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| Preface | |
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| The Consequences of Revolution | |
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| Essays | |
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| The Revolution Launched a Bold Republican Experiment | |
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| The Revolution Was Radical in Some Ways, Not in Others | |
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| Further Reading | |
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| The British Empire and the War for North America | |
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| Documents | |
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| Touts the Importance of Imperial Ties between Britain and America, 1760 | |
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| The British Treasury Attempts to Reform the Customs Service, 1763 | |
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| King George III Seeks to Limit Westward Expansion, 1763 | |
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| A British Minister Justifies Customs Reform, 1765 | |
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| Scorns the Proclamation Line, 1767 | |
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| Essays | |
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| Britain's Victory Exposed the Need for Greater Control | |
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| The British Empire Tried to Reconcile Freedom and Authority | |
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| Further Reading | |
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| Imperial Reform and Colonial Resistance | |
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| Documents | |
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| Resolves against the Stamp Act, 1765 | |
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| New York Reacts Violently to the Stamp Act, 1765 | |
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| The Stamp Act Congress Articulates the Rights of the Colonists, 1765 | |
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| Parliament Declares Its Authority, 1766 | |
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| Rallies the Colonists to Opposition, 1767-1768 | |
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| Charleston Merchants Propose a Plan of Nonimportation, 1769 | |
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| North Carolina Regulators Battle Colonial Authorities, 1771 | |
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| Essays | |
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| Urban Taverns Shaped Mobilization against British Policies | |
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| North Carolina Regulators Used Violence for a Purpose | |
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| Further Reading | |
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| The Imperial Crisis and the Declaration of Independence | |
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| Documents | |
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| Lord North Calls for Punishing the Town of Boston, 1774 | |
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| Gouverneur Morris Remarks on Popular Mobilization, 1774 | |
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| Thomas Jefferson Asserts American Rights, 1774 | |
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| The First Continental Congress Enumerates American Rights and Establishes a Continental Association, 1774 | |
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| Patriots Intimidate a New Jersey Loyalist, 1775 | |
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| Thomas Paine Calls for Common Sense, 1776 | |
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| The United States Declare Independence, 1776 | |
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| Thomas Hutchinson Criticizes Declaration of Independence, 1776 | |
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| Essays | |
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| Rejecting Monarchy Required a Shift in the American Worldview | |
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| The Declaration of Independence Was a Document of Global Importance | |
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| Further Reading | |
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| Struggles for Independence | |
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| Documents | |
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| General George Washington Asks Congress for an Effective Army, 1776 | |
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| Benjamin Rush Contrasts Loyalists and Patriots, 1777 | |
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| A Whig Newspaper Attacks the Loyalists, 1779 | |
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| A Soldier Views Mutiny among American Troops, 1780 | |
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| General George Washington Explains Army Problems and Calls for Help, 1780 | |
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| An Army Cook and Washerwoman Recalls the Battle of Yorktown, 1781 | |
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| Loyalists Plead Their Cause to the King, Parliament, and the British People, 1782 | |
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| A Loyalist Woman Recounts Her Journey in Exile, 1836 | |
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| Essays | |
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| Virginia's Wartime Mobilization Leads to Class Struggles | |
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| Loyalists in Exile Highlight the Wider British Empire | |
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| Further Reading | |
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| The American Revolution in the West | |
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| Documents | |
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| Logan Laments the Murder of His Fellow Mingos, 1775 | |
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| Oneida Indians Declare Neutrality, 1775 | |
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| New York Mourns the Death of an Indian Killer, 1775 | |
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| The North Carolina Delegation Urges Extirpation of the Cherokee, 1776 | |
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| George Washington Orders an Expedition against the Iroquois, 1779 | |
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| An American Officer Observes the Destruction of Iroquois Homes and Crops, 1779 | |
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| Chickasaw Indians Seek Help, 1783 | |
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| Essays | |
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| Both Sides Waged Unlimited Warfare | |
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| Indians Faced a Limited Set of Choices | |
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| Further Reading | |
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| Equality and the African-American Challenge | |
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| Documents | |
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| Massachusetts Slaves Argue for Freedom, 1773 | |
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| Lord Dunmore Promises Freedom to Slaves Who Fight for Britain, 1775 | |
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| Lemuel Haynes Attacks Slavery, 1776 | |
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| New Hampshire African-Americans Petition for Freedom, 1779 | |
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| Three Virginia Counties Defend Slavery, 1785 | |
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| Boston King Describes His Deliverance from Slavery, 1798 | |
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| Jehu Grant, Former Slave, Seeks Compensation for His Wartime Service, 1832, 1836 | |
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| Essays | |
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| The American Revolution Prompted New Debates About Slavery | |
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| Black Abolitionists Developed Their Own Radical Tradition | |
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| Further Reading | |
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| Gender and Citizenship in a Revolutionary Republic | |
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| Documents | |
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| "A Female" Enlists Women for Nonimportation, 1768 | |
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| Thomas Paine Admits Women Have Some Rights, 1775 | |
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| Abigail and John Adams Debate Women's Rights, 1776 | |
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| An American Woman Asserts Women's Rights, 1780 | |
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| A "Lady" and "Gentleman" Debate the Condition of Women, 1789 | |
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| Judith Sargent Murray Argues for Women's Equality, 1790 | |
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| Essays | |
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| The Revolution Gave Women New Political Opportunities | |
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| The Revolution Was Hardly Radical for Women | |
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| Further Reading | |
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| Religion and the American Revolution | |
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| Documents | |
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| A Worcester Writer Defends Religious Establishment, 1776 | |
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| Virginia Baptists Assert Their Eights, 1776 | |
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| William Tennent Argues against Religious Establishment, 1777 | |
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| Ezra Stiles Projects the Future of Christianity in America, 1783 | |
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| Philadelphia Jews Seek Equality before the Law, 1783 | |
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| James Madison Protests Religious Taxes, 1785 | |
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| Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Statute of Religious Liberty, 1786 | |
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| Essays | |
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| The Revolution Was a Secular Event | |
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| Republicanism Fused with Evangelicalism during the Revolutionary Era | |
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| Further Reading | |
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| Government under the Articles of Confederation | |
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| Documents | |
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| Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, 1777-1781 | |
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| Congress Passes an Ordinance on Western Lands, 1785 | |
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| Northwest Ordinance, 1787 | |
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| Kentucky Farmers Reconsider Their Allegiance, 1786 | |
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| Delegates Report from Demoralized Congress, 1787 | |
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| The Regulation (or Shays's Rebellion) Rocks Massachusetts | |
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| Essays | |
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| The Formation of Western States Helped Redefine the Union | |
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| Upheaval in Massachusetts Reflected a Nationwide Conflict | |
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| Further Reading | |
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| The Constitution of 1787 | |
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| Documents | |
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| The Constitutional Convention Delegates Debate Representation in Congress, 1787 | |
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| The Convention Debates the Issues, 1787 | |
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| The Constitution of the United States of America, 1787 | |
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| The Federalist Expounds the Advantages of the Constitution, 1787-1788 | |
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| Antifederalists Attack the Constitution, 1787-1788 | |
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| Proceedings in the State Ratifying Conventions, 1788 | |
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| The Bill of Rights, 1791 | |
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| Essays | |
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| Slavery and Sectionalism Influenced the Convention Debates | |
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| Antifederalists Came in Many Different Guises | |
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| Further Reading | |
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| Government under the Constitution | |
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| Documents | |
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| Envisions an Agrarian Republic, 1781-1787 | |
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| Debate the Bank of North -America, 1786 | |
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| Calls for Federal Assumption of Debt, 1790 | |
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| Expresses Distrust of the Propertied Class, 1790 | |
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| Promotes American Industry, 1791 | |
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| Addresses the State of the Union and Indian Lands, 1791 | |
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| Essays | |
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| Arguments over Public Credit Spawned New Ideas about Politics | |
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| Many Fanners Were Dissatisfied with the Outcome of the Revolution | |
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| Further Reading | |