Documents and Debates in American History and Government - Vol. 1, 1493-1865

This collection of documents presents American history from 1493 to 1865 as a series of fifteen topics. For each of these, a selection of documents recreates a debate over a particular issue critical to understanding the topic and the corresponding period in American history. Taken together, the debates highlight enduring issues and themes in American life, such as the effort to balance freedom and equality as well as liberty and order; the struggle for inclusion and full participation of African-Americans, women, and working people; the conflict over how America should organize its economy and what role government should have in American economic life; and the argument over how America should use its power in the world. Each chapter has an introduction that provides necessary context and three sets of study questions. The first set (A) cover the documents in the chapter; the second (B), other documents in the volume; and the third (C) documents in the companion volume. Each of the documents is annotated with footnotes that provide biographical information on document authors and identify obscure words, events or individuals.