Constructing the American Past: A Sourcebook of a People's History, Volume 1 to 1877 [Paperback]

Now published by Oxford University Press,Constructing the American Past: A Source Book of a People's History, Eighth Edition, presents an innovative combination of case studies and primary source documents that allow students to discover, analyze, and construct history from the actors' perspective.Now published by Oxford University Press,Constructing the American Past: A Source Book of a People's History, Eighth Edition, presents an innovative combination of case studies and primary source documents that allow students to discover, analyze, and construct history from the actors' perspective.Beginning with Christopher Columbus and his interaction with the Spanish crown in 1492, and ending in the Reconstruction-era United States,Constructing the American Pastprovides eyewitness accounts of historical events, legal documents that helped shape the lives of citizens, and excerpts from diaries that show history through an intimate perspective. The authors expand upon past scholarship and include new material regarding gender, race, and immigration in order to provide a more complete picture of the past.Each chapter ends with Questions and Additional Reading.Preface and IntroductionChapter 1: Contact and Conquest: the Meeting of Old and New WorldsHistorical ContextThe Documents1. Privileges and Prerogatives Granted by Their Catholic Majesties to Christopher Columbus: 14922. Journal of Christopher Columbus's First Voyage, 14923. Bartolome de Las Casas, from The Cruelties of the Spaniards Committed in America, 15894. FromThe Aztec Account of the Spanish Conquest, Florentine Codex, as Collected by Bernadino de SahagunPostscriptChapter 2: The Founding of Virginia and Massachusetts Bay ColoniesHistorical ContextDying and Surviving in VirginiaThe Documents1. Arthur Barlowe, From Narrative of the 1584 Voyage 2. Thomas Harriot, From A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, 15883. GelÀ