“We must be as one as the English are.”
California Missions by Junípero Serra
Columbus's Journal by Christopher Columbus (08/1492 to 11/1492)
"I had refused to receive the cotton from the native whom I sent on shore, although he pressed it upon me. I looked out after him and saw upon his landing that the others all ran to meet him with much wonder. It appeared to them that we were honest people..."
Utilizing the Native Labor Force by Christopher Columbus (10/14/1492 to 12/16/1492)
"With fifty men they can all be subjugated and made to do what is required of them"
The Meaning of America by Christopher Columbus (02/15/1493 to 03/04/1493)
"They have no iron or steel or weapons, nor are they capable of using them"
Columbus's Letter to the King and Queen of Spain (1494)
"I will say whatever occurs to me in reference to the colonization and commerce of the Island of Espanola"
New World Fantasies by Sir Thomas More (1516)
"All slavery, and drudgery...is done by bondsmen"
Labor Needs by Alonso de Zuazo (01/22/1518)
"This is the best land in the world for Negroes"
The Spanish Borderlands by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado (1540 to 1542)
"They have the very best arrangement and machinery for grinding that was ever seen."
Coronado's Report to Viceroy Mendoza, Part I by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado and Francisco Vázquez de Coronado (08/03/1540)
Coronado's Report to Viceroy Mendoza, Part II by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado (08/03/1540)
Coronado's Report to Viceroy Mendoza, Part III by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado (08/03/1540)
Coronado's Report to Viceroy Mendoza, Part IV by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado (08/03/1540)
Coronado's Report to Viceroy Mendoza by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado (04/22/1540 to 08/03/1540)
"The people of the towns seem to me to be of ordinary size and intelligent, although I do not think that they have the judgment & intelligence which they ought to have to build these houses in the way in which they have..."
The Black Legend by Bartolomé de las Casas (1542)
"Great atrocities are committed against the indigenous people"
The Diversity of Native America: The Plains by Pedro de Castenada (1542)
"There was such a multitude of cows [buffalo] that they were numberless."
The Journey of Alvar Núñez Cabeza De Vaca by Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (1542)
"They brought us blankets, which they had been concealing from the Christians, and gave them to us."
Native Americans Discover Europeans by The Gentleman of Elvas (1557)
“Think...of what must be the effect...of the sight of you.”
Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Voyage to Newfoundland by Edward Haies (1583)
"A report of the Voyage and success thereof, attempted in the year of our Lord 1583, by Sir Humphrey Gilbert..."
A Rationale for New World Colonization by Richard Hakluyt (1584)
"All our...trades in all Europe...may...[count] for little... [compared with] America"
Justifications for English Involvement in the New World by Richard Hakluyt (1584)
"The Kings of Spain...have rooted out above fifteen millions of reasonable people"
Discourse of Western Planting by Richard Hakluyt (1584)
"That this enterprise will be for the manifolde imploymente of nombers of idle men..."
A Critique of the Slave Trade by Fray Tomas de Mercado (1587)
"A thousand acts of robbery and violence are committed in the course of bartering and carrying off Negroes"
Return to Roanoke by John White (1590)
"Being thus wearied with this iourney we returned to the harbour where we left our boates."
The Diversity of Native America: The Southwest by Juan de Onate (1599)
"Their government is one of complete freedom."
Opening of the French Fur Trade by Samuel De Champlain (1604)
"They might in the future more than ever before engage in hunting beavers"
Instructions for the Virginia Colony (1606)
"You must observe if you can, whether the river on which you plant doth spring out of mountains or out of lakes."
England's First Enduring North American Settlement by John Smith (1608 to 1609)
"Being ready with clubs to beat out his brains, Pocahontas...got his head in her arms"
Conflict and Cooperation in the Southeast by Powhatan (1609)
"I know the difference of peace and war better then any in my Country."
The Pilgrims Arrive in Plymouth by William Bradford (1620 to 1647)
"In 2 or 3 months time, half of their company died"
Mayflower Compact (1620)
"...a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia..."
Race War in Virginia by Edward Waterhouse (1622)
"They basely and barbarously murdered, not sparing either age or sex"
Life in Early Virginia by Sebastian Brandt (01/13/1622)
"My brother and my wife are dead"
Pocahontas by John Smith
Pocahontas, the King's dearest daughter, when no entreaty could prevail, got his head in her arms, and laid her own upon his to save him from death.
Reasons for Puritan Migration by John Winthrop (1629)
"Most children...are perverted, corrupted, & utterly overthrown by the multitude of evil examples"
The Idea of the Covenant by John Winthrop (1630)
"Some must be rich, some poor, some high and eminent in power...others mean and in subjection"
City Upon a Hill by John Winthrop (1630)
"Beloved there is now sett before us life, and good, deathe and evill in that wee are Commaunded this day to love the Lord our God, and to love one another to walke in his wayes and to keepe his Commaundements and his Ordinance..."
Native Americans Discover Europeans by William Wood (1634)
“They took the first ship they saw for a walking island.”
Mounting Conflict with Native Americans by John Winthrop (1634)
"For the number of our people...be in all about 4000 souls"
The Pilgrims from the Indian Perspective by William Apes (1636)
"Without asking liberty from anyone, they possessed themselves of a potion of the country"
Servitude in New England by John Winter (1639)
"[Ill] reports is given of my Wyfe for beatinge the maid"
Puritan Economics by John Winthrop (1640)
"Some false principles are these"
Native Americans as Active Agents by Roger Williams (07/06/1640)
"The Monhiggin [Mohican] refuseth to part with his prey"
Maryland Toleration Act (09/21/1649)
"...shalbe punished with death and confiscation or forfeiture of all his or her lands and goods to the Lord Proprietary and his heires."
New Netherlands: America's First Multicultural Society by Adriaen Van Der Donck (1650)
"There are, also, various other Negroes in this country"
Indentured Servitude by John Hammond (1656)
"[Virginia] is reported to be an unhealthy place, a nest of Rogues [and] dissolute...persons"
Navigation Acts (1660 to 1696)
"no sugars, tobacco, cotton-wool, indigoes, ginger, fustic, or other dyeing wood, of the growth, production, or manufacture of any English plantations in America, Asia, or Africa, shall be shipped, carried, conveyed, or transported from any of the said English plantations to any land, island, territory, dominion, port, or place whatsoever"
Virginia Slave Laws (1662 to 1669)
"All children...shall be held bond or free only according to the condition of the mother"
Mercantilist Ideas by Thomas Mun (1664)
"Although this Realm be already exceedingly rich...yet might it be much increased"
Beginnings of the Fur Trade in the Carolinas by Dr. Henry Woodward (1674)
"They presented me diverse dear skins"
New Netherlands Becomes New York by New York (01/1674)
"All people shall continue free"
King Philip's War by Edmund Randolph (1675)
"Various are the reports...of the causes of the present Indian warre"
The Quaker Ideal of Religious Tolerance by William Penn (1675)
"Persons have been flung into Jails"
“There having been about 1,200 houses burned.”
Indian Affairs by William Kendall (10/30/1679)
"Yours having entered our houses, taken away and destroyed our goods and People"
Indian Affairs (10/31/1679)
"The English...shot some of our People dead"
Coexistence and Conflict in the Spanish Southwest: The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 by Pedro Naranjo (1680)
“Why they burned the images, temples, crosses, rosaries, and things of divine worship.”
Resistance and Accommodation in New Mexico by Don Antonio de Otermin (09/08/1680)
"asking how they expected to live without the religious..."
Regional Contrasts by and Thomas Culpepper (09/20/1680)
"We walked in the woods amongst wild beasts...at least twenty miles, expecting to die"
Account of the Pueblo Revolt by Don Antonio de Qtermin (09/08/1680)
"On the next day, Saturday, they began at dawn to press us harder and more closely with gunshots, arrows, and stones, saying to us that now we should not escape them, and that, besides their own numbers, they were expecting help from the Apaches whom they had already summoned."
The Diversity of Native America: The Middle Colonies by William Penn (1683)
"In liberality they excel."
The Iroquois and English Form an Alliance by A Speech of the Onondagas & Cajouga Sachems (1684)
“You must Protect us against the French, which if you don’t we shall loose all our Hunting & Bevers.”
Indian Affairs (06/29/1685)
"The Governor of Canada is Intended to Destroy us"
Memoir for the Marquis de Seignelay regarding the Dangers that Threaten Canada and the Means to Remedy Them (01/1687)
"Canada is encompassed by many powerful Colonies of English who labor incessantly to ruin it by exciting all our Indians."
The Schenectady Massacre by Robert Livingston (02/09/1689 to 1690)
"As to the causes of this war...jealousy arising from the trading of our people...seems to be the principal one"
Struggles for Power by Thomas Danforth (02/17/1689)
"Take, kill, & destroy [th]e enemy without limitation of place or time"
An Indian Slave Woman Confesses to Witchcraft by Salem Village (03/01/1691)
"Tituba an Indian woman [was] brought before us...upon Suspicion of witchcraft"
The Wonders of the Invisible World by and Cotton Mather (1693)
"The devil is now making one attempt more upon us"
South Carolina by James Moore (03/01/1698 to 1699)
"Reflecting S[i]r on the weakness of this our Colony"
The Sin of Slaveholding by Samuel Sewall (1700)
"Liberty is in real value next to life"
The Selling of Joseph: A Memorial by Samuel Sewall (1700)
King William of England Addresses Parliament on the French Question by King William (12/31/1701)
"I am only pressing you to do all you can for your own safety and honour, at so critical and dangerous a time."
Persecution of the Quakers (11/11/1702)
"We are...necessitated to lay before the Governor an oppression we lie under"
Robert Beverley on Bacon's Rebellion by Robert Beverly (1704)
"In the mean time Bacon was expeditious in his preparations, and having all things in readiness, began his march, depending on the authority the people had given him."
English Liberties and Deference by Joseph Dudley (01/23/1705)
"I am good flesh & blood as you"
Queen Anne's War by Thomas Oliver (10/20/1708)
"They are animated...to such barbarity by the French"
The Schenectady Massacre by Richard Ingoldsby (07/14/1709)
"The French of Canada have killed [and] Imprisoned...your People"
English Liberties by Henry Care (1721)
"The Constitution of our English Government [is] the best in the World"
Georgia by James Oglethorpe (1733)
"The Trustees intend to relieve such unfortunate persons as cannot subsist here [in England]"
Suspicion of Arbitrary Power by John P. Zenger (03/11/1733)
"If every Man had his Will, all Men would exercise Dominion"
Whitefield Sermon (1740)
"These shall go away into everlasting punishment."
Life on the Plantation by Eliza Lucas (05/02/1740)
I have the business of three plantations to transact, which requires much writing and rather more business and fatigue of other sorts than you can imagine.
Responding to Advice From Her Father About How To Behave as a Wife by Eliza Lucas (1742)
Assuming Adult Responsibilities by Eliza Lucas (06/1742)
The Great Awakening (07/11/1743)
"Authentick Accounts...of the Revival of Religion"
Fear of Slave Revolts by Daniel Horsmanden (1744)
"The Negroes were rising"
Educational Toy (05/20/1745)
...to play himself into learning
Indentured Servitude by Javin Toby (01/09/1747)
"An apprentice...for...ye Term of fifteen years & five Months"
Immigration and Ethnic Diversity by Gottlieb Mittelberger (1750)
"During the voyage there is...terrible misery"
A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers by Jonathan Mayhew (1750)
"Render therefore to all their dues; tribute, to whom tribute is due; custom, to whom custom; fear, to whom fear; honor, to whom honor."
America as a Land of Opportunity by and Benjamin Franklin (1751)
"Why increase the Sons of Africa...where we have so fair an Opportunity...of increasing the lovely White and Red?"
On the Misfortune of Indentured Servants by Gottlieb Mittelberger (1754)
"But during the voyage there is on board these ships terrible misery, stench, fumes, horror, vomiting, many kinds of sea-sickness,..."
A Soldier's Diary by Robert Moses (1755)
"Cutlasses and hatchets playing on every quarter with much effusion of blood"
British North America in 1755 (05/22/1755)
"Canada must be subdued"
Fasting and Repentance by Stephen Hopkins (05/12/1756)
"The English Colonies...are fallen under the Chastising hand of Heaven"
The Capture of Québec by John Knox (1757 to 1760)
"We...clambered up one of the steepest precipices that can be conceived"
Journal of John Woolman by John Woolman (1757)
"I believed that liberty was the natural right of all men equally"
The Diversity of Native America: The Northeast by Pierre de Charlevoix (1761)
"Amongst the Huron nations, the women name the counselors."
Great Wars for Empire by Minavavana (1761)
“Although you have conquered the French, you have not yet conquered us!”
The Fate of Native Americans by Richard Peters (02/12/1761)
"I most heartily congratulate you on the surrender of Canada"
Advice from the Master of Life by Pontiac (1763)
“Drive them out, make war on them.”
Shifting Loyalties by Ostenaco (1765)
“The bloody tomahawk...must now be buried.”
Treatment of Indians by Junípero Serra (1775)
Coexistence and Conflict in the Spanish Southwest: The California Missions by Alexander Forbes (1839)
“Some of these means [of obtaining converts] go far beyond the bounds of legitimate persuasion”
Native Americans Discover Europeans by Joseph Nicolar (1893)
“They take...[our] hand in their own.”