Early United States History to 1776 (by grade level)
to see by grade level, click here

Discovery and Exploration :: Colonial Life :: Documents :: Individuals

Back to Main Directory


From Discovery to Exploration

Early Encounters in North America
contains approximately 40,000 pages of material. NOTE: You'll need to register and have a password to enter.
http://www.alexanderstreet2.com/EENA/

Back to Early U.S. History - Main Directory


Colonial Life

The First Thanksgiving
PRIMARY SOURCES FOR THE "FIRST THANKSGIVING". ... Bradford's History "Of Plimoth Plantation."
Boston: Wright & Potter Printing Co., State Printers... 1898. p. 127. ...
http://www.plimoth.org/Library/Thanksgiving/thnksref.htm

Letters from an American Farmer, by J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur  
"What then is the American, this new man?..."
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/CREV/contents.html

Mourt's Relation (1622)
written primarily by Edward Winslow, although William Bradford appears to have written most of the first section. Written between November 1620 and November 1621, it describes in detail what happened from the landing of the Pilgrims at Cape Cod, though their exploring and eventual settling at Plymouth, to their relations with the surrounding Indians, up to the First Thanksgiving and the arrival of the ship Fortune.
http://members.aol.com/calebj/mourt.html

Rare Colonial Maps
The authentic maps are in Spanish.
http://scarlett.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/colamer.html

The Virginia Company
Examine the Virginia Company's settlement in Jamestown as a case study in colonial economics and social dynamics, and debate why it failed and whether failure was avoidable.
http://www.learner.org/channel/workshops/primarysources/virginia/before.html

Back to Early U.S. History - Main Directory


Documents

AMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American history
An extensive list of primary sources, from Discovery to Present.
http://www.ku.edu/carrie/docs/amdocs_index.html

Archiving Early America
Historic documents from 18th century America
http://www.earlyamerica.com/

The American Colonist's Library
A treasury of primary documents pertaining to Early American History
http://personal.pitnet.net/primarysources/

Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787  
James Madison. These are the proceedings of the Constitutional Convention held in Philadelphia, an essential guide to interpreting the intent of the Framers.
http://www.constitution.org/dfc/dfc_0000.htm

Declaring Independence: Drafting the Documents
Early known drafts of Jefferson's famous script.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/declara/declara4.html

Fugitive Slave Act of 1793  
Originally enacted by Congress to ensure the right of slave owners to re-claim lost "property", the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 were antithetical to almost every idea set forth by the Constitution: free will, the right to happiness, and most importantly, the right to due process. The Congress of 1793 set a precedent which would only be overturned a century (and many lives) later, by the Civil War.
http://www.ukans.edu/carrie/docs/texts/fugslave.htm

Back to Early U.S. History - Main Directory


Individuals

About Face: Copley's Portrait of a Colonial Silversmith
Explores the lives and work of two artists within colonial Boston prior to the outbreak of the American Revolution.
http://mag.rochester.edu/learn/teacherServices/onlineResources/copley/AboutFaceImages.html

Common Sense and the American Revolution
http://www.learner.org/channel/workshops/primarysources/revolution/before.html

First Hand Account of Paul Revere's Ride
Read Paul Revere's account of his famous ride to warn the colonists that the British troops were coming. "I, Paul Revere, of Boston, in the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay in New England...."
http://www.americanrevolution.org/revere.html

Back to Early U.S. History - Main Directory


Revolutionary War

Global Access to Educational Sources - American Revolution
Links to various primary sources; personal accounts, documents, Avalon project, intelligence, George Washington, Paul Revere.
http://www.learning.caliberinc.com/amrev6.html

Rare map collections - Revolutionary America
From the Hargrett Library Special Collection - theatre of war, attack plans, mostly southern colonies (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, and Spanish Florida)
http://scarlett.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/revamer.html

Back to Early U.S. History - Main Directory