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 ofconscience (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 whatis an american (excerpt)(1782)
james madison: the federalist essays no. 10 (1787)

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 ofconscience (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 whatis an american (excerpt)(1782)
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-americans(fromdemocracy 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 americanhistory (excerpt) (1893)
thorstein veblen: "conspicuous consumption"(excerpt from the theoryof 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)
woo&ow 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 willto 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 thefifties
david riesman: preface to the lonely crowd (excerpt) (1950)/
c. wright mills: preface to white collar:the american middleclasses (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 huronstatement (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 waragainst terrorism (2001)
samuel p. huntington: anglo-protestant culture (excerpt from whoarewe?) (2003)
barack obama: inaugural address (2009)