Great Issues in American History, Vol. I

This first volume of Great Issues in American History--three volumes of documents that cover the history of America from its settlement to the present--gives us a generous sampling of the major political controversies in the Colonial period. Included are such documents as Richard Hakluyt's "Discourse of Western Planting" (1584), "Letter from Christopher Columbus to the King and Queen of Spain" (undated, probably 1694), and Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" (1776). Each has an explanatory headnote, and there are brief general introductions that set the selections in historical context.

In order to fit both Colonial and Early National courses, documents covering 1765-1776 appear at the end of this volume and again at the beginning of Volume II.