Designed to encourage critical thinking about history, the MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN HISTORY series introduces readers to both primary sources and analytical essays on important topics in U.S. history. This collection serves as a primary anthology for introductory U.S. history, covering the subject's entire chronological span. Comprehensive topical coverage includes politics, economics, labor, gender, culture, and social trends. The Third Edition features greater focus on visual and cultural sources throughout. Several chapters now include images, songs and poems to give readers a better "feel" for the time period and events under discussion.
Elizabeth Cobbs, Professor and Dwight E. Stanford Chair of American Foreign Relations at San Diego State University, received her Ph.D. from Stanford University. Her areas of expertise include American diplomatic, economic, and cultural history. Her book, ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE: THE PEACE CORPS AND THE SPIRIT OF THE 1960S (Harvard University Press, 1998), earned rave reviews from academic and popular readers alike. Professor Cobbs has received fellowships from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Organization of American States, and served for six years as a member of the Historical Advisory Council to the U.S. Department of State. In 2004, she held the Mary Ball Washington Chair at University College Dublin through the Fulbright Program. She writes for both scholarly and popular periodicals and is currently authoring a new synthesis of American foreign relations for Harvard University Press. Edward J. Blum, associate professor of history at San Diego State University, earned his B.A. in history from the University of Michigan and his Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky. His first book, REFORGING THE WHITE REPUBLIC: RACE, RELIGION, AND AMERICAN NATIONALISM, 1865-1898 (2005), won the Peter Seaborg Award for Civil War Scholarship, the C. Vann Woodward Dissertation Prize from the Southern Historical Association, and the Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities from the Council of Graduate Schools. His second book, W. E. B. DU BOIS, AMERICAN PROPHET (2007), was a finalist for the Grawemeyer Award in Religion. Both of these works received honorable mention from the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights. In 2007, History News Network named Blum a "Top Young Historian." He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute for Constitutional Studies at George Washington University. Blum is currently writing a history of conceptions of evil during the Civil War era. Jon Gjerde died in October 2008. He was Alexander F. and May T. Morrison professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1982. His areas of expertise included nineteenth-century America with particular reference to immigration and religion, and he published some thirty articles on these subjects. He also published FROM PEASANTS TO FARMERS: THE MIGRATION FROM BALESTRAND, NORWAY, TO THE UPPER MIDDLE WEST (1985) and THE MINDS OF THE WEST: THE ETHNOCULTURAL EVOLUTION OF THE RURAL MIDDLE WEST, 1830-1917 (1997), both of which won the Theodore Saloutos Memorial Book Award of the Immigration History Society for the best book in agricultural history.
1. RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1877. Documents. 1. William Howard Day, an African American Minister, Salutes the Nation and a Monument to Abraham Lincoln, 1865. 2. A Southern Song Opposes Reconstruction, c. 1860s. 3. Louisiana Black Codes Reinstate Provisions of the Slave Era, 1865. 4. President Andrew Johnson Denounces Changes in His Program of Reconstruction, 1867. 5. Congressman Thaddeus Stevens Demands a Radical Reconstruction, 1867. 6. Representative Benjamin Butler Argues That President Andrew Johnson Be Impeached, 1868. 7. Elizabeth Cady Stanton Questions Abolitionist Support for Female Enfranchisement, 1868. 8. Lucy McMillan, a Former Slave in South Carolina, Testifies About White Violence, 1871. 9. Father Abram Ryan Proclaims Undying Love for the Confederate States of America, 1879. 10. Francis Miles Finch Mourns and Celebrates Civil War Soldiers from the South and North, 1879. Essays. Steven Hahn, Continuing the War: White and Black Violence During Reconstruction. David W. Blight, Ending the War: The Push for National Reconciliation. 2. WESTERN SETTLEMENT AND THE FRONTIER. Documents. 1. Brigham Young Exhorts Mormon Pioneers to Plant and Irrigate, 1847. 2. Irish Vocalist Sings of Slaying the Mormon "King," 1865. 3. Katie Bighead (Cheyenne) Remembers Custer and the Battle of Little Big Horn, 1876. 4. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Recommends Severalty and Discusses Custer, 1876. 5. Chief Joseph (Nez Perce) Surrenders, 1877. 6. Wyoming Gunfight: An Attack on Chinatown, 1885. 7. Congress "Relieves" Mission Indians...of Their Water, 1891. 8. Historian Frederick Jackson Turner Articulates His "Frontier Thesis," 1893. 9. Ex-Slave Recalls Migrating Across the Prairie, 1936. Essays. Patricia Nelson Limerick, The Frontier as a Place of Ethnic and Religious Conflict. Donald Worster, The Frontier as the Forefront of Capitalism. 3. INDUSTRIALIZATION, WORKERS, AND THE NEW IMMIGRATION. Documents. 1. Chinese Immigrant Lee Chew Denounces Prejudice in America, 1882. 2. Poet Emma Lazurus Praises the New Colossus, 1883. 3. Immigrant Thomas O'Donnell Laments the Worker's Plight, 1883. 4. Immigrants Crowd Together--By Choice, or Not? 1889. 5. Unionist Samuel Gompers Asks, "What Does the Working Man Want?" 1890. 6. Jurgis Rudkus Discovers Drink in The Jungle, 1905. 7. A Slovenian Boy Remembers Tales of the Golden Country, 1909. 8. Engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor Manufactures the Ideal Worker, 1910. 9. A Polish Immigrant Remembers Her Father Got the Best Food, 1920. Essays. Mark Wyman, Coming and Going: Round Trip to America. Victor Greene, Permanently Lost: The Trauma of Immigration. 4. IMPERIALISM AND WORLD POWER. Documents. 1. President William McKinley Asks for War to Liberate Cuba, 1898. 2. Governor Theodore Roosevelt Praises the Manly Virtues of Imperialism, 1899. 3. Filipino Leader Emilio Aguinaldo Rallies His People to Arms, 1899. 4. The American Anti-Imperialist League Denounces U.S. Policy, 1899. 5. Mark Twain Satirizes "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," 1900. 6. A Soldier Criticizes American Racism in the Philippines, 1902. 7. Argentina Condemns Europe's Collection of Debts by Force, 1902. 8. The Platt Amendment Limits Cuban Autonomy, 1903. 9. The Roosevelt Corollary Makes the United States the Police of Latin America, 1904. Essays. Gail Bederman, Gendering Imperialism: Theodore Roosevelt's Quest for Manhood and Empire. Paul A. Kramer, Racial Imperialism: America's Takeover of the Philippines. 5. THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT. Documents. 1. W. C. T. U. Blasts Drinking and Smoking, and Demands Power to Protect, 1883. 2. Utopian Edward Bellamy Scorns the Callousness of the Rich, 1888. 3. Black Educator Booker T. Washington Advocates Compromise and Self-Reliance, 1901. 4. NAACP Founder W. E. B. DuBois Denounces Compromise on Negro Civil Rights, 1903. 5. Journalist Lincoln Steffens Exposes the Shame of Corruption, 1904. 6. Social Worker Jane Addams Advocates Civic Housekeeping, 1906. 7. Reformer Frederic Howe Compares America and Germany, 1911. 8. Sociologist William Graham Sumner Denounces Reformers' Fanaticism, 1913. 9. Cartoon: The Women's Vote vs. Boss Rule, 1915. Essays. Michael McGerr, Class, Gender, and Race at Home: The American Birthplace of Progressivism. Daniel T. Rodgers, American Progressivism in the Wider Atlantic World. 6. AMERICA IN WORLD WAR I. Documents. 1. President Woodrow Wilson Asks Congress to Declare War, 1917. 2. Senator Robert M. La Follette Passionately Dissents, 1917. 3. A Union Organizer Testifies to Vigilante Attack, 1917. 4. The U.S. Government Punishes War Protesters: The Espionage Act, 1918. 5. Wilson Proposes a New World Order in the "Fourteen Points," 1918. 6. An Ambulance Surgeon Describes What It Was Like "Over There," 1918. 7. A Negro Leader Explains Why Colored Men Fought for America, 1919. 8. Publicist George Creel Recalls Selling the War, 1920. 9. Cartoons Against and for the League of Nations, 1920. Essays. Walter McDougall, Woodrow Wilson: Egocentric Crusader. Robert A. Pastor, Woodrow Wilson: Father of the Future. 7. CROSSING A CULTURAL DIVIDE: THE TWENTIES. Documents. 1. The Governor of California Tells of the "Japanese Problem," 1920. 2. Radio Broadcast: The Modern Church Is No Bridge to Heaven, 1923. 3. Cartoon: Religious "Modernism" Offers Cold Comfort, 1924. 4. Defense Attorney Clarence Darrow Interrogates Prosecutor William Jennings Bryan in the Monkey Trial, 1925. 5. The Ku Klux Klan Defines Americanism, 1926. 6. Margaret Sanger Seeks Pity for Teenage Mothers and Abstinent Couples, 1928. 7. The Automobile Comes to Middletown, U.S.A., 1929. 8. Langston Hughes: Poet of the 1920s Harlem Renaissance. 9. Young Women Discuss Petting, 1930. Essays. Paula S. Fass, Sex and Youth in the Jazz Age. Edward J. Larson, Fundamentalists Battle Modernism in the Roaring Twenties. 8. THE DEPRESSION, THE NEW DEAL, AND FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. Documents. 1. Song of the Depression: "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" 1931. 2. President Herbert Hoover Applauds Limited Government, 1931. 3. A Journalist Investigates the Charges Against the Scottsboro Boys, 1931. 4. Business Leader Henry Ford Advocates Self-Help, 1932. 5. The Nation Asks, "Is It to Be Murder, Mr. Hoover?" 1932. 6. President Franklin Roosevelt Says Government Must Act, 1933. 7. Father Charles Coughlin Denounces FDR and Proposes a Third Party, 1936. 8. Social Security Advisers Consider Male and Female Pensioners, 1938. 9. John Steinbeck Portrays the Outcast Poor in The Grapes of Wrath, 1939. Essays. David M. Kennedy, FDR: Advocate for the American People. Burton Folsom, FDR: Architect of Ineffectual Big Government. 9. THE ORDEAL OF WORLD WAR II. Documents. 1. American Missionaries Speak Out about the Rape of Nanking, 1937. 2. Nurses Rush to Aid the Wounded on the U.S. Naval Base in Hawaii, 1941. 3. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill Reacts to Pearl Harbor, 1941. 4. Roosevelt Identifies the "Four Freedoms" at Stake, 1941. 5. Norman Rockwell Depicts "Freedom From Want" for the Office of War Information. 6. A Japanese American Recalls the Effect of Internment on Family Unity, 1942. 7. An African American Soldier Notes the "Strange Paradox" of the War, 1944. 8. A Nisei Soldier Honored with Gold Star--and by Jackie Robinson, 1944. 9. General Dwight Eisenhower Testifies to the German Concentration Camps, 1945. Essays. John Morton Blum, G.I. Joe: Fighting for Home. Alan Brinkley, American Liberals: Fighting for a Better World. 10. THE COLD WAR AND THE NUCLEAR AGE. Documents. 1. Diplomat George F. Kennan Advocates Containment, 1946. 2. Secretary of Commerce Henry A. Wallace Questions the "Get Tough" Policy, 1946. 3. Soviet Ambassador Nikolai Novikov Sees a U.S. Bid for World Supremacy, 1946. 4. Images of Nuclear Destruction: Atomic Cake vs. Godzilla, 1948 and 1954. 5. The Truman Doctrine Calls for the United States to Become the World's Police, 1947. 6. Senator Joseph McCarthy Describes the Internal Communist Menace, 1950. 7. The Federal Loyalty-Security Program Expels a Postal Clerk, 1954. 8. Life Magazine Reassures Americans "We Won't All Be Dead" After Nuclear War, 1959. 9. President Eisenhower Warns of the Military-Industrial Complex, 1961. Essays. Walter LaFeber, Truman's Hard Line Prompted the Cold War. John Lewis Gaddis, Stalin's Hard Line Prompted a Defensive Response in the United States and Europe. 11. THE POST-WAR "BOOM": AFFLUENCE AND ANXIETY. Documents. 1. A Young American Is "Born on the Fourth of July," 1946. 2. Governor Adlai Stevenson Tells College Women About Their Place in Life, 1955. 3. Good Housekeeping: Every Executive Needs a Perfect Wife, 1956. 4. Life Magazine Identifies the New Teen-age Market, 1959. 5. Newspaper Survey: Are You a Conformist or a Rebel? 1959. 6. Vance Packard Criticizes Religion as a Status Symbol, 1959. 7. Sociologist David Riesman Describes "Other-Directed" Men and Manipulative Children, 1961. 8. Michael Harrington Unveils "The Other America" Outside Suburbia, 1961. 9. Feminist Betty Friedan Explores the Problem That Has No Name, 1959. Essays. John Patrick Diggins, A Decade to Make One Proud. Stephanie Coontz, Families in the Fifties: The Way We Never Were. 12. "WE CAN DO BETTER": THE CIVIL RIGHTS REVOLUTION. Documents. 1. The United Nations Approves a Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948. 2. The Supreme Court Rules on Brown v. Board of Education, 1954. 3. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Defends Seamstress Rosa Parks, 1955. 4. Author Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Remembers Civil Rights on TV, 1957 (1994). 5. Army Veteran Robert Williams Argues "Self-Defense Prevents Bloodshed," 1962. 6. The National Organization for Women Calls for Equality, 1966. 7. Multiracialism (and Detente) on TV: Star Trek, 1967. 8. Mexican Americans Form La Raza Unida, 1968. 9. A Proclamation from the Indians of All Tribes, Alcatraz Island, 1969. 10. Journalist Tom Wolfe Describes the New Politics of Confrontation, 1970. 11. Federal Court Defends Rights of the Retarded, 1971. Essays. Timothy B. Tyson, Robert F. Williams: Change from the Bottom Up. John D. Skrentny, The Minority Rights Revolution: Top Down, Bottom Up, and Sideways. 13. THE SIXTIES: LEFT, RIGHT, AND THE CULTURE WARS. Documents. 1. Young Americans for Freedom Draft a Conservative Manifesto, 1960. 2. President John Kennedy Tells Americans to Ask "What You Can Do," 1961. 3. Bill Moyers Remembers Kennedy's Effect on His Generation (1961), 1988. 4. Students for a Democratic Society Advance a Reform Agenda, 1962. 5. Folk Singer Malvina Reynolds Sees Young People in "Little Boxes," 1963. 6. A Protestor at Columbia University Defends Long Hair and Revolution, 1968. 7. Vice President Spiro Agnew Warns of the Threat to America, 1969. 8. Psychologist Carl Rogers Emphasizes Being "Real" in Encounter Groups, 1970. 9. Carl Wittman Issues a Gay Manifesto, 1969-1970. Essays. Kenneth Cmiel, Sixties Liberalism and the Revolution in Manners. Gerard J. DeGroot, Incivility and Self-Destruction: The Real Sixties. 14. VIETNAM AND THE DOWNFALL OF PRESIDENTS. Documents. 1. French Leader Charles DeGaulle Warns the United States, 1945. 2. Independence Leader Ho Chi Minh Pleads with Harry Truman for Support, 1946. 3. President Dwight Eisenhower Warns of Falling Dominoes, 1954. 4. Defense Analyst John McNaughton Advises Robert McNamara on War Aims, 1965. 5. Undersecretary of State George Ball Urges Withdrawal from Vietnam, 1965. 6. Draftee Sebastian A. Ilacqua Recalls Coming Back to "The World," 1967 (1995). 7. Rock Band "Country Joe and the Fish" Lampoons the Vietnam War, 1968. 8. White House Counsel John W. Dean III Presents the "Enemies List," 1971. 9. Senator Sam J. Ervin Explains the Watergate Crimes, 1974. Essays. Michael Lind, Vietnam: A Necessary War. Mark Atwood Lawrence, Vietnam: A Mistake of the Western Alliance. 15. THE RISE OF THE NEW RIGHT. Documents. 1. Modern Republicanism Seems to Doom the G.O.P., 1957. 2. Country Singer Merle Haggard Is Proud to be an "Okie From Muskogee," 1969. 3. TV's Archie Bunker Sings "Those Were the Days," 1971. 4. Republican Activist Phyllis Schlafly Scorns Feminism, 1977. 5. Californians Lead Tax Revolt, 1978. 6. Reverend Jerry Falwell Calls America Back to the Bible, 1980. 7. President Ronald Reagan Sees a Revitalized America, 1985. 8. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop Recalls the Indifference to AIDS, 1981-1988 (2001). 9. Sierra Club Attacks the President's Policy, 1988. Essays. Dan T. Carter, The Politics of Race and the Rise of the Right. Bruce J. Schulman, A Rejection of Government: Reagan and the Sunbelt. 16. END OF THE COLD WAR, TERRORISM, AND GLOBALIZATION. Documents. 1. A Unionist Blasts the Export of Jobs, 1987. 2. President George H. W. Bush Declares the Cold War Over, 1990. 3. Poster: "No Globalization Without Representation," 1999. 4. Two Workers Flee the Inferno in the Twin Towers, 2001. 5. Senator Robert Byrd Condemns Post-9/11 Foreign Policy, 2003. 6. President George W. Bush Ranks Freedom Above Stability, 2005. 7. ACLU Warns Against the "Patriot Act," 2001. 8. Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Marvels at Obama, 2008. 9. The Great Recession Has Men Grinding Their Teeth, 2010. Essays. Walter LaFeber, Michael Jordan and the New Capitalism: America on Top of Its Game. Thomas L. Friedman, Running to Keep Up: The Perils of Globalization.