The American Promise has long been a course favorite for its readability, clear chronology, and the voices of Americans that animate the book. Now with new co-authors, the eighth edition continues to deliver a strong narrative with political backbone and offers a new pedagogical design that reinforces that history is a discipline rooted in debate and inquiry. The American Promise has primary sources in each chapter, a full-color map and art program, and comprehensive supplement options, including LaunchPad and a free companion sourcebook.

Available for free when packaged with the print book, the popular digital assignment and assessment options for this text bring skill building and assessment to a more highly effective level. The greatest active learning options come in LaunchPad, which combines an accessible e-book with LearningCurve, an adaptive and automatically graded learning tool that—when assigned—helps ensure students read the book; the complete companion reader with comparative questions that help students build arguments from those sources; and many other study and assessment tools. For instructors who want the easiest and most affordable way to ensure students come to class prepared Achieve Read & Practice pairs LearningCurve, adaptive quizzing and our mobile, accessible Value Edition e-book, in one easy-to-use product.

Features

Pedagogy reinforces that history is a discipline rooted in debate and inquiry. Chapter-wide pedagogical tools help students focus on the relevant themes and events in U.S. history. Section-opening headings expressed as questions and section-ending review questions model the kinds of questions historians ask and help students engage in inquiry-based reading and understanding. Each major section poses engaging questions, provides a chronology for understanding change over time, and includes definitions of key terms in the margins. A unique chapter Study Guide provides a structured five-step process to help students build deep understanding of the chapter material.

A clear chronology and political framework that is animated by the voices of individual Americans makes history relatable. A clear chronology and a political framework is interwoven with the voices of both ordinary Americans and notable figures. With first-person quotes highlighted in the narrative, the book invites students to evaluate to what extent individuals make history. From Abigail Adams to Abraham Lincoln, from a colonial servant to an Ojibwa chief, these voices highlight the diversity of the American past and emphasize human agency.

A feature program that builds historical skills. In each chapter, the primary source feature Analyzing Historical Evidence juxtaposes two to four primary documents to dramatize the human dimension of major events and shows varying perspectives on those events. This feature gives students the opportunity to practice historical skills, such as Summarize the Argument, Consider the Context, Recognize Viewpoints, and Ask Historical Questions. Each chapter also contains a Spotlight essay feature. These essays focus on how historians make and support historical arguments; the stories of individuals or groups who sought their own versions of the promise of America; or, the connection to developments around the world. In Launchpad, the features are accompanied by multiple choice questions that test students’ critical reading skills.

LaunchPad helps you do more than you can with print alone.Free when packaged with the book, LaunchPad’s course space and interactive ebook is ready to use as is, or can be edited and customized with your own material and assigned right away. Developed with extensive feedback from history instructors and students, LaunchPad includes the complete narrative ebook, as well as abundant primary documents, maps, images, assignments and activities. The aims of key learning outcomes are addressed via formative and summative assessment, short answer and essay questions, multiple choice quizzing, and LearningCurve, an adaptive learning tool designed to get students to read before they come to class. Available with training and support, LaunchPad can help you take your teaching into a new era.

LearningCurve ensures students come to class prepared. Tired of your students not reading the textbook? Would you like to know what they read and how much they understood—BEFORE they come to class? Assign LearningCurve, the adaptive learning tool created for your survey textbook in LaunchPad and the system’s analytics will show how your students are doing with the reading so that you can adapt your class as needed. Each chapter-based LearningCurve activity gives students multiple chances to understand key concepts, return to the narrative textbook if they need to reread, and answer questions correctly. Over 90% of students report satisfaction with LearningCurve's fun and accessible game-like interface. LearningCurve appeals to students so that they engage with the textbook, and it helps you to know what they know before class begins.

A range of options offers convenience and value. In addition to the full textbook, this edition is also available in a conveniently smaller and lower-priced Concise edition with select features; inexpensive Value edition — a two-color version with the unabridged narrative and select art and maps; and a steeply- discounted loose-leaf format. Other lower-priced options include: ebooks for both book formats; an interactive ebook format in the complete text’s dedicated version of LaunchPad, with LearningCurve adaptive quizzing and fully integrated study resources; and, for the most affordable and easiest-to-use ebook option, Achieve Read & Practice, with the mobile and accessible Value edition ebook and the adaptive quizzing of LearningCurve.

New to This Edition

New Co-authors join The American Promise. François Furstenberg, Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University, and Sarah Igo, Andrew Jackson Professor of American History at Vanderbilt University have joined the author team for the eighth edition. Their deep knowledge of 18th and 19th century America (François) and of recent America (Sarah) and their outstanding skills in the classroom make them ideal additions to the author team.

Updated and Expanded Coverage of Early American History. Native American history has been more fully inserted into the narrative of early American history. Chapters 6-11, revised by Francois Furstenberg, now focus much more on Native American struggles in the west to maintain their autonomy and territorial sovereignty, struggles which had a decisive effect on many of the great events of early American history.

Updated and Revised Organization of U.S. History since 1945. The last six chapters of the book (chapters 26-31, revised by Sarah Igo) have been thoroughly updated to include new scholarship on global political developments, social movements, technological innovations, environmental challenges, and analysis of the Trump presidency.

Enriched Coverage of Science and Technology. The eighth edition has expanded coverage of issues related to science and technology. From railroads and airplanes, to telephones and the evolution of the internet, technological change has been one of the drivers of American history, and, of course, remains so today. The theme extends to coverage of related environmental issues. Some highlights of this coverage include: a new section on the latest DNA evidence of the first human migrants to the New World (chapter 1); consideration of the centrality of steam power and railroads in early industrialization (chapter 12); new material on conservation and Hetch Hetchy (chapter 21); and, discussion of the personal computer revolution as well as a fuller description of the information economy and tech boom in the 1990s (chapter 30).

Achieve Read & Practice puts the most affordable and easy-to-use e-book with built-in assessment into student hands, wherever they go. Available for the first time with this edition, Achieve Read & Practice's interactive Value Edition e-book, adaptive quizzing, and grade-book is built with an intuitive interface that can be read on mobile devices, and is fully accessible and available at a discounted price so anyone can use it. It comes pre-loaded with LearningCurve adaptive quizzing, which, when assigned, ensures students come to class prepared. Instructors can set due dates for reading assignments and LearningCurve quizzes in just a few clicks, making it an effective option for a simple and affordable way to engage students with the narrative.

More source-based questions in the test bank and in the LearningCurve adaptive learning tool in LaunchPad give instructors easier ways to test students on their understanding of sources in the book. In this edition, 10 percent of test bank and LearningCurve questions are based on sources, and each primary source in the text and in the reader comes with autograded multiple choice questions, giving instructors easy ways to assess students on more than the narrative.

"The American Promise gives students so much more content for the cost of the book. The text follows a clear chronological order. The text provides primary sources and visual activities for each chapter. The special features are useful and skills oriented. The Analyzing Historical Evidence features encourages students to use their critical thinking skills for all ranges and diverse documents."
— Diane Gill, North Lake College

"The strengths of The American Promise include its inclusion of the nation's history of inequality and its continual efforts to achieve the ideals and promise of a democratic republic… students find The American Promise easy to engage with because of its straightforward, readability."
— Leah Vallely, Calhoun Community College

"Organizing text chapters and sections around questions turns passive reading of historical narrative into active problem-solving, into detective analytical thinking skills used by historians that make students more informed citizens.The American Promise promotes the many skills of historical thinking built on multiple approaches to cross-examining a wide variety of evidence."
— Edward Simmons, Georgia Gwinnett College

"I love the organization... The writing occupies probably the best possible position between accessible and scholarly. I love being able to give students the LaunchPad option, because that allows them to get all of the content necessary for my course with one click and for less than $50."
— Joseph Bagley, Georgia State University

"The textbook goes a long way in underscoring the role of women, Native Americans, and black Americans consistently throughout the entire narrative, which helps augment the importance in studying and understanding the humanities for students from all backgrounds. It embodies a balanced, complete, yet succinct iteration of the most important scholarly, conceptual, and factual elements while consistently introducing, defining, and explaining the key people, events, and concepts most important to understanding the history then and now."
— Stacy Reikowsky, North Dakota State University

The American Promise, Volume 1

James L. Roark; Michael P. Johnson; Francois Furstenberg; Sarah Stage; Sarah Igo

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The American Promise, Volume 1

Eighth Edition 2020

James L. Roark; Michael P. Johnson; Francois Furstenberg; Sarah Stage; Sarah Igo

Please Note: The Combined Volume includes all chapters. Volume 1 includes Chapters 1-16 and Volume 2 includes Chapters 16-31.

Preface

Versions and Supplements

Maps, Figures, and Tables

Special Features

1. Ancient America, Before 1492

An American Story: An archaeological dig uncovers ancient North Americans traditions

Why do historians rely on the work of archaeologists?

When and how did humans migrate into North America?

African and Asian Origins

Paleo-Indian Hunters

When and why did Archaic hunter-gatherers inhabit ancient America?

Great Plains Bison Hunters

Great Basin Cultures

Pacific Coast Cultures

Eastern Woodland Cultures

How did agriculture influence ancient American cultures?

Southwestern Cultures

ANALYZING HISTORICAL EVIDENCE: "Artifacts of Daily Life in Chaco Canyon"

SPOTLIGHT: "Corn: An Ancient American Legacy"

Woodland Burial Mounds and Chiefdoms

What ancient American cultures inhabited North America in the 1490s?

Eastern and Great Plains Peoples

Southwestern and Western Peoples

Cultural Similarities

How did the Mexican empire amass power and riches?

Conclusion: How did ancient Americans shape their world and ours?

Chapter 1 Study Guide

2. Europeans Encounter the New World, 1492–1600

An American Story: Queen Isabella of Spain supports Columbus’s risky plan to sail west across the Atlantic

Why did Europeans launch explorations in the fifteenth century?

Mediterranean Trade and European Expansion

A Century of Portuguese Exploration

What did Spaniards discover in the western Atlantic?

The Explorations of Columbus

The Geographic Revolution and the Columbian Exchange

How did Spaniards conquer and colonize New Spain?

The Conquest of Mexico

SPOTLIGHT: "Why Did Cortés Win?"

The Search for Other Mexicos

Spanish Outposts in Florida and New Mexico

New Spain in the Sixteenth Century

ANALYZING HISTORICAL EVIDENCE: "Justifying Conquest"

The Toll of Spanish Conquest and Colonization

How did New Spain influence Europe?

The Protestant Reformation and the Spanish Response

Europe and The Spanish Example

Conclusion: What did the New World Promise Europeans?

Chapter 2 Study Guide

3. The Southern Colonies in the Seventeenth Century, 1601–1700

An American Story: A young woman from England travels to America as a servant

How did settlers encounters with Native Americans and the Chesapeake environment shape the colony of Virginia?

The Fragile Jamestown Settlement

Cooperation and Conflict between Natives and Newcomers

From Private Company to Royal Government

How did tobacco influence Chesapeake society?

Tobacco Agriculture

A Servant Labor System

The Rigors of Servitude

ANALYZING HISTORICAL EVIDENCE: "ENSLAVEMENT BY MARRIAGE"

Cultivating Land and Faith

Why did Chesapeake society change by the 1670s?

Social and Economic Polarization

Government Policies and Political Conflict

Bacon’s Rebellion

SPOTLIGHT: "Why Did English Colonists Consider Themselves Superior to Indians and Africans?"

Why did a slave labor system develop in England’s southern colonies?

Indians Revolt in New Mexico and Florida

Religion and Revolt in the Spanish Borderland

The West Indies: Sugar and Slavery

Carolina: A West Indian Frontier

Slave Labor Emerges in the Chesapeake

Conclusion: How did export crops contribute to the growth of the southern colonies?

Chapter 3 Study Guide

4. The Northern Colonies in the Seventeenth Century, 1601–1700

An American Story: Roger Williams is banished from Puritan Massachusetts

Why did Puritans emigrate to North America?

Puritan Origins: The English Reformation

The Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony

The Founding of Massachusetts Bay Colony

SPOTLIGHT: "How did Seventeenth-Century Colonists View Nature?"

How did New England society change during the seventeenth century?

Church, Covenant, and Conformity

Government by Puritans for Puritanism

The Splintering of Puritanism

Religious Controversies and Economic Changes

ANALYZING HISTORICAL EVIDENCE: "Hunting Witches in Salem, Massachusetts"

How did the Middle Colonies differ from New England and the southern colonies?

From New Netherland to New York

New Jersey and Pennsylvania

Toleration and Diversity in Pennsylvania

How did the English empire influence the colonies?

Royal Regulation of Colonial Trade

King Philip’s War and the Consolidation of Royal Authority

Conclusion: Was there an English model of colonization in North America?

Chapter 4 Study Guide

5. Colonial America in the Eighteenth Century, 1701–1770

An American Story: The Robin Johns’ horrific turns of fortune in the Atlantic slave trade

How did the British North American colonies change during the eighteenth century?

What changed in New England life and culture?

Natural Increase and Land Distribution

Farms, Fish, and Atlantic Trade

Why did the Middle Colonies grow rapidly?

German and Scots-Irish Immigrants

"God Gives All Things to Industry": Urban and Rural Labor

Why did slavery come to define the Southern Colonies?

The Atlantic Slave Trade and the Growth of Slavery

Spotlight: "Why Did Few Colonists Oppose the African Slave Trade?"

Slave Labor and African American Culture

Tobacco, Rice, and Prosperity

What unified colonists in British North America during the eighteenth century?

Commerce and Consumption

Religion, Enlightenment, and Revival

Trade and Conflict in the North American Borderlands

ANALYZING HISTORICAL EVIDENCE: "Spanish Priests Report on California Missions"

Colonial Politics in the British Empire

Conclusion: Why did British North American colonists develop a dual identity?

Chapter 5 Study Guide

6. The British Empire and the Colonial Crisis, 1754-1775

An American Story: Loyalist governor Thomas Hutchinson stands his ground

How did the Seven Years’ War lay the groundwork for colonial crisis?

French-British Rivalry in the Ohio Country

The Albany Congress

The War and Its Consequences

Pontiac’s Rebellion War and the Proclamation of 1763

How did imperial authorities and British colonists differ in their views about the legitimacy of taxing the colonies?

Grenville’s Sugar Act

The Stamp Act

Resistance: From Colonial Assemblies to Crowd Politics

SPOTLIGHT: "How Did a Shoemaker Experience and Influence the Revolution?"

Liberty and Property

Why did the colonial crisis worsen after the repeal of the Stamp Act?

The Townshend Duties

Nonconsumption and the Daughters of Liberty

Military Occupation and "Massacre" in Boston

How did British policy and colonial response interact after the repeal of the Townshend Duties to lead to open rebellion?

The Calm before the Storm

Tea in Boston Harbor

The Coercive Acts

ANALYZING HISTORICAL EVIDENCE: "Reactions to the Boston Port Act outside of Massachusetts"

Beyond Boston: Rural New England

The First Continental Congress

How did enslaved people in the colonies react to the stirrings of revolution?

Lexington and Concord

Rebelling against Slavery

Conclusion: What changes did the American colonists want in 1775?

Chapter 6 Study Guide

7. The War for America, 1775-1783

An American Story: Deborah Sampson masquerades as a man to join the Continental army

What eventually persuaded British North American colonists to support independence?

Assuming Political and Military Authority

Pursuing Both War and Peace

Thomas Paine, Abigail Adams, and the Case for Independence

The Declaration of Independence

How did the military objectives of each side shape the course of the war’s early years?

The American Military Forces

The British Strategy

Quebec, New York, and New Jersey

How did the war transform the home front?

Patriotism at the Local Level

The Loyalists

ANALYZING HISTORICAL EVIDENCE: "Families Divide over the Revolution"

Who Is a Traitor?

Financial Instability and Corruption

From Rebellion to Revolution

How did the American Revolution expand to become a war among continental and global powers?

Burgoyne’s Army and the Battle of Saratoga

The War in the West: Indian Country

The French Alliance

What were the principal causes of the British defeat?

Georgia and South Carolina

Treason and Guerrilla Warfare

Surrender at Yorktown

The Losers and the Winners

SPOTLIGHT: "Did France and Spain Accomplish their Objectives in the American Revolution?"

Conclusion: Why did the British lose the American Revolution?

Chapter 7 Study Guide

8. Building a Republic, 1775-1789

An American Story: James Madison comes of age in the midst of revolution

What kind of government did the Articles of Confederation create?

Confederation and Taxation

The Problem of Western Lands

Running the New Government

How was republican government implemented?

The State Constitutions

Who Are "the People"?

Equality and Slavery

SPOTLIGHT: "A Slave Sues for Her Freedom"

Why did the Articles of Confederation fail?

The War Debt and the Newburgh Conspiracy

The Treaty of Fort Stanwix

The Northwest Territory

ANALYZING HISTORICAL EVIDENCE: "The Northwest Ordinance’s Slavery Clause"

The Requisition of 1785 and Shays’s Rebellion, 1786–1787

How did the Constitution change the nation’s form of government?

From Annapolis to Philadelphia

The Virginia and New Jersey Plans

Checks and Balances

Why did so many Americans object to the Constitution?

The Federalists

The Antifederalists

The Federalist Persuasion

Conclusion: What was the "republican remedy"?

Chapter 8 Study Guide

9. The New Nation Takes Form, 1789–1800

An American Story: Alexander Hamilton becomes a polarizing figure in the 1790s

What were the sources of political stability in the 1790s?

Washington Inaugurates the Government

The Bill of Rights

The Republican Wife and Mother

SPOTLIGHT: "France, Britain, and Woman’s Rights in the 1790s"

Why did Hamilton’s economic policies provoke such controversy?

Agriculture, Transportation, and Banking

The Public Debt and Taxes

The First Bank of the United States and the Report on Manufactures

What threats did the United States face in the West?

Western Discontent and the Whiskey Rebellion

Creeks in the Southwest

Ohio Indians in the Northwest

What threats did the United States face in the Atlantic World?

France and Britain: Toward Neutrality

The Jay Treaty

The Haitian Revolution

How did partisan rivalries shape the politics of the late 1790s?

Federalists and Republicans

The XYZ Affair

The Alien and Sedition Acts

ANALYZING HISTORICAL EVIDENCE: "The Crisis of 1798: Sedition"

Conclusion: Why did the United States form political parties in a decade when it achieved political stability?

Chapter 9 Study Guide

10. Republicans in Power, 1800-1828

An American Story: Tecumseh attempts to forge a pan-Indian confederacy

What was the Revolution of 1800?

Turbulent Times: Election and Rebellion

SPOTLIGHT: "How Could a Vice President Get Away with Murder?"

The Jeffersonian Vision of Republican Government

Dangers Overseas: The Barbary Wars

How did the Louisiana Purchase affect the United States?

The Louisiana Purchase

The Lewis and Clark Expedition

Osage and Comanche Indians

What led to the War of 1812?

Impressment and Embargo

Tecumseh and Tippecanoe

ANALYZING HISTORICAL EVIDENCE: "The Nation’s First Formal Declaration of War"

Washington City Burns: The British Offensive

How did the civil status of free American women and men differ in the early Republic?

Dolley Madison and Social Politics

Women and the Law

Women and Church Governance

Female Education

Why did partisan conflict increase during the administrations of Monroe and Adams?

From Property to Democracy

The Missouri Compromise

The Monroe Doctrine

The Election of 1824

The Adams Administration

Conclusion: How did republican simplicity become complex?

Chapter 10 Study Guide

11. The Expanding Republic, 1815-1840

An American Story: The Grimké sisters speak out against slavery

What Economic Developments Reshaped the U.S. Economy after 1815?

Improvements in Transportation

Factories, Workingwomen, and Wage Labor

ANALYZING HISTORICAL EVIDENCE: "Mill Girls Stand Up to Factory owners, 1834"

Bankers and Lawyers

Booms and Busts

How did new practices of party politics shape Andrew Jackson’s election and agenda?

Popular Politics and Partisan Identity

The Election of 1828 and the Character Issue

Jackson’s Democratic Agenda

What was Andrew Jackson’s impact on the presidency?

Indian Policy and the Trail of Tears

The Tariff of Abominations and Nullification

The Bank War and Economic Boom

How did social and cultural life change in the 1830s?

Separate Spheres

The Second Great Awakening and Moral Reform

SPOTLIGHT: "Who Scorned Temperance and Moral Reform?"

Organizing against Slavery

What political and economic events dominated Martin Van Buren’s Presidency?

The Politics of Slavery

Elections and Panics

Conclusion: The Age of Jackson or the era of reform?

Chapter 11 Study Guide

12. The North and West, 1840-1860

An American Story: Abraham Lincoln struggles to survive in antebellum America

Why did "industrial evolution" occur?

Agriculture and Land Policy

Manufacturing and Mechanization

Railroads: Breaking the Bonds of Nature

How did the free-labor ideal explain economic inequality?

The Free-Labor Ideal

Economic Inequality

SPOTLIGHT: How Did the American Economy Compare to the Rest of the World?"

Immigrants and the Free-Labor Ladder

What spurred westward expansion?

Manifest Destiny

Oregon and the Overland Trail

The Mormon Exodus

The Mexican Borderlands

Why did the United States go to war with Mexico?

The Politics of Expansion

The Mexican-American War, 1846–1848

Victory in Mexico

Golden California

ANALYZING HISTORICAL EVIDENCE: "The Gold Rush"

What changes did social reformers seek in the 1840s and 1850s?

The Pursuit of Perfection: Transcendentalists and Utopians

Woman’s Rights Activists

Abolitionists and the American Ideal

Conclusion: How did the free labor ideal contribute to economic growth and territorial expansion of the North and West?

Chapter 12 Study Guide

13. The Slave South, 1820-1860

An American Story: Slave Nat Turner leads a revolt to end slavery

Why did the South become so different from the North?

Cotton Kingdom, Slave Empire

The South in Black and White

ANALYZING HISTORICAL EVIDENCE: Defending Slavery

The Plantation Economy

SPOTLIGHT: Cotton’s Global Empire

What was plantation life like for slave masters and mistresses?

Paternalism and Male Honor

The Southern Lady and Feminine Virtues

What was plantation life like for slaves?

Work

Family and Religion

Resistance and Rebellion

How did nonslaveholding southern whites work and live?

Plantation-Belt Yeomen

Upcountry Yeomen

Poor Whites

The Culture of the Plain Folk

What place did free blacks occupy in the South?

Precarious Freedom

Achievement despite Restrictions

How did slavery shape southern politics?

The Democratization of the Political Arena

Planter Power

Conclusion: How did slavery come to define the South?

Chapter 13 Study Guide

14. The House Divided, 1846-1861

An American Story: Abolitionist John Brown takes his war against slavery to Harpers Ferry

Why did the acquisition of land from Mexico contribute to sectional tensions?

The Wilmot Proviso and the Expansion of Slavery

The Election of 1848

Debate and Compromise

What upset the balance between slave and free states?

The Fugitive Slave Act

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

The Kansas-Nebraska Act

How did the party system change in the 1850s?

The Old Parties: Whigs and Democrats

The New Parties: Know-Nothings and Republicans

SPOTLIGHT: "A Purse of Her Own": Petitioning for the Rights to Own Property

The Election of 1856

Why did northern fear of the "Slave Power" intensify in the 1850s?

"Bleeding Kansas"

The Dred Scott Decision

Prairie Republican: Abraham Lincoln

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Why did some southern states secede immediately after Lincoln’s election?

The Aftermath of John Brown’s Raid

Republican Victory in 1860

Secession Winter

ANALYZING HISTORICAL EVIDENCE: Southerners Debate Secession

Conclusion: Why did political compromise fail?

Chapter 14 Study Guide

15. The Crucible of War, 1861-1865

An American Story: Robert Smalls liberates slaves and fights for freedom

Why did both the Union and the Confederacy consider control of the border states crucial?

Attack on Fort Sumter

The Upper South Chooses Sides

Why did each side expect to win?

How They Expected to Win

Lincoln and Davis Mobilize

How did each side fare in the early years of the war?

Stalemate in the Eastern Theater

Union Victories in the Western Theater

The Atlantic Theater

International Diplomacy

How did the war for union become a fight for black freedom?

From Slaves to Contraband

From Contraband to Free People

The War of Black Liberation

SPOTLIGHT: The Right to Fight: Black Soldiers in the Civil War

What problems did the Confederacy face at home?

Revolution from Above

Hardship Below

ANALYZING HISTORICAL EVIDENCE: Home and Country

The Disintegration of Slavery

How did the war affect the economy and politics of the North?

The Government and the Economy

Women and Work at Home and at War

Politics and Dissent

How did the Union finally win the war?

Vicksburg and Gettysburg

Grant Takes Command

The Confederacy Collapses

The War’s Bloody Toll

Conclusion: In what ways was the Civil War a "Second American Revolution"?

Chapter 15 Study Guide

16. Reconstruction, 1863-1877

An American Story: James T. Rapier emerges as Alabama’s most prominent black leader

Why did Congress object to Lincoln’s wartime plan for reconstruction?

"To Bind Up the Nation’s Wounds"

Land and Labor

The African American Quest for Autonomy

ANALYZING HISTORICAL EVIDENCE: The Meaning of Freedom

How did the North respond to the passage of black codes in the southern states?

Johnson’s Program of Reconciliation

White Southern Resistance and Black Codes

Expansion of Federal Authority and Black Rights

How radical was congressional reconstruction?

The Fourteenth Amendment and Escalating Violence

Radical Reconstruction and Military Rule

Impeaching a President

The Fifteenth Amendment and Women’s Demands

What brought the elements of the South’s Republican coalition together?

Freedmen, Yankees, and Yeomen

SPOTLIGHT: What Did the Ku Klux Klan Really Want?

Republican Rule

White Landlords, Black Sharecroppers

Why did Reconstruction collapse?

Grant’s Troubled Presidency

Northern Resolve Withers

White Supremacy Triumphs

An Election and a Compromise

Conclusion: Was Reconstruction "a revolution but half accomplished"?

Chapter 16 Study Guide

Selected Bibliography

Glossary

Index

About the Authors

The American Promise, Volume 1

Eighth Edition 2020

James L. Roark; Michael P. Johnson; Francois Furstenberg; Sarah Stage; Sarah Igo

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Michael P. Johnson

Michael P. Johnson (Ph.D., Stanford University) is professor of history at Johns Hopkins University. His publications include Toward a Patriarchal Republic: The Secession of Georgia; Abraham Lincoln, Slavery, and the Civil War: Selected Speeches and Writings; and Reading the American Past: Selected Historical Documents, the documents reader for The American Promise. He has also coedited No Chariot Let Down: Charleston’s Free People of Color on the Eve of the Civil War with James L. Roark.

James L. Roark

James L. Roark (Ph.D., Stanford University) is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor Emeritus of American History at Emory University. He received his university's Emory Williams Distinguished Teaching Award, and in 2001–2002 he was Pitt Professor of American Institutions at Cambridge University. He has written Masters without Slaves: Southern Planters in the Civil War and Reconstruction and coauthored Black Masters: A Free Family of Color in the Old South with Michael P. Johnson. He has also co-edited No Chariot Let Down: Charleston’s Free People of Color on the Eve of the Civil War with Michael P. Johnson.

Francois Furstenberg

François Furstenberg (Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University) is Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University. From 2003–2014 he taught at the Université de Montréal. His publications include In the Name of the Father: Washington’s Legacy, Slavery, and the Making of a Nation; and When the United States Spoke French: Five Refugees who Shaped a Nation.

Sarah Stage

Sarah Stage (Ph.D., Yale University) has taught U.S. history at Williams College and the University of California, Riverside, and she was a visiting professor at Beijing University and Szechuan University. Currently she is Professor of Women’s Studies at Arizona State University. Her books include Female Complaints: Lydia Pinkham and the Business of Women’s Medicine and Rethinking Home Economics: Women and the History of a Profession.

Sarah Igo

Sarah E. Igo (Ph.D., Princeton University) is the Andrew Jackson Professor of American History and Director of American Studies at Vanderbilt University. Previously, she was an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where she won the Richard S. Dunn Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2003. She is the author of The Averaged American: Surveys, Citizens and the Making of a Mass Public and The Known Citizen: A History of Privacy in Modern America.

The American Promise, Volume 1

Eighth Edition 2020

James L. Roark; Michael P. Johnson; Francois Furstenberg; Sarah Stage; Sarah Igo

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Guide to Changing Editions

Guide to Changing Editions for The American Promise

Guide to Changing Editions: Understanding the American Promise, 3e to The American Promise, 8e

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Maps and Images in Presentation Slides for Chapter 1

Maps and Images in Presentation Slides for Chapter 2

Maps and Images in Presentation Slides for Chapter 3

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Maps and Images in Presentation Slides for Chapter 5

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Maps and Images in Presentation Slides for Chapter 16

Maps and Images in Presentation Slides for Chapter 17

Maps and Images in Presentation Slides for Chapter 18

Maps and Images in Presentation Slides for Chapter 19

Maps and Images in Presentation Slides for Chapter 20

Maps and Images in Presentation Slides for Chapter 21

Maps and Images in Presentation Slides for Chapter 22

Maps and Images in Presentation Slides for Chapter 23

Maps and Images in Presentation Slides for Chapter 24

Maps and Images in Presentation Slides for Chapter 25

Maps and Images in Presentation Slides for Chapter 26

Maps and Images in Presentation Slides for Chapter 27

Maps and Images in Presentation Slides for Chapter 28

Maps and Images in Presentation Slides for Chapter 29

Maps and Images in Presentation Slides for Chapter 30

Maps and Images in Presentation Slides for Chapter 31

Instructor's Resource Manual

Instructor's Resource Manual Appendix I: Research Paper Topics

Instructor's Resource Manual Appendix II: Survival Guide for First Time Teaching Assistants

Instructor's Resource Manual Preface and Table of Contents

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 1

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 2

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 3

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 4

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 5

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 6

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 7

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 8

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 9

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 10

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 11

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 12

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 13

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 14

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 15

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 16

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 17

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 18

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 19

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 20

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 21

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 22

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 23

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 24

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 25

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 26

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 27

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 28

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 29

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 30

Instructor's Resource Manual for Chapter 31

Lecture Slides

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 1

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 2

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 3

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 4

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 5

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 6

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 7

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 8

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 9

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 10

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 11

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 12

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 13

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 14

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 15

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 16

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 17

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 18

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 19

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 20

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 21

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 22

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 23

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 24

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 25

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 26

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 27

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 28

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 29

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 30

Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides for Chapter 31

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 5

iClicker REEF Slides

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 1

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 2

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 3

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 4

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 6

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 7

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 8

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 9

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 10

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 11

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 12

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 13

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 14

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 15

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 16

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 17

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 18

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 19

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 20

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 21

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 22

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 23

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 24

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 25

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 26

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 27

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 28

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 29

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 30

iClicker/REEF Map, Image, and Discussion Questions for Chapter 31

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The American Promise, Volume 1

A History of the United StatesEighth Edition ©2020 James L. Roark; Michael P. Johnson; Francois Furstenberg; Sarah Stage; Sarah Igo

A question-driven narrative that features the voices of ordinary and extraordinary Americans

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