American historical documents PDF book From (1490 - 1904)

Download American historical documents PDF book From (1490 - 1904) published in 1910.

Columbus

Introduction:

No final history of the United States of America has been written or is likely to be written. Research constantly bring to light new facts that correct details or modify the traditional view of larger questions, and the most impartial historian is subject to personal or sectional bias which leads to his works’ being regarded as imperfect by another generation, or as unfair by the people of parts of the country other than his own. In such a series as the present, then, it is unwise to represent the story of the growth of this nation by the summary of any one scholar.


The alternative has been to place before the reader a selection of the most important documents which record in contemporary terms the great events in the history of the country. Beginning with the personal records of the earliest discoverers of the continent, the selection goes on to present the first attempts at organizing a machinery of government made by the first settlers of the New England colonies; proceeds to the landmarks of the struggle for independence and the formation of the Constitution; shows the laying of the foundation of national policies and of the interpretation of the Constitution; indicates by the texts of the treaties themselves the acquisition of each successive increase of territory, and reveals by the original state papers the main causes and effects of the wars in which the country has from time to time been engaged.


 Read in succession, these documents afford a condensed view of the political progress of the American people; freed from any prejudice save that which swayed the makers of the history themselves.

Contents of the book



The Voyages to Vinland. 5

The Letter of Columbus to Luis de Sant Angel Announcing His Discovery (1493).22

Amerigo Vespucci’s Account of His First Voyage (1497). 29

John Cabot’s Discovery of North America (1497). ,, 47

First Charter of Virginia (1606).51

The Mayflower Compact (1620).62

The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639) ... 63

The Massachusetts Body of Liberties (1641) .... 70

Arbitrary Government Described and the Government of
Massachusetts Vindicated from that Aspersion,

BY John Winthrop (1644).90

The Instrument of Government (1653).113

A Healing Question, by Sir Henry Vane (1656) . . . 126

John Eliot’s Brief Narrative (1670).147

Declaration of Rights (1765).157

The Declaration of Independence (1776).160

The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence (1775) . 166

Articles of Confederation (1777).168

Articles of Capitulation, Yorktown (1781).180

Treaty with Great Britain (1783).185

Constitution of the United States (1787).192

The Federalist, Nos. I and 2 (1787).212

Opinion of Chief Justice Marshall, in the Case of

McCulloch vs. the State of Maryland (1819). 222
Washington’s First Inaugural Address (1789) .... 241

Treaty with the Six Nations (1794).246

Washington’s Farewell Address (1796).250

Treaty with France (Louisiana Purchase) (1803). 267
Treaty with Great Britain (End of War of 1812) (1814) 273
The arrangement as to the Naval Force to be Respectively

Maintained on the American Lakes (1817) . . . 283

HC—Vol. 43(1> 1
Treaty with Spain (Acquisition of Florida) (1819). 286

The Monroe Doctrine (1823).296

Webster-Ashburton Treaty with Great Britain (1842) 299

Treaty with Mexico (1848). 309

Fugitive Slave Act (1850). 3^7

Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address (1861). 334

Emancipation Proclamation. (1863). 344

Haskell’s Account of the Battle of Gettysburg .... 347

Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (1863).441

Proclamation of Amnesty (1863). 442

Lincoln’s Letter to Mrs. Bixby (1864).446

Terms of Lee’s Surrender at Appomattox (1865) . . . 447

Lee’s Farewell to his Army (1865). 449

Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address (1865).450

Proclamation Declaring the Insurrection at an End

(1866). 4 S 3

Treaty with Russia (Alaska Purchase) (1867) . . . 459
The annexation of the Hawaiian Islands (1898) .... 464
Recognition of the Independence of Cuba (1898) . . . 467


Treaty with Spain (Cession of Porto Rico and The Philippines) (1898).469

Convention Between the United States and the Re¬
public OP Panama (1904).478



Author: P F COLLIER & SON COMPANY
   Publication Date:1910

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