Book Description

The early years of the American republic witnessed wrenching conflict and change. Northerners created an industrial order, which brought with it new relationships and conflicts at work and within families. Plantation slavery flourished and spread in the South as a powerful anti-slaverymovement took root in the North. Farmers, entrepreneurs, planters, and slaves moved west, sparking widespread conflict with Indians and among white Americans. Numerous groups - African Americans, poor white men, women - fought for citizenship and recognition as equals to other Americans, whileothers opposed their bids for equality. Ordinary citizens fought for the right to participate in politics and, in the process, helped to create a democratic political order.Featuring diaries, letters, speeches, newspaper debates, and memoirs of participants, The Early American Republic: A History in Documents recreates the conflicts and changes of that era. Rebecca Burlend recounts the hardships and victories of life on the Illinois frontier. In a letter to an ally,Thomas Jefferson explains his Indian policy. The Native American leader Tecumseh makes his case for Indian unity against white Americans. James Henry Hammond, a wealthy planter, instructs his overseer on how to manage slaves. Joseph Taper writes his former master about the freedom he enjoys afterescaping to Canada. A blackface minstrel tune and Frederick Douglass's account of being beaten up by white ship workers narrate the entrenchment of racism. A list of instructions from New York Democratic leaders shows how parties drew ordinary voters into politics. Congressional speeches reveal theviolent emotions that fueled the sectional crisis.Author Reeve Huston provides students with a context for understanding the documents and leaves them to interpret events and ideas for themselves. Introducing students to the human drama and to the political, social, and religious passions of the early republic, The Early American Republic: AHistory in Documents provides a deeper understanding of the foundational years of the nation.