"We, the People": New Voices in the Constitutional Debates
Sophie Bell
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American Social History Project, dir. Herbert Gutman, “Chapter 4: The Greatness of this Revolution,” Who Built America?: Working People and the Nation’s Economy, Politics, Culture and Society. New York: Pantheon, 1989.
Excellent, college-level U.S. history text with emphasis on labor history, and the experience of women and people of color.
Bailyn, Bernard, ed.
The Debate on the Constitution: Federalist and Antifederalist Speeches, Articles, and Letters during the Struggle over Ratification.
New York: Literary Classics of the Unites States, Inc., 1993.
Very complete primary sources, almost all of them too difficult for students without lots of support, paraphrasing, or excerpting.
Baron, Robert, ed.
Soul of America: Documenting our Past: Volume 1: 1492-1870.
Golden: North American Press, 1994.
Good primary document source.
Meltzer, Milton,
The American Revolutionaries: A History in their Own Words - 1750-1800.
New York: Harper Trophy, 1995.
Very good primary document source.
Meyers, Marvin, ed.
The Mind of the Founder: Sources of the Political Thought of James Madison
. New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1973.
Good primary sources for Madison, plus explanations of the circumstances under which each was written and how it was received.
Oates, Stephen,
Portrait of America, Volume 1, to 1877.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995.
Intriguing, in-depth articles on topics in early U.S. history, some accessible for advanced students, or for teacher’s background knowledge.
Peters, William,
A More Perfect Union: the Making of the U. S. Constitution
. New York: Crown Publishers, 1987.
Gives an easy-to-read account of the Constitutional debates. Nice for getting flavor of the discussions, although not a good source for quotes longer than a sentence or two.
Smith, Rogers,
Civic Ideals: Conflicting Visions of Citizenship in U. S. History
. New Haven and London: Yale University Press: 1997.
Theoretically powerful, very thorough and readable academic account of notions of citizenship for women and people of color at the time before, during and after the Constitutional debates. Chapters 4 and 5 are most relevant.
Teacher Curriculum Institute,
History Alive! Engaging all Learners in the Diverse Classroom
. Menlo Park: Addison-Wesley, 1994.
Excellent ideas for methods of structuring history lessons to be engaging, dynamic, and effective.
Zinn, Howard,
Declarations of Independence: Cross-Examining American Ideology
. New York: Harper Perennial: 1990.
Feisty, provocative essays that shake up conventional “textbook” approaches to U.S. history, particularly in addressing injustice to people of color.