A Documentary History of the United States | Complete Guide

Author(s): Robert J. Norick, ed.Language Arts: Topic(s) American history and culture, United States History, History of the American Revolution, Primary Sources, Civil War, United States Civil War, Confederacy, The Confederacy, Social Studies, History, Research Skills. Grades: 11-12.

INTRODUCTION 

In one of the most useful and important collections of primary sources for the general reader A Documentary History of the United States, Richard D. Heffner has brought together the documents. This text offers the students the content of history (speeches, letters, court decisions and legislation) and invites them to draw their own conclusions, rather than be told what conclusions to draw about history. This book begins with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the two basic documents of American government and then takes a chronological look at each of the most significant crises and turning points in American history. This anthology is so powerful in its diversity of voices, rulings, and debates – some of them controversial and some abhorrent – because it does not only celebrate American accomplishments, it does include dissenting voices, controversial rulings, and painful debates on slavery, war, and inequality. These documents acquaint the reader with the Federalist Papers which were proponents of the new U.S. Constitution and anti-Federalist concerns about concentration of power. They read the Bill of Rights as a promise to the people to be free, and understand the efforts of future generations to make this freedom more inclusive. It includes topics on expansionism of manifest destiny, moralism of Abolition, the problems of Reconstruction, the long struggle for women's suffrage, Supreme Court decisions, and the struggle for civil rights in the Twentieth Century.

In this collection, it is an experiment that never ends and is constantly challenged and remade by successive generations of Democracy – it's about the lived experience of Democracy. Heffner's introductions are useful to serve as a backdrop, but the documents themselves are the main attraction, and readers are allowed to hear Jefferson, Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Martin Luther King Jr., and more speak in their unedited voices. In each of these twelve thematic pillars the book organizes American history, and it is important to read original documents because of the complexity and sometimes contradiction of the American story to its founding ideals.

SECTION 2 THE NEW REPUBLICS – THE POWERS OF THE FEDERAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS 

Chapters 1-5 lead the reader to the dramatic years 1776-1789. The Declaration of Independence, which Thomas Jefferson is the principal author of, is more than a document that separates from Britain; it's a philosophical statement, based on the ideas of John Locke, that state that there are natural rights. The immortal words “all men are created equal” that Jefferson spoke became a touchstone for all of American history. The Declaration was, however, just the beginning. The challenging problem that lay ahead for the founders was how to create an effective and unifying government for the thirteen different colonies. This led to a compromise which was codified in the Constitution, which he calls a “bundle of compromises”. It found a compromise between big states and little states with the Great Compromise, between the terrible issue of slavery with the Three Fifths Compromise, and between the three branches of government to prevent tyranny. It was not, however, an easy one to achieve the ratification of the Constitution. It was backed by the Federalists, who wrote eight-five essays into the Federalist Papers, which discussed and advocated the new frame of government, notably by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. Perhaps the best known of these was Federalist No. 10, which discussed how a large republic can better check the threats of faction than a small democracy can. Heffner shares several of these papers, for readers to taste the intellectual vigor behind the Constitution. What makes this section special is that the opposition is not "cleaned" of comments that Heffner does not like (Heffner's government was a threat to a tyrannical central government), but rather is "enriched" with them. The evenhanded presentation makes this book a true record of debate and uncertainty, of the messy process of nation-building. A summary of a reading guide of the Federalist Papers is far less useful to students than the Federalist Papers themselves read with the Constitution. You read the Founders in their very sophisticated language, you see the logic, you hear the fears, you hear the hopes. At the end of this section, readers will have come to realize that the United States did not start in the best of all possible worlds, but that it was born in a manner that did provide for constant improvement—a manner based on primary sources which today still have a powerful voice.

Expansion and conflict: Manifest destiny and abolition 

But as the fledgling nation expand, so do their ambitions. The 19th century was a time of expansion westward and an increasing belief that the people of this new nation were destined to spread their way of life from the Atlantic to the Pacific, referred to as Manifest Destiny. Heffner gives documents to students to prove to them the excitement and the moral numbness of this time. President James K. Polk informed Congress of the justification for the Mexican-American War and editorials in the newspapers encouraged people to move into Indian territory, often resulting in violence. However, during the course of the war, another type of movement was picking up momentum: Abolition. Some of the most raucous and virulent documents in American history were written in a great moral crusade to abolish slavery. Heffner also cites Frederick Douglass' speeches and writings, as well as his two autobiographies, in which the former slave condemned "the hypocrisy of a people who are free. William Lloyd Garrison was the first to make a strong case for the most urgent and unconditional emancipation in The Liberator's hot editorials. The papers from this section depict a country split into two groups, one thirsty for empire and expansion, the other calling for the country to live up to the ideals of equality in its founding charter. Heffner also includes the infamous Dred Scott v. Sandford decision (1857) that declared that there was no Negro citizen of the United States. The news of this decision brought a shock to the North, stirred the new Republican Party and hastened the nation toward civil war. Heffner sets the writings of the Abolitionists against the writings of Manifest Destiny to call into question a paradox he has had to face: "American greatness and American injustice have been born together. It is not ignored in the primary sources, it's not sanitized, it's not minimized; it's recorded in all its raw conflict, in all its moral arguments and in all its human suffering. This section is a treasure to a student of history because it conveys the lesson that history is not a linear progression; it is tumultuous, painful and often bloody and violent struggle over the very soul of the nation.

The struggle for suffrage was quickly settled and reconstruction was finished after the Revolution.The issue of suffrage was quickly settled after the Revolution, and reconstruction was finished.

After the Civil War, the question of freedom was not resolved and slavery meant to be abolished. The most illustrative paper in the entire collection is to be found in the Reconstruction section (1865-1877) of Heffner's. In this section readers will find the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to ensure that people of all races receive equal protection under the law, that all races are allowed to vote, and that slavery is abolished. In theory, these changes had been revolutionary; before the amendments there had been a clause in the Constitution that allowed slavery, but after the amendments the Constitution guaranteed equal citizenship. Heffner also has documents laying bare how Reconstruction was sabotaged, by President Andrew Johnson's vetoes of civil rights bills, by the emergence of Black Codes in the south and, most notably, by Supreme Court decisions that effectively stripped the Fourteenth Amendment of its protections. He also brings in the testimony of former slaves before Congress on the violence and intimidation they suffered. These are the most successful documentary history based testimonies – nothing can be neutral about these. Simultaneously, another revolution was taking place: the fight for women’s Suffrage. Heffner also provides a copy of the Declaration of Sentiments of the Seneca Falls Convention (1848), which reads “all men and women are created equal.” He also has quotes from Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth's famous “Ain't I a Woman?” speech. The fight for equality was a fight for gender, class and power as well as race. The suffragists were disappointed when the Fifteenth Amendment was adopted giving blacks the right to vote, but not women. They are a disappointment in the documents, but do give some indication of the conflicts within the reform movements and the issues facing the activists when making decisions. His inclusion of the Reconstruction and suffrage papers are proof that he is not attempting to tell a sanitized and unambiguous tale about progress, but a messy one, a tale that's even contentious, in which groups fought for their place in the American promise. These sources remind people that democracy is a gift of the people, not of上面.

The Supreme Court and Civil Rights in the 20th Century 

Heffner gives some attention to Supreme Court involvement in social policy in the twentieth century, where new challenges and opportunities emerged for American Democracy. Not all progressive legislation passed by the Legislature was a law upheld by the Court, however, during the early part of this century, the Court would rule in favor of race segregation in the now famous Plessy v. Ferguson case (1896) and in favor of progressive labor laws. Heffner has included this decision, and the dissenting opinion by Justice Harlan, which states that the Constitution is color-blind. Harlan's words would turn out to be prophetic. In Heffner's case, the Court reversed its decision after a number of years in the Brown v. Board of Education case (1954). The unanimous decision was that segregated schools were “inherently unequal” and it marked the opening of the modern-day Civil Rights movement. When compared to other parts of the Court, the papers in this section, as well as other times depending on the composition of the Court and the social climate at that time, show the conservative side of the Court. But it wasn't the Court alone that was changing. Heffner has compiled the writings of civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr, who wrote his “ Letter from Birmingham Jail” while he was incarcerated for his protests, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee which delivered their opening speeches. They are not dry papers but fervent calls for justice by simple men and women who put their lives at stake for equality. It is a masterpiece of moral reasoning, written in the margin of a newspaper by the King who was incarcerated, and linked struggles for black equality with belief in natural law and Christian ethics in America. Heffner also speaks about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which marked the culmination of grassroots activity that prompted laws to be passed. Heffner's inclusion of Supreme Court decisions with protest papers provides a complete perspective on the ways in which social change is shaped in America: not only by the courts and Congress, but by the constant pressure of ordinary people organizing, marching and saying "no" to injustice.

Primary sources and “ongoing experiment” 

Heffner's book is always a good read, and is generally quite faithful to the primary sources. He's no summary man, he's a history man. There are many profound implications for students and readers in general with this strategy. In the first step, the primary sources challenge the readers. A textbook is a filtered and interpreted version, when you read it. Whether you're reading the Constitution or a Supreme Court dissent or a suffragist's diary, any reading is a detective operation in which you determine the tone, the bias, the context and the meaning for yourself. Second, primary sources are not simplified nor determined. History as taught in a text book is like destiny: The Revolution has occurred, Slavery has been abolished, rights have been gained. But it's clear from reading the debates that things were very uncertain. The Founders were in an acrimonious dispute. People who were against the abolitionists were considered extremists. Suffragists were ridiculed. The civil rights activists were beaten and jailed. The documents show that progress would never be guaranteed, and it would have to be through struggle, sacrifice and even failure. Third, Heffner's book is a proof of the fact that Democracy is an experiment which has no end. The People in the title of this document, has a much greater connotation than the Constitution first said: “We the People.” The papers in this book show that growth, from the white male property owner to all men, to women, to 18 year olds. The visions of the founders have needed to be translated every time and by each generation. This doesn't seem to be a bug, it's a feature! No democracy will survive if it won't change. The documentary history (now supplemented by his grandson Alexander B. Heffner) is a valuable guide to citizens to understand what happened during the events, why it happened and how it might be learned. One would not expect the courage of the citizen who would sit down and read the words of Jefferson, Lincoln, Douglass, Stanton, King and many others in this age of sound bites and social media. It reminds us that we live in history, and are not only amongst its products.

CONCLUSION 

A Documentary History of the United States is far from a textbook or even a reference handbook. It's a conversation with history, a conversation with the present, a conversation with the liberated and disenfranchised, a conversation with the ideals of 1776, and the facts of 1777. The book's selection of primary sources vividly portrays the documents that established the ground rules of the American experiment: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers and the Bill of Rights. It then takes the reader into the heartbreaking dilemmas of Manifest Destiny and the moral righteousness of the Abolition movement, the broken promises of Reconstruction, and the determined activism of the Suffrage movement. It focuses on the changing nature of the Supreme Court's role as an institution for interpreting the law and upholding — or undermining — Civil Rights. At all times it reminds us that Democracy is a battle that never ends. What's special about the collection is that Heffner never veers off the beaten track when it comes to easy answers. Rather, it provides the ingredients for citizens to make their own evaluation. It provides people with room to contemplate, “Are we keeping to our founding principles?” Where were we guilty? What do we do well and what do we need to improve? These are not academic concerns, but real-world concerns of a republic. We are having new challenges in the 21st century: Economic inequality, racial injustice, polarization and global crises; let's return to the documentary record. From the lessons of the past we have perspective, if anything.What went wrong in the past can provide us with a perspective, if not answers. It reminds me that there were times when America was divided and that it is possible for it to be overcome (though not a foreign one).It makes us remember America has been divided once before, and it was possible to rise up (in a painful way but in a persistent one). This is the large moral of this excellent book: the history of the United States is not complete and WE are the historians.