The Boisterous Sea of Liberty

David Brion Davis is Sterling Professor of History and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University. His work has won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Albert J. Beveridge Award, and the Bancroft Prize, among many other honors. He lives in Orange, Connecticut.Steven Mintz is Professor of History at the University of Houston. He has published works on slavery, American reform movements, and the history of the American family. He lives in Houston.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPART 1. FIRST ENCOUNTERSThe Meaning of AmericaUtilizing the Native Labor ForceNew World FantasiesLabor NeedsThe Black LegendA Critique of the Slave TradePART 2. EUROPEAN COLONIZATION NORTH OF MEXICOJustifications for English Involvement in the New WorldA Rationale for New World ColonizationEngland's First Enduring North American SettlementLife in Early VirginiaRace War in VirginiaIndentured ServitudeThe Shift to SlaveryRegional ContrastsThe Pilgrims Arrive in PlymouthReasons for Puritan ImmigrationThe Idea of the CovenantServitude in New EnglandMounting Conflict with Native AmericansNative Americans as Active AgentsPuritan EconomicsKing Philip's WarStruggles for PowerAn Indian Slave Woman Confesses to WitchcraftThe Sin of SlaveholdingEnglish LibertiesPART 3. A LAND OF CONTRASTSMercantilist IdeasNew Netherlands: America's First Multicultural SocietyNew Netherlands Becomes New YorkIndian AffairsThe Schenectady MassacrePersecution of the QuakersThe Quaker Ideal of Religious ToleranceSouth CarolinaGeorgiaEnglish Liberties and DeferenceQueen Anne's WarImmigration and Ethnic DiversityIndentured ServitudeSuspicion of Arbitrary PowerThe Great AwakeningFear of Slave RevoltsAmerica as a Land of OpportunityPART 4. THE SEVEN YEARS' WARBritish North America in 1775A Soldier's DiaryFasting and RepentanceThe Capture of QuébecThe Seven Years' War and the Growth of Antislavery SentimentThe Fate of Native AmericansPART 5. THE AGE OF REVOLUTIONThe Proclamation of 1763The Stamp Act CrisisThe Townshend ActsThe Boston MassacreThe RegulatorsSamuel AdamsThe Boston Tea PartyAmerican Resistance to BritainThe Battles of Lexington and ConcordDeclaring IndependenceSlavery and the American RevolutionBenedict Arnold's TreasonThe War in the SouthThe Articles of ConfederationPART 6. CREATING A NEW NATIONNative Americans and the American RevolutionThe Newburgh ConspiracySlavery in Postrevolutionary AmericaWhite SlaveryRelations with BritainThe Critical Period and Shays' RebellionNorthwest OrdinanceCreating Republican GovernmentsThe U.S. ConstitutionDebates within the Constitutional ConventionThe Three-fifths CompromiseFugitive Slaves and the ConstitutionA Proslavery Document?Ratification DebatesThe New RepublicThe Birth of Political PartiesThe Haitian RevolutionThe Citizen Genet AffairThe Whiskey RebellionWashington's Farewell AddressThe Quasi-War with France and the XYZ AffairJeffersonian RepublicanismThe Jeffersonians in PowerREPEAL OF THE JUDICIARY ACT OF 1801Judicial Review: Louisiana, Expansion, and Disunionist Conspiracies: Slavery and Race in Jeffersonian America: The American Eagle, the French Tiger, and the British Shark: The Dambargo of 1807: The Road to War: The "War Hawks": Clearing the Land of Indians: Missionary Work and Indian Policy: PART 7. ANTEBELLUM AMERICASHIFTS IN SENSIBILITY: FAMILY, GENDER ROLES, RELIGION, AND THE RISE OF HUMANITARIANISMThe Emergence of the Republican Family: Republican Motherhood: Religious Liberalism and Evangelical Revivalism: Disestablishment: ORIGINS OF THE AMERICAN REFORM TRADITIONDueling: Education: Colonization: Postward Nationalism and Division: 1818 AND 1819: WATERSHED YEARS IN AMERICAN HISTORYThe Second Bank of the United States: McCullough v. Maryland: Acquiring Florida: The Monroe Doctrine: The Missouri Crisis: Slavery and Sectionalism: The Underground Railroad: The Rise of the Second Party System: The Election of 1824: POWER AND IDEOLOGY IN JACKSON'S AMERICANullification and the Bank War: Political Democratization and the Dorr War: Party Competition and the Rise of the Whigs: Antebellum Reform: The Shift to Immediatism: Abolition and Slavery: Nat Turner's Insurrection: Narrative and Testimony of Sarah M. Grimké: Testimony of Angelina Grimké: A Proslavery New Yorker: From Antislavery to Women's Rights: MANIFEST DESTINYGone to Texas: Texas Annexation: Mounting Sectional Antagonisms: The Amistad Affair: Political Antislavery: The Free Soil Party: The Mexican War: THE ESCALATING CONFLICT OVER SLAVERYThe Compromise of 1850: Mass Immigration: The Know-Nothings and the Disintegration of the Second-Party System: AMERICA AT MIDCENTURYRevival of the Slavery Issue: Bleeding Kansas: Bleeding Sumner: The Dred Scott Decision: The Gathering Storm: Harpers Ferry: The Secession Crisis: PART 8. CIVIL WARTHE SIGNIFICANCE OF NAMESThe Emancipation Proclamation: Gettysburg: TOWARD RECONSTRUCTIONThe Nature and History of the Gilder Lehrman Collection:

"A revealing, fascinating view of early America told through the words of the historical figures."--Albuquerque Tribune"Intriguing."--Richmond Times-Dispatch"The Boisterous Sea of Liberty is an invaluable resource, not o mention an eye-opener to those who believe all history is written in stone."--Denver Post"With their new book, The Boisterous Sea of Liberty, David Brion Davis and Steven Mintz remove history from its Ivory Tower and return it to the general public....The book seems alive, full of the voices and sounds of proclamations long defunct."--New Haven Advocate"I have used this book now for three semesters and I love it. This is the only book I use in my American History I survey class."--Dr. Bruce Walker, Ottawa University"The closest thing we have to an American primer covering the centuries from the age of exploration through the Civil War. It belongs in the library of anyone who is interested in our past."--Sean Wilentz, Princeton University"There is simply no better way to understand the first three-and-a-half centuries of what became the United States than to read this book. Nowhere will readers find more awe-inspiring erudition, a richer diversity of perspectives, or a more powerful portrayal of the people who created this country..."--Edward Ayers, University of Virginia"[The editors] have created an overwhelmingly informative volume: their own interpretive commentary holds together the quotes they select, some world-famous [and] some revealingly obscure."--Publishers Weekly"This compilation of primary source material strives mightily to provide a balanced view of great events from different perspectives....The commentary by Davis and Mintz...provides the necessary context for each category of documents. Although this collection can stand alone as engrossing reading material, it can also prove invaluable as a research tool...."--Booklist