puritans in Their Own Words

Document 2.1 William Bradford, the Mayflower Compact, November 11, 1620  

Document 2.2 John Winthrop, "A Modell of Christian Charity," 1630  

Document 2.3 Thomas Hooker, The Importance of Community, 1648  

Document 2.4 John Winthrop's Journal Discusses the Importance of Fair Prices  for the Community, 1639  

Document 2.5 Sumptuary Laws of Massachusetts, 1651  

Document 2.6 The Old Deluder Act, 1647  

Document 2.7 Crime, Punishment, and Preserving Social Order in a Puritan Community, Suffolk County Court Records, 1671-1673

Document 2.8 Proper Behaviors in Puritan Massachusetts, 1675  

Document 2.9 Coping with Licentiousness and Unlicensed Trade  

Document 2.10 The Case Against Anne Hutchinson: A Threat to the Stability of Family, Church and Community  

Chapter 3:  Opportunity for All? Rich and Poor in Colonial America

Document 3.1 Richard Frethorne Describes Life as an Indentured Servant in Virginia  

Document 3.2 Legal Rulings Against Indentured Servants in Virginia, 1640

Document 3.3 Former Indentured Servant George Alsop Praises the System, Maryland, 1666   61

Document 3.4 The Maryland Gazette, Sales Notices for Skilled Slaves, 1748-1763 

Document 3.5 Letters Home from Indentured Servant Elizabeth Sprigs, 1756  

Document 3.6 Job Johnson Praises Immigration to America, 1767  

Document 3.7 Gabriel Thomas Describes Conditions in Pennsylvania, 1698  

Document 3.8 Life among the Wealthy: William Byrd of Virginia, 1710-1711  

Document 3.9 Robert Parke Explains Why America Is Good for Free Men with Money, 1725  

Document 3.10 Dr. Alexander Hamilton Observations on His Travels in North America, 1744  

Chapter 4:  The American Revolution: Traitors in an Evil Rebellion or Simple Citizens Defending Their Rights?

Document 4.1 Reverend Jonathan Mayhew on Liberty in America  

Document 4.2 Samuel Seabury: An Anglican Minister's Perspective  

Document 4.3 "An Anonymous Account of the Boston Massacre"  

Document 4.4 Captain Thomas Preston's Official Account of the Massacre

Document 4.5 Daniel Leonard "Massachusettensis" Denounces the Desire for Independence  

Document 4.6 John