Chapter One: THE MEETING OF CULTURES

Significant Events

America Before Columbus

The Civilizations of the South/The Civilizations of the North/Tribal Cultures

Europe Looks Westward

Commerce and Nationalism/Christopher Columbus/The Conquistadors/The Spanish Empire/Spanish America/Northern Outposts/The Empire at High Tide/Biological and Cultural Exchanges/Africa and America

The Arrival of the English

The Commercial Incentive/The Religious Incentive/The English in Ireland/The French and the Dutch in America/The First English Settlements/Roanoke

Where Historians Disagree: Why Do Historians So Often Differ?

Where Historians Disagree: The American Population Before Columbus

America in the World: The Atlantic Context of Early American History

Conclusion

For Further Reference

Chapter Two: TRANSPLANTATIONS AND BORDERLANDS

Significant Events

The Early Chesapeake

The Founding of Jamestown/Reorganization/Tobacco/Expansion/Exchanges of Agricultural Technology/Maryland and the Calverts/Turbulent Virginia/Bacon's Rebellion

The Growth of New England

Plymouth Plantation/The Expansion of New England/Settlers and Natives/The Pequot War, King Philip's War, and the Technology of Battle

The Restoration Colonies

The English Civil War/The Carolinas/New Netherland, New York, and New Jersey/The Quaker Colonies

Borderlands and Middle Grounds

The Caribbean Islands/Masters and Slaves in the Caribbean/Borderlands and Middle Grounds/The Southwestern Borderlands/The Southeast Borderlands/The Founding of Georgia/Middle Grounds

The Evolution of the British Empire

The Drive for Reorganization/The Dominion of New England/The "Glorious Revolution"

The American Environment: The Other Pilgrims

Conclusion

For Further Reference

Chapter Three: SOCIETY AND CULTURE IN PROVINCIAL AMERICA

Significant Events

The Colonial Population

Indentured Servitude/Birth and Death/Medicine in the Colonies/Women and Families in the Chesapeake/Women and Families in New England/The Beginnings of Slavery in British America/Changing Sources of European Immigration

The Colonial Economies

The Southern Economy/Northern Economic and Technological Life/The Extent and Limits of Technology/The Rise of Colonial Commerce/The Rise of Consumerism

Patterns of Society

The Plantation/Plantation Slavery/The Puritan Community/The Witchcraft Phenomenon/Cities

Awakenings and Enlightenment

The Pattern of Religions/The Great Awakening/The Enlightenment/Education/The Spread of Science/Concepts of Law and Politics

Where Historians Disagree: The Origins of Slavery

Patterns of Popular Culture: Colonial Almanacs

Conclusion

For Further Reference

Chapter Four: THE EMPIRE IN TRANSITION

Significant Events

Loosening Ties

A Tradition of Neglect/The Colonies Divided

The Struggle for the Continent

New France and the Iroquois Nation/Anglo-French Conflicts/The Great War for the Empire

The New Imperialism

Burdens of Empire/The British and the Tribes/The Colonial Response

Stirrings of Revolt

The Stamp Act Crisis/The Townshend Program/The Boston Massacre/The Philosophy of Revolt/The Tea Excitement

Cooperation and War

New Sources of Authority/Lexington and Concord

Patterns of Popular Culture: Taverns in Revolutionary Massachusetts

Conclusion

For Further Reference

Chapter Five: THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Significant Events

The States United

Defining American War Aims/The Decision for Independence/Responses to Independence/Mobilizing for War

The War for Independence

The First Phase: New England/The Second Phase: The Mid-Atlantic Region/The Iroquois and the British/Securing Aid from Abroad/The Final Phase: The South/Winning the Peace

War and Society

Loyalists and Minorities/The War and Slavery/Native Americans and the Revolution/Women's Rights and Women's Roles/The War Economy

The Creation of State Governments

The Assumptions of Republicanism/The First State Constitutions/Revising State Governments/Toleration and Slavery

The Search for a National Government

The Confederation/Diplomatic Failures/The Confederation and the Northwest/Indians and the Western Lands/Debts, Taxes, and Daniel Shays

Where Historians Disagree: The American Revolution

America in the World: The Age of Revolution

The American Environment: The Grid

Conclusion

For Further Reference

Chapter Six: THE CONSTITUTION AND THE NEW REPUBLIC

Significant Events

Framing a New Government

Advocates of Centralization/A Divided Convention/Compromise/The Constitution of 1787/Federalists and Antifederalists/Completing the Structure

Federalists and Republicans

Hamilton and the Federalists/Enacting the Federalist Program/The Republican Opposition

Establishing National Sovereignty

Securing the Frontier/Native Americans and the New Nation/Maintaining Neutrality/Jay's Treaty and Pinckney's Treaty

The Downfall of the Federalists

The Election of 1796/The Quasi War with France/Repression and Protest/The "Revolution" of 1800

Where Historians Disagree: The Background of the Constitution

Conclusion

For Further Reference

Chapter Seven: THE JEFFERSONIAN ERA

Significant Events

The Rise of Cultural Nationalism

Patterns of Education/Medicine and Science/Cultural Aspirations in the New Nation/Religious Skepticism/The Second Great Awakening

Stirrings of Industrialism

The Industrial Revolution in England/Technology in America/Transportation Innovations/The Rising Cities

Jefferson the President

The Federal City and the "People's President"/Dollars and Ships/Conflict with the Courts

Doubling the National Domain

Jefferson and Napoleon/The Louisiana Purchase/Lewis and Clark Explore the West/The Burr Conspiracy

Expansion and War

Conflict on the Seas/Impressment/'Peaceable Coercion'/Tecumseh and the Prophet/Florida and War Fever

The War of 1812

Battles with Tribes/Battles with the British/The Revolt of New England/The Peace Settlement

Patterns of Popular Culture: Horse Racing

Conclusion

For Further Reference

Chapter Eight: VARIETIES OF AMERICAN NATIONALISM

Significant Events

A Growing Economy

Banking, Currency, and Protection/Transportation

Expanding Westward

The Great Migrations/White Settlers in the Old Northwest/The Plantation System in the Southwest/Trade and Trapping in the Far West/Eastern Images of the West

The "Era of Good Feelings"

The End of the First Party System/John Quincy Adams and Florida/The Panic of 1819

Sectionalism and Nationalism

The Missouri Compromise/Marshall and the Court/The Court and the Tribes/The Latin American Revolution and the Monroe Doctrine

The Revival of Opposition

The "Corrupt Bargain"/The Second President Adams/Jackson Triumphant

Conclusion

For Further Reference

Chapter Nine: JACKSONIAN AMERICA

Significant Events

The Rise of Mass Politics

The Expanding Electorate/The Legitimization of Party/"President of the Common Man"

Our Federal Union

Calhoun and Nullification/The Rise of Van Buren/The Webster-Hayne Debate/The Nullification Crisis

The Removal of the Indians

White Attitudes Towards the Tribes/The Black Hawk War/The "Five Civilized Tribes"/Trails of Tears/The Meaning of Removal

Jackson and the Bank War

Biddle's Institution/The Taney Court

The Changing Face of American Politics

Democrats and Whigs/Van Buren and the Panic of 1837/The Log Cabin Campaign/The Frustration of the Whigs/Whig Diplomacy

Where Historians Disagree: The "Age of Jackson"

Patterns of Popular Culture: The Penny Press

Conclusion

For Further Reference

Chapter Ten: AMERICA'S ECONOMIC REVOLUTION

Significant Events

The Changing American Population

The American Population, 1820-1840/Immigration and Urban Growth, 1840-1860/The Rise of Nativism

Transportation, Communications, and Technology

The Canal Age/The Early Railroads/The Triumph of the Rails/Innovations in Communications and Journalism

Commerce and Industry

The Expansion of Business, 1820-1840/The Emergence of the Factory/Advances in Technology/Innovations in Corporate Organization

Men and Women at Work

Recruiting a Native Work Force/The Immigrant Work Force/The Factory System and the Artisan Tradition/Fighting for Control

Patterns of Industrial Society

The Rich and the Poor/Social Mobility/Middle-Class Life/The Changing Family/Women and the 'Cult of Democracy'/Leisure Activities

The Agricultural North

Northeastern Agriculture/The Old Northwest/Rural Life

The American Environment: The Flow of Water

Patterns of Popular Culture: Shakespeare in America

Conclusion

For Further Reference

Chapter Eleven: COTTON, SLAVERY, AND THE OLD SOUTH

Significant Events

The Cotton Economy

The Rise of King Cotton/Southern Trade and Industry/Sources of Southern Difference

White Society in the South

The Planter Class/Honor/The "Southern Lady"/The Plain Folk

Slavery: The "Peculiar Institution"

Varieties of Slavery/Life Under Slavery/Slavery in the Cities/Free African Americans/The Slave Trade/Slave Resistance

The Culture of Slavery

Language and Music/African-American Religion/The Slave Family

Where Historians Disagree: The Character of Slavery

Patterns of Popular Culture: The Slaves' Music

Conclusion

For Further Reference

Chapter Twelve: ANTEBELLUM CULTURE AND REFORM

Significant Events

The Romantic Impulse

Nationalism and Romanticism in American Painting/Literature and Other Quest for Liberation/Literature in the Antebellum South/The Transcendentalists/The Defense of Nature/Visions of Utopia/Redefining Gender Roles/The Mormons

Remaking Society

Revivalism, Morality, and Order/The Temperance Crusade/Health Fads and Phrenology/Medical Science/Reforming Education/Rehabilitation/The Indian Reservation/The Rise of Feminism

The Crusade Against Slavery

Early Opposition to Slavery/Garrison and Abolitionism/Black Abolitionists/Anti-Abolitionism/Abolitionism Divided

America in the World: The Abolition of Slavery

Patterns of Popular Culture: Sentimental Novels

Conclusion

For Further Reading

Chapter Thirteen: THE IMPENDING CRISIS

Significant Events

Looking Westward

Manifest Destiny/Americans in Texas/Tensions Between the United States and Mexico/Oregon/The Westward Migration/Life on the Trail

Expansion and War

The Democrats and Expansion/The Southwest and California/The Mexican War

The Sectional Debate

Slavery and the Territories/The California Gold Rush/Rising Sectional Tensions/The Compromise of 1850

The Crises of the 1850s

The Uneasy Truce/"Young America"/Slavery, Railroads, and the West/The Kansas-Nebraska Controversy/"Bleeding Kansas"/The Free-Soil Ideology/The Pro-Slavery Argument/Buchanan and Depression/The Dred Scott Decision/Deadlock over Kansas/The Emergence of Lincoln/John Brown's Raid/The Election of Lincoln

Patterns of Popular Culture: Lyceums

Conclusion

For Further Reference

Chapter Fourteen: THE CIVIL WAR

Significant Events

The Secession Crisis

The Withdrawal of the South/The Failure of Compromise/Fort Sumter/The Opposing Sides

The Mobilization of the North

Economic Measures/Raising the Union Armies/Wartime Politics/The Politics of Emancipation/African Americans and the Union Cause/The War and Economic Development/Women, Nursing, and the War

The Mobilization of the South

The Confederate Government/Money and Manpower/States' Rights versus Centralization/Economic and Social Effects of the War

Strategy and Diplomacy

The Commanders/The Role of Sea Power/Europe and the Disunited States/The American West and the War

The Course of Battle

The Technology of Battle/The Opening Clashes, 1861/The Western Theater/The Virginia Front, 1862/1863, Year of Decision/The Last Stage, 1864-1865

Where Historians Disagree: The Causes of the Civil War

America in the World: The Consolidation of Nations

Patterns of Popular Culture: Baseball and the Civil War

Conclusion

For Further Reference

Chapter Fifteen: RECONSTRUCTION AND THE NEW SOUTH

Significant Events

The Problems of Peacemaking

The Aftermath of War and Emancipation/Competing Notions of Freedom/Issues of Reconstruction/Plans for Reconstruction/The Death of Lincoln/Johnson and "Restoration"

Radical Reconstruction

The Black Codes/The Fourteenth Amendment/The Congressional Plan/The Impeachment of the President

The South in Reconstruction

The Reconstruction Governments/Education/Landownership and Tenancy/The Crop-Lien System/The African-American Family in Freedom

The Grant Administration

The Soldier President/The Grant Scandals/The Greenback Question/Republican Diplomacy

The Abandonment of Reconstruction

The Southern States "Redeemed"/The Ku Klux Klan Acts/Waning Northern Commitment/The Compromise of 1877/The Legacies of Reconstruction

The New South

The "Redeemers"/Industrialization and the "New South"/Tenants and Sharecroppers/African Americans and the New South/The Birth of Jim Crow

Where Historians Disagree: Reconstruction

Patterns of Popular Culture: The Minstrel Show

Where Historians Disagree: The Origins of Segregation

Conclusion

For Further Reference

Appendixes

The United States

Topographical Map of the United States

The World

United States Territorial Expansion, 1783-1898

The Declaration of Independence

The Constitution of the United States of America

Presidential Elections

Vice Presidents and Cabinet Members

Population of the United States, 1790-2000

Employment, 1870-2000

Production, Trade, and Federal Spending/Debt, 1790-2000

Index