"they were viewed as rebels who were defending Mexicans"
The Alamo by Carlos E. Castañeda
"I still wanted to try a generous measure, characteristic of Mexican kindness..."
Remembering the Alamo by Amelia Williams
"At the sound of the bugle they could no longer doubt that the time had come for them to conquer or to die."
President James Polk's Instructions to His Minister to Mexico by James K. Polk
"you are, in that event, instructed to offer to assume the payment of all the just claims of citizens of the United States against Mexico"
Secularization of the Missions by Narcisco Dúran
"This is the liberty they still crave."
Reasons for Migration by Elizabeth Wong
"the greedy, impoverished villagers grabbed fields, forest, food and everything"
The Pangs of Family Separation
"How was I to tell you how I felt?"
A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wolstonecraft (1792)
"The woman who has only been taught to please will soon find that her charms are oblique sunbeams"
The Emergence of the Republican Family by William Ellery (01/16/1803)
"Now is your time to lay a foundation for future usefulness"
Duelling by William Ellery (11/05/1805)
"Duelling is a mode of settling certain points of honour...by a single combat"
The Second Bank of the United States by John F. Lovett (03/14/1815)
"The Bank bill has passed"
Religion in the Early Republic by Timothy Pickering (01/06/1816)
"It is more than forty years, since...I renounced the Calvinist Scheme"
The Second Bank of the United States by Jonathan Roberts (01/16/1818)
"The expediency of taxing the United States Bank"
Acquiring Florida by James Monroe (11/16/1818)
"Different hordes of people...have violated our laws...and committed every kind of outrage"
The Missionary Impulse by Civilization Fund Act (1819)
"For the purpose of providing against...further decline"
McCullough v. Maryland by James Madison (09/02/1819)
"The Judgment of the Supreme Court...in the case of McCulloch agst. the State of Maryland"
The Missouri Crisis by John Tyler (02/14/1820)
"The great question which now agitates the nation"
Letter to Lafayette on Slavery by Thomas Jefferson (12/26/1820)
"It is not a moral question, but one merely of power"
The Rise of the Second Party System by Thomas Jefferson (09/05/1822)
"I believe their existence to be salutary"
Thomas Jefferson on Partisan Politics During the Early 1820s by Thomas Jefferson (10/28/1822)
"The same parties exist now which existed before"
California's Mission System by Eulalia Pérez (1823)
"Those who rode bareback received nothing more than their cotton blanket and loin-cloth, those who rode in saddles were dressed the same way as the Spanish-speaking inhabitants."
Anglo-American Settlement in Texas by Stephen F. Austin (08/06/1823)
"they must remember that American blood flows in their veins"
The Rise of the Second Party System by Henry Clay (08/28/1823)
"I zealously supported the emancipation ticket"
Monroe Doctrine by James Monroe (12/02/1823)
"The American continents...are henceforth not to be considered for future colonization by any European powers"
The Missionary Impulse by American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (1824)
"The only hope for the Indian is civilization and Christianization"
Gibbons v. Ogden by John Marshall (1824)
"This instrument contains an enumeration of powers expressly granted by the people to their government."
The Election of 1824 by Henry Clay (03/06/1824)
" I think it certain that the election will come into the H[ouse] of R[epresentatives]"
John Quincy Adams Calls for a Vigorous Role for Government by John Quincy Adams (05/06/1824)
"Roads and Canals are among the most essential means of improving the condition of the Nation"
Increasing Restrictions on African Americans by Ezekiel Savage (10/23/1824 to 10/13/1824)
"The said John Harris is a Citizen of the United States"
President Monroe Justifies the Removal Policy by James Monroe (1825)
"Removal...would...promote their welfare and happiness"
Tejano Leaders Favor Slavery in Texas by Juan Nepomuceno Seguin (1825)
"the introduction of slaves into our territory should not be permitted under any pretext"
The Underground Railroad by Edward Lawton (05/22/1825)
"The master & mistress...treated her with great severity, so much so as to induce some of the friends of Freedom...to assist her in making her escape"
Responses to Removal by Elias Boudinot (1826)
"Shall...[we] live, or...be swept from the earth?"
More Glimpses of Early 19th Century Texas (1828) by José María Sánchez (1828)
"The Mexicans that live here are very humble people..."
The Texas Revolution: A Conflict of Cultures? (1828)
"for they are in general, in my opinion, lazy people of vicious character"
The Texas Revolution by Manuel Mier y Terán (1828)
"numerous tribes of Indians, now at peace, but armed and at any moment ready for war"
Anglo-Mexican Relations in Texas by José María Sánchez (1828)
"The Mexicans who live here are very humble people..."
Warnings about the Future of Texas by Manuel Mier y Terán (06/30/1828)
"Neither are there civil authorities or magistrates..."
Course of Popular Lectures by Frances Wright (1829)
"Do we exert our own liberties without injury to others..."
Jackson's Rationale for Removal by President Andrew Jackson (1829)
"The fate of the Mohegan, the Narragansett, and the Delaware is fast overtaking the Choctaw, the Cherokee, and the Creek"
Temperance: From Gradualism to Immediatism by J. Kitredge (07/04/1829)
"Men of wealth and respectability, who...throw their influence into the scale of intemperance"
Warnings About The Future of Texas 2 (11/14/1829)
"The department of Texas is contiguous to the most avid nation in the world."
Temperance by Edward Hitchcocks (1830)
"30,000 to 50,000 individuals...become sots every year"
A Former Commissioner of Indian Affairs Denounces the Failure to Keep Whitess Off Cherokee Lands by Thomas L. McKenney (1830)
"In vain did the Indians implore the government to protect them"
Jackson Defends the Removal Policy by Andrew Jackson (1830)
"Cause them gradually...to cast off their savage habits and become an interesting, civilized, and Christian community."
A Member of Congress Speaks Out Against the Removal Policy by Edward Everett (1830)
"Nations of dependent Indians...are driven from their homes into the wilderness."
Emigration or No Emigration by Joseph Pickering (1830)
"the captain says he never experienced so much bad weather"
The Removal Act of 1830 (05/28/1830)
"That it shall and may be lawful for the President to exchange any or all of such districts..."
William Lloyd Garrison on Slavery by William Lloyd Garrison (07/13/1830)
"How is it with the slave?"
Nat Turner's Rebellion by Samuel Warner (1831)
"Doomed...in this 'Land of Liberty' to a state of cruel bondage!"
Cherokee v. Georgia (1831)
"Before we can look into the merits of the case, a preliminary inquiry presents itself. Has this court jurisdiction of the cause?"
Resistance in the Courts by Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831)
"The motion for an injunction is denied"
The Confessions of Nat Turner by Nat Turner (1831)
"I was intended for some great purpose"
Missionary Activity in New Spain's Northern Frontier by Captain F. W. Beechey (1831)
Henry Clay on Slavery by Henry Clay (05/19/1831)
"Slavery is undoubtedly a manifest violation of the rights of man"
Newspaper Report of Nat Turner's Insurrection (08/23/1831)
"Disagreeable rumors have reached this city of an insurrection of the slaves in Southampton County"
Nullification and the Bank War: John C. Calhoun in the Connecticut Herald (08/30/1831)
"[The tariff] has divided the country into two great geographical divisions"
Newspaper Report of Nat Turner's Insurrection: Richmond Enquirer (08/30/1831)
"Without any cause or provocation"
The Liberator Comments on Nat Turner's Insurrection by Weld (09/03/1831)
"What we have long predicted...has commenced its fulfillment"
Thomas R. Dew on the Virginia Legislative Debate following Nat Turner's Insurrection by Thomas R. Dew (1832)
"Any scheme of abolition...so soon after the Southampton tragedy, would...appear to be the result of the...massacre"
Anglo-Mexican Relations in Texas by A Member of the Tejano Elite (1832)
"Their industry has made them comfortable and independent"
A Tejano Favors Anglo Immigration by Ayuntamiento (1832)
"The advantages of liberal North American immigration are innumerable"
Resistance in the Courts by Worcester v. Georgia (1832)
"The Cherokee nation, then, is a distinct community...in which the laws of Georgia can have no force"
Responses to Removal by George W. Harkins (1832)
"We must go forth as wanderers in a strange land!"
Worcester v. Georgia by John Marshall (1832)
"It has been said at the bar that the acts of the Legislature of Georgia seize on the whole Cherokee country, parcel it out among the neighboring counties of the State, extend her code over the whole country, abolish its institutions and its laws, and annihilate its political existence."
Andrew Jackson Denounces Nullification in a Presidential Proclamation by Andrew Jackson (12/10/1832)
"Disunion, by armed force, is TREASON"
South Carolina Governor Robert Y. Hayne on the Nullification Crisis by Governor Robert Y. Hayne (12/13/1832)
"I recognize no ALLEGIANCE, as paramount to that which the citizens of South Carolina owe to the State of their birth"
The Black Hawk and Seminole Wars by Black Hawk (1833)
"What right had these people to our village and our fields."
The Nullification Crisis by Andrew Jackson (02/23/1833)
"The union between Mr. Clay & Calhoun"
The Dorr War: Thomas W. Dorr Addresses the People of Rhode Island by Thomas W. Dorr (1834)
"Choice of those who make and administer laws is a Natural Right"
Responses to Removal by John Ross (1834)
"We have been...treated like dogs"
The Bank War by Andrew Jackson (03/14/1834)
"A metallic currency to meet the wants of the labouring class"
David Crockett Attacks President Andrew Jackson by David Crockett (04/04/1834)
"My great dread is a Civil War"
David Crockett Announces his Decision to Move to Texas by David Crockett (12/25/1834)
"I will go to the Wilds of Texas"
The Black Hawk and Seminole Wars by Samuel G. Drake (1835)
"That was the last sun that shone on Black-hawk."
California's Mission System by Pablo Tac (1835)
"he missions' purpose was to turn them into productive citizens who could hold the land for Spain"
Opposition to the Abolitionists by Elijah P. Lovejoy (01/30/1835)
"Cease to send that paper to this office"
Declaration of the People of Texas (11/07/1835)
"That Texas is no longer, morally or civilly, bound by the compact of Union; yet, stimulated by the generosity and sympathy common to a free people they offer their support and assistance to such of the Mexicans of the Mexican Confederacy as will take up arms against their military despotism."
Andrew Jackson's Seventh Annual Message to Congress by Andrew Jackson (12/07/1835)
"All preceding experiments for the improvement of the Indians have failed. It seems now to be an established fact they they can not live in contact with a civilized community and prosper."
Do the People of Texas Have a Right to Declare Independence? (12/22/1835)
"In the year of eighteen hundred and twenty-one, Texas was an uninhabited wilderness..."
An Abolitionist Calls Slavery the True Cause of the Texas Revolution by Benjamin Lundy (1836)
"The slaveholding interest is now paramount in the Executive branch of our national government"
Mexico's Leaders Condemn Slavery in Texas by Santa Anna (1836 to 1837)
"Greater still is the astonishment of the civilized world to see the United States maintain the institution of slavery"
Establishing Hawaii’s First Sugar Plantation by William Hooper (1836)
"I commenced work on this plantation"
Responses to Removal by Memorial and Protest of the Cherokee Nation (1836)
"When taught to think and feel as the American citizen...they were to be despoiled by their guardian"
Texas Declares Independence by Republic of Texas and Stephen F. Austin (03/02/1836)
"The...violations of the constitutional rights of the people...have compelled us to arm in self-defense"
The Republic of Texas Declares Its Independence from Mexico (03/02/1836)
"The people of Texas, do now constitute a FREE, SOVEREIGN, AND INDEPENDENT REPUBLIC"
The Texas Revolution by Stephen F. Austin (03/07/1836)
"In order to restrain these savages and bring them into subjection, the government opened Texas for settlement."
Address of the Honorable S. F. Austin by Stephen F. Austin (03/07/1836)
"When a people consider themselves compelled by circumstances or by oppression, to appeal to arms and resort to their natural rights, they necessarily submit their cause to the great tribunal of public opinion."
The Principal Diplomat of the Cherokee Nation Defends His People of the Charge that they Were Forming an Alliance with Mexico (04/13/1836)
"The Chief [requests me to] say that the persons reported to have been killed are at this time present."
The Texas Revolution by E.G. Fisk (05/22/1836)
"We...have news that St. Anna has been taken by the Texans"
A Tejano Leader Calls for Support of the Texas Revolution by Juan Nepomuceno Seguin (06/21/1836)
"My ties of birth and the friendship I entertain towards you, cause me to desire your happiness"
A Mexican Official Calls on his Country to Re-Conquer Texas or Risk Losing More Territory by José Maria Tornel y Mendivil (1837)
"Little by little our territory will be absorbed"
Stages of Expansion by José María Tomel y Mendívil (1837)
"The loss of Texas will inevitably result in the loss of New Mexico"
The Battle of the Alamo by Antonio López de Santa Anna (1837)
"A siege of a few days would have caused its surrender"
A Pro-Slavery New Yorker by E.W. Taylor (01/25/1837)
"The abolitionist...[should] pay attention to his own affairs"
John Quincy Adams on the Gag Rule by John Quincy Adams (03/03/1837)
"The stake in the question is your right to petition, your freedom of thought and action"
From Antislavery to Women's Rights by Angelina Grimké (1838)
"Mere circumstances of sex does not give to man higher rights...than to women"
The Commissioner of Indian Affairs Outlines Post-Removal Indian Policy by T. Hartley Crawford (1838)
"Manual-labor schools are what the Indian condition calls for"
Letters on the Equality of the Sexes, and the Condition of Woman by Sarah Grimke (1838)
"Whatsoever it is morally right for a man to do, it is morally right for a woman to do"
Franklin Pierce on Slavery by Franklin Pierce (03/18/1838)
"I am no advocate of slavery...but"
The Growth of Southern Nationalism by John C. Calhoun (06/15/1838)
"It will do more to unite...the slaveholding states then can be effected by anything else"
John Quincy Adams Reports on Congress in 1838 by John Quincy Adams (09/21/1838)
"A combination of Northern labour and Southern capital to suppress the right of Petition"
William Henry Harrison Discusses the Politics of Slavery by William H. Harrison (10/12/1838)
"The slave holding states...retained the complete control of slavery within their boundaries"
Texas' Second President Calls for the Expulsion or Extermination of the Republic's Indians by Mirabeau B. Lamar (12/20/1838)
"Has not the white man for centuries furnished him with examples of clemency and kindness?"
American Slavery As It Is (1839)
"Privations of the Slaves"
American Slavery as It Is (1839)
"General Testimony to the Cruelties Inflicted Upon Slaves"
Theodore Dwight Weld, American Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses by Theodore Dwight Weld (1839)
"What is the actual condition of the slaves in the United States"
Testimony of Sarah M. Grimké on Slavery by Sarah Grimke (1839)
"I left my native state on account of slavery"
Testimony of Angelina Grimké on Slavery (1839)
"It would be utterly impossible to recount the...ways...the heart of the slave is continually lacerated"
Amistad Affair: Secretary of State John Forsythe Calls for the Captives' Return to Cuba by John Forsyth (1839)
"However unjust...the slave trade may be, it is not contrary to the law of nations"
Missionary Activity in New Spain's Northern Frontier by Alexander Forbes (1839)
"The Indian population generally live in huts"
Manifest Destiny (1839)
"America is destined for better deeds."
Texas's Second President Denounces the Cherokees for Conspiring with Mexico by Mirabeau B. Lamar (05/1839)
"You are not Cherokees and we believe you have not mingled your voices in their wicked Councils."
The Amistad Affair by William S. Holabird (09/09/1839)
"No treaty stipulations...authorize our Government to deliver them...to...Spanish authorities"
The Liberty Party by Gerrit Smith (1840)
"We have pursued slavery...into all its hiding places"
James Buchanan on the 1840 Presidential Election by James Buchanan (06/29/1840)
"We are now in the midst of a higher political excitement than I have ever yet witnessed"
The Black Hawk and Seminole Wars by Coacooche (1841)
"His tongue was forked; he lied and stung us"
Indian Haters and Sympathizers by George Catlin (1841)
"Victims and dupes of white man's cupidity"
Letter from Kinna to John Quincy Adams by Kinna (01/04/1841)
"I want to write you a few lines my dear friend because you love us, and because you talk to the great court, and tell America people to make us free."
Letter from Kale to John Quincy Adams by Kale (01/04/1841)
"We want you to ask the Court what we have done wrong. What for Americans keep us in prison."
John Quincy Adams Defends the Amistad Captives before the U.S. Supreme Court by John Quincy Adams (02/24/1841 to 03/01/1841)
"I appear...on...behalf of thirty-six individuals, the life and liberty of every one...depend on...this court"
John Quincy Adams Denounces Texas Annexation by John Quincy Adams (1842 to 1843)
"Annexation...would risk a war with Mexico"
Webster-Ashburton Treaty (08/09/1842)
"Whereas the Traffic in Slaves is irreconcilable with the principles of humanity and justice..."
The Santa Fe Trail by James Josiah Webb (1844 to 1847)
"An inflexible rule with the priests was: no money, no marrying..."
James Buchanan on the Annexation of Texas by James Buchanan (02/03/1844)
"It would be far better for this country that Texas should remain an independent state"
A Fourierist Newspaper Criticizes the Nuclear Family (02/08/1844)
"The isolated household is a source of innumerable evils"
Woman in the Nineteenth Century by Margaret Fuller (1845)
"Did marriage give her a sure home and protector..."
Why an Abolitionist Could Not Support the Whig Party by Gerrit Smith (01/01/1845)
"The Liberty party is what its enemies reproachfully call it--'a one idea party'"
A Northern Clergyman Denounces the Annexation of Texas by Abiel Abbot (03/11/1845)
"The annexation of Texas is a great offense against humanity"
Proclamation: A Call for Mexicans to Defend their Homeland by Jose Joaquin de Herrera (06/04/1845)
"does in nowise destroy the rights that Mexico has"
John Quincy Adams Discusses the Politics of Slavery by John Quincy Adams (07/15/1845)
"No action of mine can...contribute...to the abolition of Slavery"
Proclamation: A Mexican General Denounces the United States by Francisco Mejia (1846)
"The right of conquest has always been a crime against humanity"
An American Naval Commander Arrives in California by John Sloat (1846)
"I do not come among them as an enemy to California"
The Rights and the Condition of Women by Samuel J. May (1846)
"Should women be allowed to take part in the constructing and administering of our civil institutions?"
The San Patricios by Mariano Arista (1846)
"I warn you in the name of justice, honour, and your own interests and self-respect, to abandon their desperate and unholy cause..."
Resistance by Juan Bautista Vigil y Alarid (1846)
"No one in this world can successfully resist the power of him who is stronger."
The Mexican War by James K. Polk (05/11/1846)
"Our commerce with Mexico has been almost annihilated"
President James Polk Calls on Congress to Declare War on Mexico by James K. Polk (05/11/1846)
"he considered hostilities commenced and should prosecute them"
Polk's Message on War with Mexico by James K. Polk (05/11/1846)
"As war exists, and, notwithstanding all our efforts to avoid it, exists by the act of Mexico herself, we are called upon by every consideration of duty and patriotism to vindicate with decision the honor, the rights, and the interests of our country..."
Oregon Treaty (06/15/1846)
"The farms, lands, and other property of every description, belonging to the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company, on the north side of the Columbia River, shall be confirmed to the said company."
Irish Potato Famine by Henry Colman (09/18/1846)
"utter failure of the potato cropin Ireland is determined and the consequences are frightful to contemplate"
President Polks Calls on Congress to Declare War on Mexico by James Polk (1846)
"the great theme of denunciation against it"
Famine Ship Diary: The Journey of an Irish Coffin by Robert Whyte (1847)
"mistress sat in an armchair"
Narrative of a Recent Journey of Six Weeks in Ireland by William Bennett (1847)
"we were too much overcome"
Resistance by Donaciano Vigil (1847)
"respectable body of troops will commence their march for the purpose of quelling these disorders of Pablo Montoya"
Irish Potato Famine: The Summer of Sorrow by Gerald Keegan (02/1847)
"It was my first and likely to be my last view of that country"
A Lecture on the Antecedent Causes of the Irish Famine in 1847 by John Hughes (03/20/1847)
"invaders were pleased to consider themselves as having conquered the Irish"
General Zachary Taylor Seeks to Impose Order in Mexico by Zachary Taylor (03/22/1847)
"The citizens of the country have...encouraged ambushes"
The Mexican War by Zachary Taylor (10/19/1847)
"The Wilmot Proviso will shake that body to its center"
The Mexican War by Persifor Smith (10/26/1847)
"This people have been conceived in sin &...have been degraded by oppression"
Abraham Lincoln Protests the Mexican War by Abraham Lincoln (12/22/1847)
"the Mexican Government refused even to hear the terms of adjustment"
Seneca Falls Declaration by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1848)
"That the same amount of virtue, delicacy, and refinement of behavior that is required of woman in the social state"
Toward a New Policy: Concentrating Indians on Reservations by William Medill (1848)
"When compelled to face the stern necessities of life...he in a very short time becomes a changed being"
Mexico Debates the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo by Manuel Crescencio Rejon (1848)
"The North Americans hate us"
Articles IX and X by Article IX (1848)
"The U.S. Senate replaced this clause with a more ambiguous statement, modelled after the Treaty that had brought Louisiana territory into the Union."
Articles IX and X by Article X (1848)
"shall be respected as valid"
A Backhanded Compromise: The Protocol of Quéretaro by The Protocol of Quéretaro (1848)
"preserve the legal value which they may possess"
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (02/02/1848)
"The United States, exonerating Mexico from all demands on account of the claims of their citizens mentioned in the preceding article, and considering them entirely and forever cancelled, whatever their amount may be, undertake to make satisfaction for the same, to an amount not exceeding three and one quarter millions of dollars. . . "
The Mexican War through an American Soldier's Eyes by Wellington G. Burnett (04/04/1848)
"We are not furnished with a uniform"
Mexico Debates the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo by Bernardo Couto (06/07/1848)
"it may be more properly called a treaty of recovery rather than one of alienation"
Abraham Lincoln Prematurely Bids Politics Farewell by Abraham Lincoln (06/27/1848)
"The close of my congressional career"
Report of the Woman's Right Convention Held at Seneca Falls (07/19/1848 to 07/20/1848)
"That all laws which prevent woman from occupying such a station in society as her conscience shall dictate"
Elizabeth Cady Stanton Addresses a Women's Rights Convention in 1848 by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (07/19/1848)
"How many truly harmonious households have we now?"
The Free Soil Party by Gerrit Smith (08/15/1848)
"The Whig and Democratic candidates...are the shameless tools of the slave-power"
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)
"when this treaty shall be duly ratified by the Government of the Mexican Republic"
The Battle of the Alamo by Vicente Filisola (1849)
"a shower of grape and musket balls was poured upon them"
Immigration from Ireland by William Smith (1850)
"Most...who died of ship-fever were delirious"
The Reservation Policy by Luke Lea (1850)
"They be placed in positions where they can be controlled, and finally compelled by stern necessity to resort to agricultural labor or starve"
A Controversial War by Ramon Alcaraz (1850)
"violence and insult were united"
Testimony of Canadian Fugitives by Benjamin Drew (1850)
"I should have been perfectly miserable to have had to work all my life for another man for nothing."
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 (1850)
"efficient execution of this law"
Life in the California Gold Fields by William Swain (01/06/1850)
The Compromise of 1850 by David Atchison (04/05/1850)
"What kind of settlement of the slavery question will be made I cannot tell"
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty by John M. Clayton and Henry Lytton Bulwer (04/19/1850)
"The governments of the United States and Great Britain hereby declare, that neither the one nor the other will ever obtain or maintain for itself any exclusive control over the said ship canal."
The Compromise of 1850 by James Shields (06/22/1850)
"The Compromise Bill is not a pro-Slavery measure"
Frederick Douglass and Gerrit Smith Denounce the Fugitive Slave Law (01/07/1851 to 01/09/1851)
"We pour out upon the Fugitive Slave Law the fullest measure of our contempt and hate"
Ain't I a Woman? by Sojourner Truth (12/1851)
Singing About Migration (1852)
"I began my perilous journey"
How Emigrants Could Afford to Migrate (1852)
"Some have borrowed the small amount necessary"
Chinese Immigrants in Gold Rush Era California by Norman Assing (1852)
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (03/20/1852)
"This simple narrative is an honest attempt to enlist sympathies...in the sufferings of an oppressed race"
A Chinese-American Protest by Norman Asing (05/05/1852)
"because of your holding him in involuntary servitude"
The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass (07/05/1852)
“This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn."
Kansas-Nebraska Act (05/30/1854)
"An act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping from, the service of their masters.."
The First Chinese Newspaper in America (06/10/1854)
"believing that Civil and Political knowledge is of infinite importance to the Chinese"
The Mormons by Brigham Young (06/29/1854)
"In our Mountain home we feel not the withering...influence of political...despotism"
Revival of the Slavery Issue by Gerrit Smith (11/01/1854)
"The Democrats are undisguised open servants of the slave-power"
Methods of Discipline by John Brown (1855)
"Fixed bells and horns on my head"
Preface to Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (1855)
Abraham Lincoln on the Know Nothing Party by Abraham Lincoln (08/24/1855)
"I am not a Know Nothing"
Bleeding Kansas by John Brown (12/05/1855)
"We feel more, & more certain that Kansas will be a Free State"
Republican Party Platform, 1856 (1856)
"Resolved, That with our republican fathers we hold it be a self-evident truth, that all men are endowed with the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness..."
The Disintegration of the Second Party System by Salmon P. Chase (01/26/1856)
"We work now to overturn the Slave-Power"
Gerrit Smith Discusses the Efforts of Free Soilers to Make Kansas a Free Territory by Gerrit Smith (03/13/1856)
"The people of Kansas...are suffering at the hands of the Federal Administration and the Missouri ruffians"
The Crime Against Kansas by Charles Sumner (05/19/1856)
"Not in any common lust for power did this uncommon tragedy have its origin. It is the rape of a virgin Territory, compelling it to the hateful embrace of Slavery; and it may be clearly traced to a depraved longing for a new slave State, the hideous offspring of such a crime, in the hope of adding to the power of slavery in the National Government."
The 1856 Presidential Campaign by Gideon Welles (07/12/1856)
"This state can be made certain for Frémont"
Bleeding Kansas by Julia Louisa Lovejoy (09/05/1856)
Bleeding Sumner by Charles Sumner (12/20/1856)
"The Liberty of the white as well as black...will become a name only"
Hinton Rowan Helper on the Impending Crisis of the South by Hinton Rowan Helper (1857)
"The value of all the property...in seven slave States...is less than the real and personal estate...in...New York"
Fragment of a Speech by Abraham Lincoln on the Conflict between Slavery and Republican Government by Abraham Lincoln (1857 to 1858)
"We never hear of a man who wishes to...[be] a slave himself"
The Dred Scott Decision by Roger B. Taney (1857)
"The right of property in a slave is distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Constitution"
Lincoln's Stands in the 1858 Illinois Senate Campaign by Abraham Lincoln (1858)
"Mr. Lincoln stands on the Old Whig Platform, with Clay and Webster"
Lincoln's Stand on Slavery in the 1858 Illinois Senate Campaign by Abraham Lincoln (1858)
"'Why can't this Union endure permanently, half slave and half free?'"
Stephen Douglas and the Freeport Doctrine by Andrew Jackson (1858)
"Senator Douglas contends that the Territorial Legislatures may lawfully evade the Constitution"
Stephen Douglas and Slavery (1858)
"Douglas Don't Care"
Fragment of Abraham Lincoln's House Divided Speech by Abraham Lincoln (1858)
"A house divided against itself cannot stand"
The Fate of the Tejanos by John N. Seguín (1858)
"I was an obstacle to the execution of their vile designs"
A Tejano Describes How He has been Transformed into a Foreigner in His Own Land by John N. Seguín (1858)
"a victim to the wickedness of a few men"
Andrew Johnson Offers His Opinion on President James Buchanan and Senator Steven Douglas by Andrew Johnson (01/23/1858)
"Mr. Buchanan is a very weak man in the two Houses of Congress"
Lincoln Traces the Development of his Attitudes toward Slavery and Equality by Abraham Lincoln (07/17/1858)
"I have said that I do not understand the Declaration to mean that all men are created equal in all respects"
The Public Land Commission by Antonio María Pico (1859)
"it has brought about the most disastrous effects upon those who have the honor to subscribe their names to this petition"
Legend-making: Joaquín Murieta by Joaquín Murieta Account by John Rollin Ridge (1859)
"they knocked him senseless with the butts of their pistols"
Resistance in Texas by Juan Nepomuceno Cortina (07/1859)
"chastise the villainy of our enemies"
Resistance in Texas by Juan Nepomuceno Cortina (09/30/1859)
"adhering to the common enemy"
To Be a Slave (10/08/1859)
"I take this opportunity of writing to you"
John Brown's Final Address to the Court by John Brown (11/2/1859)
"In the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along admitted: of a design on my part to free slaves."
The Growing Confidence of Pro-Slavery Forces by Hugh C. Irish (11/22/1859)
"The old Union-saving machinery will be put in motion again"
Proclamation to the Mexicans of Texas by Juan Nepomuceno Cortina (11/23/1859)
"The history of great human actions teaches us that in certain instances the principal motive which gives them impulse is the natural right to resist and conquer our enemies with a firm spirit and lively will..."
Address of John Brown to the Virginia Court by John Brown (12/1859)
"I deny every thing but...a design on my part to free slaves"
A Republican Representative Describes the Mood in Congress in 1859 by William Windom (12/10/1859)
"We have a warm time here with the Southern fire eaters"
Pro-Slavery Arguments: The Biblical Argument by Thornton Stringfellow (1860)
"God...established slavery"
Pro-Slavery Arguments by E.N. Elliott (1860)
"Will ye be led away by a cruel and misguided philanthropy, or by designing demagogues?"
Pro-Slavery Arguments: Samuel A. Cartwright, by Samuel A. Cartwright (1860)
"Let us refer to figures and facts"
Cotton Is King: Pro-Slavery Arguments by E.N. Elliott (1860)
"Witness the growing distrust with which the people of the North and South begin to regard each other"
The Southern Rights Vigilance Club of Savannah, Georgia, Threatens Secession by The Southern Rights Vigilance Club of Savannah, Georgia (1860)
"The foundations of the Republic tremble under the shock of contending factions"
Resistance to Oppression (1860)
"Our object, as you have seen, has been to chastise the villainy of our enemies"
Frederick Law Olmsted Describes Texas (1860)
"Any man, who had been brought up in Texas, he said, could live as well as he wanted to, without working more than one month a year."
A Chinese Merchant’s Appeal to Congress by Pun Chi (1860)
"Our numberless wrongs it is most painful even to recite."
The Missionary Impulse by Henry Benjamin Whipple (1860)
"That the government shall occupy a paternal character, treating the Indians as their wards"
Aaron D. Stevens Describes His Mood Before His Execution to John Brown's Daughter by Aaron D. Stevens (01/05/1860)
"The boys met their fate very cheerful"
Stephen A. Douglas Discusses the 1860 Campaign by Stephen A. Douglas (06/29/1860)
"Our friends...are organizing thoroughly for the fight"
I Am for Liberty by Frederick Douglass (11/10/1860)
"I am for...Universal Liberty"
Preparing for War by Paul Jones Semmes (12/19/1860)
"Sixteen rifle cannons...Also, One Hundred thousand (100,000) pounds of lead"
South Carolina Secedes from the Union by South Carolina Convention (12/20/1860)
"The People of South Carolina...have solemnly declared that the Union...is dissolved"
A South Carolinian Discusses Secessionist Sentiment in the State by William P. Gibson (12/22/1860)
"Every body is rampant in favor of disunion"
Mary Anne Sadlier, Bessy Conway; or, The Irish Girl in America by Mary Anne Sadlier (1861)
"when a shilling was worth a precious life"
The Secession Crisis by Jefferson Davis (01/13/1861)
"The temper of the Black Republicans is not to give us our right in the Union, or allow us to go peaceably out of it"
Secessionist Sentiment in Texas (01/14/1861)
"The unanimity of the feeling...in opposition to the...Union"
Col. Robert A. Anderson Describes Anti-Union Sentiment in South Carolina by Robert A. Anderson (01/21/1861)
"I feel that I have been...an humble instrument in the hands of our Heavenly Father"
Texas Secedes from the Union by Robert Campbell (02/01/1861 to 1861)
"The South cannot be conquered"
The Crisis over Fort Sumter by Jefferson Davis (02/22/1861)
"The duty of getting possession of the Forts now held within our limits"
The Subjection of Women by John Stuart Mill (1869)
"Accordingly wives, even in the most extreme and protracted cases of bodily ill-usage, hardly ever dare avail themselves of the laws made for their protection"
Indian Haters and Sympathizers by H.H. Brackenridge (1872)
"They have the shapes of men...but...approach nearer the character of Devils"
The Fate of the Tejanos by Comisión Pesquisadora de la Frontera del Norte (1873)
"attempts were made to deprive the Mexicans of their lands"
The California Gold Rush: Luzena Stanley Wilson's Memoirs by Luzena Stanley (1881)
Antislavery and Women's Rights by Abigail Kelley Foster (03/09/1881)
"The American Anti-Slavery [Society]...divided when women were put among its officers"
Harpers Ferry: John Brown's Daughter's Recollections by Annie Brown Adams (12/15/1887)
"My father and two brothers...went down to Harper's Ferry"
Two Accounts of the Trail of Tears: Wahnenauhi and Private John G. Burnett (1889 to 1890)
John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry by Joseph Barry (1903)
"when a pistol was presented at his breast by the captain"
Letter from Ireland during the Famine of 1847 by Alexander Somerville (1994)
"Ireland is a most unfounded and unworthy libel"