Primary Historical Documents for English 231 - ENG 231 - American Literature I - Research Guides at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College

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Infobase American History
This database has 8000 primary documents that can be filtered by time period, subject, or type of document (speech, law, letter, etc.).

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Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is an agency of the legislative branch of government. It is the country's oldest federal cultural institution as well as the largest library in the world.

Colonial Settlements

Account of the First Roanoke Colony
An account of the first English colony in North America by its overseer, Ralph Lane. Established under the authority of Sir Walter Raleigh in August of 1585 on Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina, the colony lasted only 10 months.
Charter to Sir Walter Raleigh
Patent received by Sir Walter Raleigh from Queen Elizabeth I on March 25, 1584, for the right of establishing a colony in the New World.
Search for the "Lost Colony" of Roanoke (excerpt)
Account of the Pilgrims' Voyage to Plymouth (excerpt)
William Bradford was a leader of an English separatist group that wished to secede from the Church of England. They eventually fled England to the Netherlands, later boarding the Mayflower to found Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts.
Charter of the Colony of New Plymouth
This charter, also known as the Warwick Patent, granted legal rights to the land between Narragansett Bay in present-day Rhode Island and Cohasset, on the Massachusetts coast, to Governor William Bradford and other founders of the Plymouth Colony.
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A 1620 patent granted by England's James I had appropriated the entire territory of New England for several noblemen who were incorporated into the Council for New England. The charter below, signed by council member Robert, Earl of Warwick, transfers part of the original land grant to Bradford. William Bradford helped organize the Pilgrims' journey on the Mayflower and drafted the Mayflower Compact after their arrival in 1620. He was elected governor of the colony 30 times. His written accounts of life in the colony, Mourt's Relation (with Edward Winslow) and A History of Plymouth Plantation, offer invaluable insights into the lives of the Pilgrims. In 1640, he relinquished his proprietary control over the colony to the freemen, or voters, of Plymouth.
G. Mourt's Account of the Encounter Between the Plymouth Colonists and Their Indigineous Neighbors
Although scholars are not exactly sure who G. Mourt was, his narrative provides a detailed account of the initial encounter between the Plymouth colonists and their indigenous neighbors, particularly the Wampanoags.
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This document also sketches out the complex geopolitical landscape in which the English had inserted themselves. Obviously, neither Samoset, nor Squanto, nor Massassoit welcomed the newcomers in their midst out of sheer altruism. Intertribal rivalries weighed heavily on their decision to befriend the English colonists.
Edward Winslow's Letter
This letter, dated December 12, 1621, was written by Edward Winslow, one of the early governors of the Plymouth colony. It appears in Mourt's Relation, a journal of the Pilgrims' first year in New England.
"We Shall Be as a City upon a Hill"
Puritans (who were called Dissenters at the time) were radical Protestants unhappy with the practice of religion in early 17th-century England. Not satisfied with the Protestant English church's break with Roman Catholicism, they felt Catholic influence still permeated church ritual and religious texts, and that kings and politics still held too much authority
Account of Boston
One of the oldest city park areas in the United States is Boston Common which dates back to 1634. In the following selection, Arthur Gilman described the Boston area as it was when Mrs. Winthrop, wife of the first governor of Massachusetts, arrived in 1631.
Exploration of Virginia (excerpt)
This account, written by Barlowe, was first published in Holingshed's Chronicles in 1587. It was subsequently published as part of Richard Hakluyt's masterwork, The Principal Navigations Voyages Traffiques & Discoveries of the English Nation, in 1589. It is thought that, in an effort to attract settlers to the New World, the beauty of the land and the friendliness of the native inhabitants was somewhat exaggerated.
First Charter of Virginia
Charter provided to incorporate two companies, namely the London Company and the Plymouth Company, by King James I on April 10, 1606.
Peace Treaty
The Powhatan Indians had resented the intrusion of the English since the founding of Jamestown in 1607, but under the leadership of Powhatan the Indians and settlers generally managed a tense coexistence.
John Smith's Capture by the Powhatans
In December 1607, John Smith, who was exploring the James River, fell into the hands of a large Powhatan hunting party under the command of Opechancanaug.
"Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall" Criminal Code
Laws written by Thomas Dale in 1612 to bring order to colonial Virginia.
Letters from Jamestown
Links to three letters: John Rolfe, John Pory, and Bartholomew Gosnold.
Second Charter of Virginia
Second charter instituted by King James I on May 23, 1609, concerning the Virginia Company, now settled in Jamestown.
Learning from the Indians in New Netherland
Adriaen van der Donck (1618—55), a Dutch lawyer and landowner in New Netherland, promoted immigration to the colony (later known as New York) by extolling its topography, climate, waterways, vegetation, and animals.
Representation of New Netherland (excerpt)
Adriaen Van der Donck, who came to America to manage the patroonship of Rensselaerswyck (near Albany), later relocated to New Amsterdam where he had close dealings with Peter Stuyvesant. ... In his Representation of New Netherland, excerpted here, he describes the governor's showy arrival to take up his duties in New Amsterdam in 1647.
Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions to Patroons
Charter establishing the patroon system of land tenure, set up by the Dutch West India Company on June 7, 1629. This system was used for colonization of New Netherland, in what now are the states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut.
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It gave any member of the charter the right to a large tract of land if he brought at least fifty persons over the age of fifteen years to begin a colony at his own expense. The system did not take off as well as expected because Netherlanders refused to leave their country to settle in America unless they were promised freedom. Five land grants were given, but only the one granted to Killian Van Rensselaer was prosperous.

Revolutionary War Documents

Account of the Battle of King's Mountain, October or November 1780
After the catastrophe of Camden, the resounding Patriot victory at King's Mountain, on the border of North and South Carolina, was especially sweet—and it served to turn the tide in the South. North Carolina ensign Robert Campbell recalled the battle in a document preserved in The State Records of North Carolina. It is one of several firsthand reports written by North Carolina officers shortly after the battle.
Account of George Washington's Farewell Address
The following account of Washington's emotional farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern in New York City on December 4, 1783, appeared in Rivington's New-York Gazette and Universal Advertiser. It ends with the Latin phrase otium cum dignitate, which translates as "ease with dignity."
Account of the March Preceding the American Attack on Quebec: Journal Entries
The following excerpt comes from the journal for September 14 through October 3, 1775, of Abner Stocking, a twenty-two-year-old Connecticut soldier who marched under Benedict Arnold through 350 miles of Maine wilderness preceding the American attack on Quebec.
Address to Congress and Official Resignation
Although George Washington had said farewell to his men at Fraunces Tavern, he still needed to resign his commission and tender it to the body that had appointed him, the Continental Congress. He made the following address to Congress on December 23, 1783, in Annapolis, Maryland.
Battle of Concord: Frederick Mackenzie's Diary Entry, April 19, 1775
Frederick Mackenzie, the son of a Dublin merchant and his Huguenot wife, was commissioned in the 23rd Regiment, the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, in 1743.
Bonhomme Richard v. HMS Serapis: Account of the Battle (1779)
Richard Dale (1756–1826) was born near Norfolk, Virginia; went to sea when he was 12, became a lieutenant in the Virginia state navy in 1776; and, captured by the British, briefly joined the Royal Navy. Wounded, he convalesced ashore in America and resolved "never again to put himself in the way of the bullets of his own countrymen," according to the author John Henry Sherburne.
Letter on the Battle of Long Island
In the following letter, written September 1, 1776, by an unknown Patriot soldier, the author illustrates the frustrations George Washington experienced when he first came to blows with the main British army and was roundly defeated. The Battle of Long Island, New York, occurred on August 27, 1776, and pitted untried American troops against well-trained British redcoats and German auxiliaries.
Letter to Anne-César de La Luzerne on Benedict Arnold
The following letter of September 25, 1780, was written by the Marquis de Lafayette to the Chevalier Anne-César de La Luzerne, French minister to the United States. The treason of Benedict Arnold represented one of the most severe blows to the Patriot cause during the Revolutionary War (1775–1783).
Letter to Henry Clinton on the Virginia Offensive
The following letter was sent by General Charles Cornwallis on May 26, 1781, to Sir Henry Clinton. British strategy in the South was hampered by the vast distance between headquarters in New York City and Crown forces operating in the field, and the mutual dislike of Sir Henry Clinton and his subordinate Cornwallis.
Letter to Nathanael Greene on the Camp at Valley Forge
The following letter was written from Valley Forge by Brigadier General James Mitchell Varnum to Major General Nathanael Greene, soon to be the new quartermaster general of the Continental Army, on February 12, 1778.
Letter to Patrick Henry on the Future of the Rebellion
The following letter was written to Patrick Henry of Virginia. It is dated January 12, 1778, at a time when the British army under Sir William Howe occupied Philadelphia and the Continental Congress convened in York, Pennsylvania. The handwriting was that of Dr. Benjamin Rush, surgeon general of the Middle Department.
The Newburgh Address
One of two addresses circulated at George Washington's encampment near Newburgh, New York. The letters, written during the closing days of the Revolutionary War, highlighted the officers' grievances concerning their pay and pensions. Although issued anonymously, Major John Armstrong is believed to have written both missives.
Strategy to Crush the American Rebellion
Following the debacle of Saratoga in October 1777, British strategy had to change. As seen in the excerpt below, from Sir Henry Clinton's narrative of the war, he shows why he felt an attack on the Southern colonies in late 1779 would bear fruit for the Crown.
Sullivan's March through the Iroquois Lands: Journal Entry
This September 30, 1779, journal entry is by Major Jeremiah Fogg, a participant in a punitive expedition against the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, who were key players in the Revolutionary War (1775–1783).
"Give Me Liberty" Address
Address delivered by American colonial leader Patrick Henry to the Second Virginia Convention, on March 23, 1775, in St. John's Church in Richmond.
Treaty of Paris, 1783
Peace agreement concluded at Versailles, near Paris, France, on September 3, 1783, between Great Britain and the United States (the former thirteen colonies), officially ending the American Revolution (1775–1783).
Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms
Document drafted by Thomas Jefferson and John Dickinson on July 6, 1775, declaring the right and just causes for taking up arms against the British.

U.S. Civil War

Emancipation Proclamation
Edict issued in preliminary form on September 22, 1862, and in final form on January 1, 1863, by President Abraham Lincoln, freeing all slaves in territory under Confederate control.
"Men of Color, to Arms!"
Although Frederick Douglass was critical of Abraham Lincoln's limited vision of freedom and reconstruction for slaves, Douglass nonetheless urged African Americans to fight for the Union in the Civil War.
Twelve Years a Slave (excerpt)
Solomon Northup was born free in 1808 in New York. In 1841, two white men claiming to be circus promoters approached him and promised to pay him for playing his violin on a tour. This trickery ultimately resulted in a twelve-year period of slavery on a cotton plantation in Louisiana owned by James Burch.
Account of Robert E. Lee's Surrender at Appomattox (April 9, 1865)
Grant's Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant is one of the most valuable and eloquent records of the Civil War and a masterpiece of American literature.
Confederate Conscription Act (excerpt)
Excerpt from an act of the Confederate Congress drafting male slaves and black freedmen for service—in certain capacities—in the Confederate army.
Constitution of the Confederate States of America
Compact adopted at Montgomery, Alabama, on March 11, 1861, by the Confederate Congress, as the law of the Confederate States of America.
Essay on the Election of Abraham Lincoln
After the election of President Abraham Lincoln, one of the nation's most prominent abolitionists, Frederick Douglass, published the following essay in his publication Douglass' Monthly in December 1860.
Freedmen's Bureau Act
Legislation enacted by the U.S. Congress on March 3, 1865, to establish a "bureau of refugees, freedmen and abandoned lands" to aid some four million destitute, newly freed slaves.
Fugitive Slave Act, 1850
Federal law passed on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850. This law required U.S. marshals to seize runaway slaves and imposed severe penalties on anyone who aided fugitives.
Inaugural Address, 1861
Speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln on March 4, 1861, at his inauguration as the 16th president of the United States. By this date seven southern states had seceded from the Union.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Bill passed by Congress in 1854 that established the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and established the principle of popular sovereignty, allowing settlers in the newly organized territories to determine whether to permit slavery there.
Last Message to the People of the Confederacy
President Jefferson Davis's final message to the Confederate people, delivered on April 4, 1865, under the specter of the Confederacy's imminent defeat in the Civil War.
Speech on American Slavery
Speech given by Frederick Douglass in Rochester, New York, as the first of a series of lectures on slavery.
Victory Speech from the White House
Speech delivered by President Abraham Lincoln at the White House on April 11, 1865.
War Department General Order 143
This War Department order dated May 22, 1863, created an African-American unit in the Union Army.

Links to Civil War Battle Accounts

Account of the Battle between the CSS Virginia and the USS Monitor
The most famous duel between ironclads occurred on March 8, 1862, near Hampton Roads, Virginia, and pitted the CSS Virginia against the USS Monitor.
Account of the Battle of Antietam (September 17, 1862)
Frederick Hitchcock (1837–1924), who ended the war a colonel but who was a Union lieutenant in the 132nd Pennsylvania Volunteers in September 1862, described his approach to the fighting at "Bloody Lane" in his book War from the Inside (1904).
Account of the Battle of Shiloh (April 6–7, 1862)
Stanley's autobiography, published in 1909, includes perhaps the most vivid firsthand account of the Battle of Shiloh ever published. The battle awoke Americans, northerners and southerners alike, to the reality of just how bloody this civil war would be.
Battle of Gettysburg: Diary Entries
Fremantle's diary, which painted an admiring picture of the southern war effort, was originally published in the South in 1864.
The First Shot of the American Civil War: The Surrender of Fort Sumter (April 12–13, 1861)
Pursuant to orders from the Confederate president Jefferson Davis, Beauregard demanded the surrender of Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, the Federal garrison of which was commanded by Major Robert Anderson.

To Find Secondary Sources

Credo Reference
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Films on Demand
This is one of our streaming video databases with educational materials.
ProQuest Central
Covering more than 160 subject areas, Proquest Central is the largest aggregated database of periodical content.

Exploration of America

Aleutian Indians Meet the Russians
In the 1740s, a new European presence arrived in North America from the west. Russian adventurers and fur traders fought the elements to cross from eastern Siberia to what is now Alaska.
Report on Henry Hudson on the River
Explorer Henry Hudson's secretary, Robert Juet, was, like Hudson, an Englishman. In a 1609 report (portions of which are presented here) he described Hudson's voyage up the river that would later bear his name, providing early observations of the land, fish, and vegetation of the territory between present-day New York Harbor and Albany.
Letter to Captain Meriwether Lewis
This letter written on June 20, 1803, details President Jefferson's instructions to Meriwether Lewis for what became the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Meriwether Lewis's Diary
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's expedition began shortly after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
Cabeza de Vaca's Journey (excerpt)
One of four survivors of a 300-man Spanish expedition that landed in Florida in 1528, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca made his way to Mexico City eight years later after traversing the Gulf coast from Florida to Texas, part of Mexico, and possibly parts of New Mexico and Arizona.
Journal of Christopher Columbus (excerpt)
Excerpts from the journal Christopher Columbus kept during his first voyage to the Americas in 1492. Columbus's journal no longer exists in its original form. The available text was abridged and edited by the Spanish priest Bartolomé de las Casas.
Pedro de Castañeda's Encounter with the Pueblos in New Mexico
Pedro de Castañeda, a member of the Coronado entrada, provided this succinct description of the Pueblos he encountered in what would become New Mexico.
Description of a Meeting Between the French and the Timucuas
n 1564, a young Frenchman, a member of René de Laudonnière's colonial expedition to northern Florida, described a meeting between the French and the Timucuas near a marker Huguenot explorer Jean Ribault had erected in May of 1562.
A French Settler Discusses North American Abundance
In the 16th and 17th centuries, Europeans hoped to settle parts of North America that seemed to offer an abundance of natural resources for trade.
Giovanni da Verrazano's Account of the Narranganseet Bay Native Americans
In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazano explored the coastline of North America on behalf of Francis I, King of France. In the Narragansett Bay region and later, along the coast of Maine, the Florentine explorer noticed marked differences in the way Native Americans responded to his arrival in the two regions.

Thirteen Colonies

Account of the French Capture of Schenectady
One of the most important documents, a narrative of the French capture of Schenectady in 1690, was written that same year by the comptroller-general of New France, a man named Monsieur de Monseignat.
Charter for the Colony of Georgia
Charter granted to James Oglethorpe by George II on June 9, 1732, to settle the colony of Georgia.
Charter of Carolina
A proprietary charter granting land to eight English noblemen by King Charles II in 1663 in return for their support during his bid to regain the throne from the Puritan rule of Oliver Cromwell.
Proclamation of 1763
Royal order issued by Britain's King George III on October 7, 1763, in an effort to placate the Native Americans in the American colonies after the French and Indian War (1756–1763).
Davey v. Turner
Davey v. Turner was an important early court decision dealing with married women's property rights in the American colonies.

Massachusetts Law Banishing Quakers
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded as a religious colony in 1630 by English Puritans, who were themselves escaping religious persecution in Europe. The first Quakers to come to the New World, two women, landed in Boston in 1656, but were turned away on charges of witchcraft. Within two years, Massachusetts passed this Act banning all Quakers from the colony.
Watauga Articles of Association
The first written constitution "ever adopted west of the [Appalachian] mountains, or by a community of American-born freemen," these articles were the basis of a government formed in 1772 by early white settlers along the Watauga River, the first permanent colony in Tennessee.
Stamp Act
Act passed by the British Parliament to go into effect on November 1, 1765, in order to raise revenue to pay the costs of governing and protecting the American colonies.
"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" Sermon
Sermon written by the well-known colonial evangelist Jonathan Edwards in 1741 in order to convert his listeners to be "born-again."
Resolutions of Germantown Mennonites Against Slavery
Statements condemning slavery issued in 1688 by the Mennonite leaders of Germantown, Pennsylvania. The earliest known example of written opposition to the institution in the colonies.
John Lawson on Indian Marriages
The explorer John Lawson (1674-1711) traveled to the American colonies in 1700 to collect natural specimens. He remained in the Carolinas for nine years, working as a surveyor and acquiring land.

War of 1812

Account of the Burning of Washington, D.C. (August 24, 1814)
The Reverend George Robert Gleig (1796–1888) served in the British army during the War of 1812 and witnessed the capture, sack, and burning of Washington, D.C. He published the following account in 1821.
Account of the Battle of The Thames (October 5, 1813)
On October 5, 1813, William Henry Harrison led some 3,500 infantry and cavalry against 800 soldiers under the British general Henry Procter. An additional force of 500 British-allied Native Americans was under the command of the Shawnee chief Tecumseh.
Account of the Fort Dearborn Massacre (1812)
One of the survivors of the Fort Dearborn Massacre, a militia lieutenant named Linai T. Helm, wrote the following narrative.
Accounts of the Raisin River Massacre
Their story was related to the editor of the Frankfort (Kentucky) Mercury in 1813 and was reprinted on March 23, 1871, in the Monroe (Michigan) commercial.
Annual Message to Congress, 1814
James Madison's sixth annual message, printed and delivered to Congress on September 20, 1814, came just one month after the British seized Washington, D.C., and burned the Capitol, the White House, and other government buildings.
Annual Message to Congress, 1815
James Madison's seventh annual message, printed and delivered to Congress on December 5, 1815, featured a triumphal tone, as the president focused on the country's success at fighting the British in the just-concluded War of 1812.

Inaugural Address, 1813
Speech delivered by James Madison on March 4, 1813, at his second inauguration as president of the United States.
Memorandum on the Capture of Washington, D.C., by British Troops
In this memorandum written on August 24, 1814, the day the British burned Washington, D.C., during the War of 1812, President Madison detailed the attack.
Treaty of Ghent
Compromise settlement ending the indecisive War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain, signed in Ghent, Belgium, on December 24, 1814.

U.S.-Mexican War

Account of the Battle Buena Vista (February 22–23, 1847)
In the excerpt that follows, Brevet Major William Seaton Henry betrays the racist attitude toward Mexicans that was all too typical of Americans of this period.
Annual Message to Congress, 1846
In his second annual message, printed and delivered to Congress on December 2, 1846, James K. Polk devoted his attention to the U.S.-Mexican War, which had begun earlier that year.
Annual Message to Congress, 1847
James K. Polk's third annual message, printed and delivered to Congress on December 7, 1847, focused extensively on the progress of the U.S.-Mexican War. The war was very unpopular with northern Whigs, and the president faced a Congress composed of many war opponents.
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Treaty signed in Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico, on February 2, 1848, ending the 1846–1848 Mexican-American War between the United States and Mexico.
U.S.-Mexican War: Diary Entries
Joshua E. Jackson was a private in Company E, 4th Regiment, Illinois Volunteers. He embarked from New Orleans, bound for the war, on July 31, 1846, and was mortally wounded at the Battle of Cerro Gordo, April 18, 1847. These excerpts from his diary record the excitement, monotony, and misery of the Mexican campaign.

Salem Witch Trials

"Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits Personating Men"
Written in 1692 by Cotton Mather's father, Increase Mather, In "Cases of Conscience concerning Evil Spirits Personating Men," Mather calls into doubt spectral evidence (the visions of witches seen by victims during their torments). The next year the sermon was printed in book form, and the preface reproduced below bore the signatures of no fewer than fourteen prominent Boston ministers.
Confession before Joseph Herrick
The following document is the confession of Tituba, the slave woman of Reverend Samuel Parris. She is eternally linked with the story of the Salem witch trials as her testimony is the foundation of the hysteria that spread like wildfire throughout Salem and the neighboring areas. Although she maintained she was not harmed by the authorities, it later turned out that Parris had beaten the confession out of her.
Jury Apology in the Salem Witch Trials
After the Salem witch trials wound down in late 1692, many expressed a sense that the "witch hunt" had gotten out of hand. The jury in the trials published a signed letter of apology asking forgiveness for its role in the affair. Following is a transcript of that letter:
Accused Witch Margaret Jacobs Recants Her Confession to Being a Witch (Excerpt)
Accused witches who confessed and testified against other accused witches were spared execution during the Salem witch trials of 1692. One such person who chose to confess was Margaret Jacobs, who also testified that her grandfather, George Jacobs Sr., was a witch. Jacobs later tried to recant her confession and her testimony about her grandfather.
Salem Arrest Warrant
Arrest warrant dated April 4, 1692, for Elizabeth Proctor and Sarah Cloyce, both accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials.
Reverend Hale's Modest Enquiry into Why the Witchcraft Trials Went so Far (Excerpt)
In 1697, Reverend John Hale published A Modest Enquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft, in which he concluded that the 1692 Salem witch trials had been conducted in error. In the following excerpt, he sought to answer the question, "How doth it appear that there was a going too far in this affair?":
Letters of Governor Phips
Two letters written by Sir William Phips, royal governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the Salem witch trials.

American Women

Act Concerning the Dowry of Widows
An act passed in the State of Connecticut in 1672 to provide for married women after their husband's death. Provided that she had no income or property prior to her marriage, a woman gains the right to inherit up to one third of her husband's estate.
Act Concerning the Rights and Liabilities of Husband and Wife
On February 18, 1860, Elizabeth Cady Stanton made a speech before the New York State legislature. Her remarks that day helped to secure the passage of the 11-part Act Concerning the Rights and Liabilities of Husband and Wife, also known as the Married Women's Property Act, a law granting married women the right to govern their own property.
Address to the Legislature of New York
Speech given by suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton to the New York State Legislature on February 14, 1854. Stanton asked legislators to consider the injustice of state laws toward women.
"A'n't I a Woman?" Speech
Surprise speech given by freed slave Sojourner Truth in 1850 at the second American Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio.
Appeal to Christian Women of the South (excerpt)
An appeal to women to take part in the abolition movement on the basis that acceptance of slavery amounted to non-adherence of the scriptures. Angelina Grimké came from a slave-holding background, but became deeply involved with abolition after becoming a Quaker.
"Are Women Persons?"
Susan Brownell Anthony, the daughter of a Massachusetts Quaker abolitionist, labored unflaggingly as a leader of the movement for women's suffrage, or voting rights, for nearly 50 years.
A Call for the First Women's Rights Convention at Worcester, Massachusetts
Resolutely proclaiming "it is your duty, if you are worthy of your age and country," a call for the first national women’s rights convention appeared in reform, temperance, and other newspapers during the summer of 1850.
Captivity Narrative of Hannah Duston
The first American woman to have a statue erected in her honor, Hannah Duston was taken captive during King William's war by Abenaki Indians in March of 1697 from her home in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Captivity Narrative of Mary Jemison
In the late 1750s during the French and Indian War, 15-year-old Mary Jemison was abducted by a party of French and Shawnee warriors from her family homestead in western Pennsylvania.
"Declaration of Rights and Sentiments"
This document, written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, was modeled after the Declaration of Independence. It accuses men of wielding tyranny over women, just as the original Declaration accused England of wielding tyranny over the colonies, and ends with 12 resolutions on the equality of women. It was adopted at the Seneca Falls Convention, held in New York on July 19 and 20, 1848.

"A Disappointed Woman"
Lucy Stone was born in Massachusetts in 1818 to a large farming family. She was one of the first American women to attend college (Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio), which she paid for herself by teaching and performing other jobs as her family (and society) did not approve of higher education for women.
Ladies Association of Philadelphia, Broadside
An open letter from a member of the Ladies Association of Philadelphia to American soldiers fighting the Revolutionary War.
Letter from Martha Washington to Francis B. Washington
A letter written from the first first lady of the United States to her niece, Francis B. Washington.
"The Married Lady's Companion, or Poor Man's Friend" (excerpt)
From 1808, this excerpt from Samuel K. Jennings's manual advising women how to achieve domestic harmony.
"My Husband Was Seized with a Mania"
Written in 1824, In this narrative Harriet Noble recounts her family's emigration from New York to Michigan.
Petition to Congress Requesting Women's Suffrage
This petition was presented to the Senate and the House of Representatives in December 1865, requesting an amendment to the Constitution prohibiting the states from disfranchising women.
Sermon on the Public Function of Woman
Sermon delivered by Theodore Parker in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 27, 1853, regarding the role of woman in society. Parker was perceived as a radical because he advocated social reform, particularly concerning the abolition of slavery and the emancipation of women.

ENG 231 - American Literature I: Primary Historical Documents for English 231

Helpful Databases for Primary Documents

Colonial Settlements

Revolutionary War Documents

U.S. Civil War

To Find Secondary Sources

Exploration of America

Thirteen Colonies

War of 1812

U.S.-Mexican War

Salem Witch Trials

American Women