Henry r luce the american century

The selections try to convey a sense of the rich cast of characters who have contributed to the history of American freedom. They include presidential proclamations and letters by runaway slaves, famous court cases and obscure manifestos, ideas dominant in a par ticular era and those of radicals and dissenters. They range from advertisements in colonial newspapers seeking the return of runaway indentured servants and slaves to debates in the early twentieth century over the definition of economic freedom, the controversy over the proposed Equal Rights Amendment for women, and recent Supreme Court decisions dealing with the balance between liberty and security in war time. I have been particularly attentive to how battles at the boundaries of freedom—the efforts of racial minorities, women, and SAuSAgEMaN 007-65853_ch00_vol2_6P.indd xvi 10/14/16 9:04 AM Preface xvii others to secure greater freedom—have deepened and transformed the concept and extended it into new realms. In addition, in this fifth edition I have included a number of new documents that illustrate how the history of the western United States, and more particularly the borderlands area of the Southwest, have affected the evolution of the idea of freedom. These include the Texas Declaration of Independence of 1836, a reminiscence about homesteading in the West in the late nineteenth century, a report on the status of Mexican-Americans in the aftermath of World War II, and an explanation of the so-called Sagebrush Rebellion of the 1970s. All of the documents in this collection are “primary sources”— that is, they were written or spoken by men and women enmeshed in the events of the past, rather than by later historians. They therefore offer students the opportunity to encounter ideas about freedom in the actual words of participants in the drama of American history. Some of the documents are reproduced in their entirety. Most are excerpts from longer interviews, articles, or books. In editing the documents, I have tried to remain faithful to the original purpose of the author, while highlighting the portion of the text that deals directly with one or another aspect of freedom. In most cases, I have reproduced the wording of the original texts exactly. But I have modernized the spelling and punctuation of some early documents to make them more understandable to the modern reader. Each document is preceded by a brief introduction that places it in historical context and is followed by two questions that highlight key elements of the argument and may help to focus students’ thinking about the issues raised by the author.