HIST 1301 MIDTERM EXAM - PRIMARY SOURCES ONLY

primary sources with summary and important details

Native Creation Stories

Cultures Represented: Salinan (California) and Cherokee (Southeast)

Key Themes:

• Spiritual power in nature: Both stories emphasize the sacredness of the natural world.

• Salinan Story: Bald Eagle creates man from clay and woman from a feather. Coyote tests sexual union, nearly dies, but survives—establishing human reproduction.

• Cherokee Story: Earth formed from mud brought by Water Beetle. Buzzard shapes mountains and valleys with wingbeats. Sun is raised to seven handbreadths to regulate heat. Only animals and trees that stayed awake for seven nights gain special powers (e.g., owls, evergreens).

• Human origin: Begins with a brother and sister; rapid reproduction is curbed to one child per year.

Important to Remember:

• Creation stories reflect cosmology, morality, and ecological awareness.

• Emphasis on balance, ritual, and spiritual hierarchy in nature.

Journal Of Columbus, 1492

Perspective: Columbus’s first impressions of Indigenous peoples

Key Themes:

• Initial contact: Columbus describes the natives as generous, curious, and physically attractive.

• European assumptions: He sees them as potential servants and easy converts to Christianity.

• Material interest: Obsessed with finding gold; interprets signs and rumors to locate it.

• Colonial mindset: Believes with 50 men he could subjugate the entire population.

• Cultural misunderstandings: Natives handle swords by the blade, unaware of their danger.

Important to Remember:

• Columbus’s journal reveals early colonial attitudes: paternalism, exploitation, and religious zeal.

• His descriptions shaped European perceptions of the New World and its peoples.

Bartolome de la Casas, 1542

Perspective: Spanish priest and reformer condemning colonial brutality

Key Themes:

• Moral defense of natives: Describes them as peaceful, innocent, and receptive to Christianity.

• Spanish cruelty: Compares Spaniards to wild beasts; accuses them of genocide and enslavement.

• Depopulation: Claims tens of millions killed across the Caribbean and mainland.

• Economic motives: Gold and greed drive the violence.

• Witness testimony: Las Casas saw atrocities firsthand and appealed to the Spanish crown.

Important to Remember:

• Las Casas’s account is a foundational critique of colonialism.

• His writings fueled European rivalries and humanitarian arguments against Spanish rule.

Thomas Morton on New England Natives, 1637

Perspective: English settler offering both praise and critique

Key Themes:

• Admiration of lifestyle: Notes Native generosity, hospitality, mobility, and resourcefulness.

• Cultural comparisons: Uses Native customs to critique English society (e.g., youth respect elders).

• Material simplicity: Natives value utility over luxury; share possessions communally.

• Spiritual ambiguity: Suggests some “correspondence with the Devil” via healing rituals.

• Environmental stewardship: Controlled burns to manage land and prevent overgrowth.

Important to Remember:

• Morton’s account is complex and ambivalent—part ethnography, part social commentary.

• Reveals how English perceptions of Natives were shaped by both admiration and fear.

The Case for English Colonization, 1584, Richard Hakluyt

Purpose: Persuade Queen Elizabeth I to support English colonization in the Americas.

Key Arguments:

• Religious Expansion: Colonization would spread Protestant Christianity and counter Catholic Spanish influence.

• Economic Revival: England’s trades were “beggerly or dangerous”; colonies would restore commerce by accessing goods from Europe, Africa, and Asia.

• Employment & Industry: Colonies would absorb idle laborers and boost domestic production.

• Strategic Advantage: Colonies could disrupt Spanish dominance, especially in the Indies and Newfoundland fisheries.

• Naval Power: Expansion would strengthen England’s navy and maritime industries.

• Territorial Claims: Hakluyt argued England had a stronger claim to North America than Spain, especially from Florida to the Arctic Circle.

• Moral Justification: He condemned Spanish cruelty in the Indies and positioned England as a more humane alternative.

• Urgency: Warned that delay could allow rival nations to seize strategic locations first.

Most Important Detail: Hakluyt framed colonization as a moral, religious, economic, and geopolitical imperative—laying the ideological groundwork for English imperialism.

John Lawson on Native Americans, 1709

Context: Lawson’s exploration of the Carolinas and his observations of Native life.

Key Observations:

• Hospitality: Santee Indians welcomed Lawson’s party with food and warmth, including barbecued turkey and bear oil.

• Landscape & Ecology: He described rich swamps, fertile soil, and abundant wildlife—ideal for settlement.

• Native Skills: Indigenous hunters were expert marksmen and gun modifiers, showing technical ingenuity.

• Diet & Lifestyle: Turkeys were plentiful, but monotony set in; possum was preferred over turkey at times.

• Social Structure: Women engaged in games using grain as counters; leaders hosted guests with pride.

• Disease Impact: Smallpox had devastated Native populations, especially those who traded with Europeans.

• Cultural Exchange: Despite European influence, many Native practices remained intact, including food preparation and communal living.

Most Important Detail: Lawson’s account reveals both the richness of Native life and the early signs of cultural disruption due to disease and colonization.

Gaspesian Man Defends His Way of Life, 1691 - Chrestien Le Clercq’s

Speaker: A Gaspesian man responding to missionary Chrestien Le Clercq’s push for European-style living.

Core Arguments:

• Mobility & Freedom: Wigwams are portable and allow freedom of movement—unlike European houses.

• Contentment vs. Labor: Gaspesians are happier with little, while Europeans labor endlessly for comfort.

• Critique of Colonialism: Questions why Europeans leave their “paradise” if it’s so superior.

• Health & Longevity: Claims Gaspesians lived longer before adopting European diets and habits.

• Cultural Pride: Asserts that Indigenous people are more powerful and happy than the French, who rely on Native resources like cod and beaver.

• Spiritual Autonomy: Rejects the notion that they live “without religion or order,” defending their own values and social systems.

Most Important Detail: This is a rare and powerful Indigenous critique of colonial arrogance, flipping the narrative to show European dependence and Indigenous resilience.

John Winthrop, City on a Hill, 1630

Context: Sermon delivered aboard the Arbella before arriving in Massachusetts Bay.

Key Themes:

• Divine Social Order: Winthrop explains that inequality (rich vs. poor) is divinely ordained to foster interdependence and spiritual growth.

• Christian Unity: Urges settlers to live in mutual love, sacrifice, and humility—“knit together as one man.”

• Covenant with God: The colony is bound by a sacred covenant; failure to uphold it will bring divine punishment.

• “City on a Hill”: Massachusetts Bay must serve as a moral example to the world; all eyes are upon them.

Most Important Detail: The “city on a hill” metaphor encapsulates the Puritan vision of moral exceptionalism and collective accountability.

The Voyage, 1684 - Francis Daniel Pastorius

Context: German immigrant recounts his harrowing journey to Pennsylvania.

Key Details:

• Voyage Hardships: Ten weeks at sea with storms, broken masts, seasickness, and injuries.

• Health Issues: Passengers suffered from infections, falls, and even insanity; one man was attacked by a whale.

• Poor Provisions: Rations were meager and rancid—salted meat and fish barely edible.

• Advice to Future Travelers: Bring your own food, negotiate with captains, and choose ships that sail directly to Philadelphia.

Most Important Detail: Pastorius’s account reveals the brutal reality of transatlantic migration and the resilience required to survive it

Recruiting Settlers to Carolina, 1666 - Robert Horne

Purpose: Promotional pamphlet to attract English settlers to Carolina.

Key Selling Points:

• Religious Freedom: “Liberty of Conscience” promised to all.

• Land Incentives: 100 acres per free person, 50 per servant/slave, with minimal rent.

• Political Rights: Colonists elect their own assembly and governor (limited to 3-year terms).

• Social Mobility: Appeals to younger sons of gentry and laborers seeking fortune.

• Gender Appeal: Promises marriage prospects for single women under 50.

Most Important Detail: Horne paints Carolina as a land of opportunity, liberty, and upward mobility—ideal for ambitious settlers of all classes.

Letter From Carolina, 1682 - Thomas Newe

Context: Personal letter describing life in Carolina, contrasting Horne’s idealism.

Key Observations:

• Disease & “Seasoning”: Settlers endure illness upon arrival—few die, but many suffer.

• Conflict with Native Americans: English traders armed rival tribes, sparking war and disrupting fur trade.

• Agricultural Progress: Soil is fertile; settlers grow English fruits and herbs, raise hogs and cows.

• Economic Potential: Carolina’s proximity to Barbados makes it ideal for pork and corn exports.

• Settler Struggles: Early colonists were poor tradesmen with little farming knowledge; progress was slow.

Most Important Detail: Newe’s letter offers a sobering counterpoint to Horne’s promises, showing the challenges of disease, conflict, and survival in early Carolina

Equiano, The Middle Passage, 1789 - Olaudah Equiano

Context: Autobiographical account by Equiano, a formerly enslaved African, describing his forced voyage across the Atlantic.

Key Details:

• Horrific Conditions: Overcrowding, stench, and heat below deck caused suffocation and disease.

• Emotional Trauma: Equiano was terrified by the white sailors and the ship’s motion; he believed he was going to be eaten.

• Suicide Attempts: Some captives jumped overboard rather than endure the suffering.

• Brutality: Crew members whipped and tortured enslaved people for minor infractions.

• Cultural Shock: Equiano was astonished by European technology and customs, which deepened his sense of alienation.

Most Important Detail: Equiano’s vivid testimony exposes the dehumanizing violence of the transatlantic slave trade and gives voice to the enslaved experience from within.

Rose Davis, On Slavery, 1715

Context: Court ruling in Maryland sentencing Rose Davis, a mixed-race woman, to lifelong slavery.

Key Details:

• Legal Precedent: The court ruled that Davis inherited her enslaved status from her mother, despite her white father.

• Racial Logic: The decision reinforced the principle of partus sequitur ventrem—status follows the mother.

• Gender & Race: Davis’s case shows how colonial law targeted women of African descent to perpetuate slavery.

• Social Implications: It reflects the tightening racial boundaries and codification of slavery in the early 18th century.

Most Important Detail: Davis’s sentencing illustrates how colonial courts institutionalized racial slavery through maternal lineage, entrenching lifelong bondage.

War Journal, 1759 - Gibson Clough

Context: Diary entries from a Massachusetts soldier during the French and Indian War.

Key Details:

• Military Life: Clough describes long marches, poor food, and harsh weather.

• Combat & Casualties: He witnessed skirmishes, deaths, and the emotional toll of war.

• Morale & Religion: Soldiers prayed and attended sermons; Clough often reflected on divine protection.

• Colonial Identity: His writings show pride in British victory and a growing sense of American distinctiveness.

Most Important Detail: Clough’s journal offers a personal lens into colonial warfare, blending hardship, faith, and emerging patriotism.

Native Reflections on French and English, 1765 - Alibamo Mingo

Context: Diplomatic speech by a Choctaw leader evaluating European powers after the Seven Years’ War.

Key Details:

• Strategic Diplomacy: Mingo compares British and French treatment of Native peoples, noting broken promises and shifting alliances.

• Critique of British: He accuses them of arrogance and failure to honor agreements.

• French Favoritism: The French are remembered as more generous and respectful.

• Call for Unity: Mingo urges Native nations to remain strong and cautious in dealings with Europeans.

Most Important Detail: Mingo’s speech reveals Native agency and political insight, challenging European narratives of Indigenous passivity.

Jonathan Edwards, 1741

Context: Sermon from the Great Awakening, emphasizing personal salvation and divine judgment.

Key Themes:

• Emotional Preaching: Edwards uses vivid imagery of hellfire and damnation to stir repentance.

• Human Sinfulness: He portrays humanity as inherently depraved and deserving of punishment.

• Urgency of Conversion: Salvation is immediate and personal; delay risks eternal damnation.

• Spiritual Awakening: His sermon sparked intense religious fervor and mass conversions.

Most Important Detail: Edwards’s revivalist message helped ignite the Great Awakening, reshaping American religious life with emotional intensity and evangelical zeal.

Thomas Paine, 1776 - Common Sense

Key Themes:

• Radical critique of monarchy: Paine denounces kings as unnatural and hereditary succession as absurd.

• Universal appeal: Frames America’s cause as the cause of all mankind.

• Government as a necessary evil: Society is a blessing, but government—even at its best—is only a tool to protect rights.

• Call to action: Urges Americans to reject tyranny and create a republic based on equality and liberty.

Important to Remember:

• Paine’s pamphlet galvanized public support for independence.

• He argued monarchy was rooted in idolatry and oppression, not divine right.

Declaration of Independence, 1776 - Thomas Jefferson

Key Themes:

• Natural rights: “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” are unalienable.

• Consent of the governed: Governments derive power from the people.

• Right to revolution: When government becomes destructive, people have the right to abolish it.

• List of grievances: King George III is accused of tyranny—taxation without consent, military abuses, obstruction of justice, and inciting violence.

Important to Remember:

• The Declaration is both a political justification and a philosophical manifesto.

• Its core idea—“all men are created equal”—became a touchstone for future reform movements.

Boston King, Securing Freedom, 1798

Perspective: Former enslaved man and Black Loyalist
Key Themes:

• Freedom through British service: King escapes slavery by joining British forces, who promised liberty to enslaved people.

• Harsh realities: Describes illness, hunger, and fear during wartime.

• Post-war exile: After the war, King resettles in Nova Scotia and later Sierra Leone, facing continued hardship.

Important to Remember:

• King’s account reveals how the Revolution offered conflicting promises of freedom—especially for Black Americans.

• Highlights the loyalist experience and the global dimensions of the war.

Abigail Adams, 1776

Correspondence: Abigail Adams to John Adams, and his reply
Key Themes:

• “Remember the Ladies”: Abigail urges John to include women’s rights in the new laws.

• Warning of rebellion: She jokes that women will rebel if excluded from representation.

• John’s dismissive tone: He laughs off her request, calling it a “Despotism of the Peticoat.”

• Limits of revolutionary ideals: Reveals how liberty was narrowly defined—excluding women.

Important to Remember:

• Abigail’s letter is an early feminist critique of patriarchal power.

• John’s response shows the gender boundaries of revolutionary change.

James Madison, On Religious Taxes, 1785

Purpose: A powerful argument against state-sponsored religion in response to a Virginia bill proposing tax support for Christian teachers.

Key Themes:

• Religious liberty as a natural right: Madison argues that religion must be left to individual conscience, not regulated by the state.

• Danger of government entanglement: State support of religion leads to corruption of both church and government.

• Historical precedent: Cites past abuses where religious establishments led to persecution and division.

• Equality of all beliefs: Defends the rights of all sects, including non-Christians, to be free from state coercion.

Important to Remember:

• Madison’s essay laid the groundwork for the First Amendment.

• It’s a foundational text for separation of church and state in American political thought.

George Washington Farewell Address, 1796

Purpose: Washington’s final message to the nation as he stepped down from the presidency.

Key Warnings:

• Avoid political parties: He feared they would divide the nation and lead to despotism.

• Beware foreign entanglements: Urged neutrality in European conflicts and warned against permanent alliances.

• Preserve national unity: Warned against regional divisions (North vs. South, East vs. West).

• Promote education and morality: Argued that religion and morality are essential to public virtue and republican government.

Important to Remember:

• Washington’s address became a guiding document for U.S. foreign policy and political culture.

• His emphasis on unity, neutrality, and civic virtue shaped early American identity.

Natives Seek Peace, 1786

Context: A coalition of Native nations (including Shawnee, Delaware, and others) appeals to the U.S. government.

Key Themes:

• Call for peace and justice: Native leaders express a desire to end hostilities and live in peace.

• Land sovereignty: They assert that land was taken unjustly and demand recognition of their territorial rights.

• Critique of broken treaties: Accuse the U.S. of violating agreements and failing to restrain settlers.

• Desire for mutual respect: Emphasize shared humanity and the need for fair treatment.

Important to Remember:

• This document reflects Native diplomacy and resistance to U.S. expansionism.

• It highlights the early struggle for Indigenous sovereignty in the face of settler colonialism.

Jefferson and Race, 1788

Focus: Jefferson’s views on race and society

Key Themes:

• Scientific racism: Jefferson argues that Black people are inherently inferior in intellect and aesthetics.

• Physical and mental comparisons: Claims differences in skin color, odor, sleep patterns, and emotional depth.

• Cultural bias: Dismisses Black artistic and intellectual contributions, while praising Native creativity.

• Obstacle to emancipation: Suggests that racial differences make integration impossible, advocating removal after emancipation.

Important to Remember:

• Jefferson’s writing reflects early American racial ideology used to justify slavery.

• His views were influential in shaping white supremacist thought in the new republic.

Benjamin Bannnker, Response to Jefferson 1791

Focus: Banneker’s letter challenging Jefferson’s racist assumptions

Key Themes:

• Appeal to Enlightenment ideals: Banneker invokes natural rights and reason to argue for racial equality.

• Personal example: As a free Black scientist and mathematician, Banneker embodies intellectual capability.

• Moral challenge: Urges Jefferson to reconsider his views and act justly toward enslaved people.

• Use of Jefferson’s own words: Quotes the Declaration of Independence to highlight hypocrisy.

Important to Remember:

• Banneker’s letter is a powerful rebuttal to Jefferson’s racism, using logic and moral persuasion.

• It’s a landmark in African American intellectual history, asserting dignity and equality.

Tecumseh’s Confederacy, 1810

Focus: Native resistance to U.S. expansion

Key Themes:

• Pan-Indian unity: Tecumseh calls for all Native nations to unite against land cessions.

• Spiritual and historical claim: Asserts that the land was given by the Great Spirit to all Native peoples.

• Rejection of treaties: Declares that no tribe has the right to sell land without unanimous consent.

• Critique of white encroachment: Describes settlers as greedy and destructive.

Important to Remember:

• Tecumseh’s message is a bold assertion of Indigenous sovereignty and solidarity.

• His leadership helped inspire resistance movements across Native communities.