A Documentary History of the United States (Revised and Updated)

by Richard D. Heffner, Alexander B. Heffner

Overview

Here, in a single volume, are the documents, speeches, and letters that have forged American history, now updated with new content such as Trump's inaugural address.

Accompanied by interpretations of their significance by noted historian Richard D. Heffner and journalist Alexander Heffner, this book includes important documents such as:

The complete text of the Declaration of Independence

The complete Constitution of the United States

The Monroe Doctrine

The Emancipation Proclamation

Woodrow Wilson's War Message to Congress

Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" Speech

John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech

Ronald Reagan's Inaugural Addresses

Documents relating to September 11, 2001 and the Iraq War

This edition has been expanded and updated to include a chapter on the Presidency of Donald Trump.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780451490018
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/05/2018
Pages:	640
Sales rank:	60,899
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Richard D. Heffner taught history and political science at the University of California, Sarah Lawrence College, the New School for Social Research, and NYU. University Professor of Communications and Public Policy at Rutgers, he also produced and moderated his prizewinning public television series, Richard Heffner's Open Mind, for fifty years. Alexander B. Heffner is a journalist whose writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal,The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inquirer, USA Today, and Newsday among other leading publications. He has been interviewed about politics, education and stories in the news by PBS, C-SPAN, CNN and the BBC, among other national and local broadcast venues. He is the current host of Open Mind, the weekly PBS talk show.

Table of Contents

Foreword xiii

1 A New Nation 1

"Common Sense," Tom Paine 5

The Declaration of Independence 7

2 The Law of The Land 12

The Constitution of the United States 16

The Federalist Number Ten, James Madison 39

3 Federalists V. Republicans 45

On the Constitutionality of the Bank of the United States

Letter from Thomas Jefferson to George Washington 49

Letter from Alexander Hamilton to George Washington 52

4 Neutrality and National Growth 56

George Washington's Farewell Address 59

5 The Jeffersonian Revolution 67

Alien and Sedition Acts 69

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions 72

Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address 77

6 The Power of The Court 81

Marbury v. Madison, Chief Justice John Marshall for the Supreme Court 84

7 A Bold Foreign Policy 90

The Monroe Doctrine, James Monroe 93

8 Jacksonian Democracy 95

On Aristocracy, Letters of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson 98

Veto of the Bank Renewal Bill, Andrew Jackson 106

9 Liberty or Union 113

Daniel Webster's Second Reply to Hayne 116

10 The Abolitionist Crusade 122

The First Issue of The Liberator 125

11 The Sectional Conflict 128

John C. Calhoun on the Slavery Question 131

"The Hireling and the Slave", William J. Grayson 142

12 The Fateful Decade 150

Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions 153

Dred Scott v. Sanford, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney for the Supreme Court 157

13 WAR! 167

Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address 169

14 The Prophet of Democracy 177

The Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln 180

The Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln 182

15 The Conflict over Reconstruction 183

Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address 187

16 The Gilded Age 189

Democratic Vistas, Walt Whitman 193

"Wealth", Andrew Carnegie 198

17 From Frontier to Factory 205

"The Significance of the Frontier in American History", Frederick Jackson Turner 209

Letter on Labor in Industrial Society, Samuel Gompers 218

Atlanta Exposition Address, Booker T. Washington 222

18 Grassroots Rebellion 226

The Populist Party Platform 231

"Cross of Gold" Speech, William Jennings Bryan 236

19 Imperial America 243

"The United States Looking Outward", Alfred T. Mahan 248

Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, Theodore Roosevelt 254

20 The Progressive Ferment 257

The New Nationalism, Theodore Roosevelt 264

The Old Order Changeth, Woodrow Wilson 270

21 The Great Crusade and After 277

War Message to Congress, Woodrow Wilson 284

Fourteen Points, Woodrow Wilson 289

The Pueblo Speech on the League of Nations, Woodrow Wilson 292

22 Boom and Bust 298

"Rugged Individualism", Herbert C. Hoover 303

23 The Roosevelt Revolution 310

Franklin D. Roosevelt's First Inaugural Address 317

"A Rendezvous with Destiny" Speech, Franklin D. Roosevelt 322

N.L.R.B. v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation 326

Helvering et al. v. Davis 329

West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish 331

24 The End of Isolation 334

"Quarantine" Speech, Franklin D. Roosevelt 338

"Four Freedoms" Speech, Franklin D, Roosevelt 343

The Atlantic Charter 350

25 The Cold War 351

The Marshall Plan, George C. Marshall 354

"Sources of Soviet Conduct," George F. Kennan ("X") 357

Acceptance Speech for the Nobel Prize for Literature, William Faulkner 367

26 America at Midcentury 368

Brown v. Board of Education, Chief Justice Earl Warren for the Supreme Court 372

Dwight D. Eisenhower's Farewell Address 377

27 From the New Frontier to the Great Society 380

John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address 385

The American University "Strategy of Peace" Speech, John F. Kennedy 388

Civil Rights Speech, John F. Kennedy 395

The Birmingham City Jail "Unwise and Untimely" Letter, Martin Luther King, Jr. 400

March on Washington "I Have a Dream" Speech, Martin Luther King, Jr. 409

"Great Society" Speech, Lyndon B. Johnson 412

28 Decade of Turmoil 416

The National Organization for Women (NOW) Statement of Purpose 418

"Power of the Media" Speech, Lyndon B. Johnson 423

Public Opinion, Walter Lippmann 428

"Radio and Television News" Speech, Edward R. Murrow 432

"Television and Politics" Speech, Edward R. Murrow 439

"The Importance of Television News" Speech, Spiro T. Agnew 447

House Judiciary Committee Watergate Articles of Impeachment v. Richard M. Nixon 454

Gerald R. Ford's Inaugural Address 458

Potter Stewart, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, on Freedom of the Press, Yale Law School 460

29 Conservatism Revisited 466

Roe v. Wade, Abortion Decision, Associate Justice Harry A. Blackmun for the Supreme Court 469

Senator Barry Goldwater on Conservatism, Religion, and Politics 474

Ronald Reagan's Inaugural Addresses 477

"A Tale of Two Cities" Keynote Address, Democratic National Convention, Governor Mario M. Cuomo 486

30 The End of the American Century 495

31 Republican Contract with America 497

William Jefferson Clinton, State of the Union Address 500

31 America at the Millennium 510

George W. Bush, Washington National Cathedral Prayer Service 515

George W. Bush, Joint Session of Congress 518

Rudolph Giuliani's Farewell Address 525

32 The Politics of Hope … We the People 530

Vice-President Cheney on PBS' NewsHour 539

Vice-President Cheney on CBS' Face the Nation 551

"Folly's Antidote," Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Century Association, New York Times Op-Ed 559

"A More Perfect Union" Speech on Race, Senator Barack Obama 561

Election Night Address, Chicago's Grant Park, President-Elect Barack Obama 572

Barack Obama's First Inaugural Address 576

Barack Obama's Second Inaugural Address 582

33 Populists Revolt … Democracy Under Duress 587

@realDonaldTrump Tweets 591

Senator Bernie Sanders, New Hampshire Primary Victory Speech 593

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Posts 597

Donald J. Trump's Inaugural Address 600

"My Dad Predicted the Rise of Trump-in 1985," Andrew Postman 604

Senator Jeff Flake's Retirement Announcement 608

Excerpts from the Senate Select Intelligence Hearing on Social Media Influence in the 2016 Election 613

Editorial Reviews

PRAISE FOR A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
 
“Richard Heffner has assembled a portable canon of American documents that take us across the depth and breadth of our national experience. Here is fertile soil for exploring our past and imagining our future. Present crises notwithstanding, you cannot spend time within these pages and be skeptical of our capacity to overcome, survive, and thrive in the endless, vexing, and robust pursuit of a more perfect union.”—Bill Moyers
 
“For those who want the raw materials of American history, here is the invaluable source. An indispensable contribution to the understanding of our heritage.”—Robert A. Caro, author of the Pulitzer  Prize–winning The Power Broker and the #1 New York Times bestseller Master of the Senate
 
“Whether you are a student of American history, a casual browser, or a speaker in need of a timely quote, you will benefit from having ready access to this excellent collection of important documents from Tom Paine’s Common Sense to Bill Clinton’s 1998 State of the Union Address.”—Derek Bok, Emeritus President and the 300th Anniversary University Professor, Harvard University
 
“Words make history, and Richard Heffner has assembled the most important words that have defined America’s journey from the Revolution to the present. Imaginatively selected and judiciously annotated, the documents in this collection capture the full range of the nation’s colorful, consequential, and often contentious history. Simply the best such anthology available.”—David M. Kennedy, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Freedom from Fear
 
“A superb collection of documents, skillfully edited, with an edifying introduction to each chapter. An indispensable reference work for history buffs.”—Kenneth M. Stampp, author of The Causes of the Civil War
 
“A Documentary History of the United States presents the vital documents of American history with incisive and informed commentary—an invaluable resource for the student, the teacher, and the history buff.”—Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award–winning author of A Thousand Days and A Life in the 20th Century

From the Publisher