# American History Told by Contemporaries/Volume 2/Chapter 1

American History told by Contemporaries
PART I
PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION FOR TEACHERS, PUPILS, STUDENTS, AND LIBRARIES
CHAPTER I — THE SOURCES AND HOW TO FIND THEM
I. What are Sources?
I N the current discussions on the teaching and study of history, one of the most frequent expressions is "the sources," or "original material." What do these words mean? As history is an account of the past actions of men, every historical statement must go back to the memory of those who saw the events, or to some record made at the time. Tradition is the handing down of memories from one person to another; indeed, one of the most famous of American sources, the Norse Sagas on the discovery of America,—was thus transmitted for three centuries before it was finally put into writing. Such transmissions are likely to get away from the first form as years go on, and may change into legends, such as have already formed around Washington's life. A more trustworthy form of transmitting earlier memories is by autobiography, or by reminiscence written out in later life; but narratives set down long after the events are apt to become twisted by the lapse of the years between the event and the making of the record, and thus their chief value is to reproduce the spirit of the times. In preparing this volume such works have been sparingly used. Graydon's Memoirs ​(No. 170) and Heath's Memoirs (No. 218) are examples of such books.
Much more important are the records and memoranda made at or very near the time of the event. Sometimes silent monuments may be all that is left: the British earthworks at Saratoga are still a memorial of Burgoyne's campaign; and the house of General Gage at Danvers, Massachusetts, still stands to tell us that its occupant was a man of taste and substance.
Laws, proclamations, and other public documents are sources of great value, because they not only describe, but constitute the event: they bear the signatures, the affixing of which gives them validity; they are drawn up even before the event takes place. Examples are the royal order creating the Board of Trade (No. 46), and the veto message of Governor Morris (No. 65).
Of greater literary interest are the narratives of explorers, travellers, and visitors, in which American history is rich: an instance is Peter Kalm's travels (No. 112). As travellers have, however, often too lively a sense of the importance of their own impressions, a more valuable kind of source is the contemporary journal, written from day to day during the events described. When made by men who were the helmsmen of a commonwealth, like John Adams (Nos. 24, 79, 153, 189), they have the highest historical credit; for they are forged fresh from the mint, and reveal what even the official records may conceal. Even when written without any expectation of publication, they furnish valuable evidence : no better example can be found than the diary of Stephen Williams (No. 160) or that of William Pynchon (No. 208).
The letters of public men, or even of private men, have the same double value of a tale unvarnished and written at the moment ; and they also reveal the writer s character. Such are the familiar letters of King George III (Nos. 158, 215). More elaborate are the arguments or controversial pamphlets intended for circulation at the time, such as John Dickinson's Farmer's Letters (No. 149) and Tom Paine's Common Sense (No. 186); but such sources are often warped by party feeling. Narratives composed immediately after events have passed, like Madison s review of the southern campaign (No. 211), have the value of careful, considerate composition while the facts are fresh.
Historical sources, then, are nothing less or more than records made at or near the time of the events, by men who took part in them, and who are therefore qualified to speak. ​
2. Educative Value of Sources
LIKE other literature, the office of history is to record, to instruct, and to please. History has natural claims on the interest of a student or reader, for it deals with stirring events, with human character, and with the welfare of the race; hence, if well narrated, there is in this subject something to arouse the minds of young and old, and to develop them when aroused. The training element of history as a school subject has been discussed in many places: a list of references to such discussions appears in Channing and Hart's Guide to the Study of American History, §15. The value of sources, as a part of that study, has long been in the minds of the scholars and antiquarians who have painfully preserved and reprinted the old narratives, and it begins to be appreciated by the reading and teaching public. The most authoritative suggestions on the study of history in schools lay stress on the use of such material.
Sources are indeed the basis of history; but not mere raw material, like the herbaria of the botanist or the chemicals of a laboratory,—stuffs to be destroyed in discovering their nature. As utterances of men living when they were made, sources have in them the breath of human life: history is the biology of human conduct. No historical question can be settled without an appeal to the sources, or without taking into account the character of the actors in history.
Nobody remembers all the history he reads; the bold and striking events seize hold of the mind, and around them we associate the less notable incidents. A source, however, fixes such a bold and striking event in its most durable form. Volumes about the Indians will not tell us so much that we shall remember as Adair's or Carver's personal experiences (Nos. 113, 116).
Hence the instructing power of history depends in considerable part on the sources. They do not tell all their own story; they need to be arranged and set in order by the historian, who on the solid piers of their assurances spans his continuous bridge of narrative. But there are two sides to history: the outward events in their succession, with which secondary historians alone can deal; and the inner spirit, which is revealed only by the sources. If we could not know both things, it would be better to know how Zenger was tried for criticising government (No. 72), than what had been the history of freedom of the press in the ​ colonies up to that time. The sources, therefore, throw an inner light on events : secondary writers may go over them, collate them, compare them, sometimes supplement them, but can never supersede them.
As for entertainment, the narratives of American discovery are the Arabian Nights of history for their marvels and adventures. The tale of the founding of Louisiana (No. 109) is a classic of romantic literature. Other pieces please by their quaintness, such as Gabriel Thomas's glowing description of Pennsylvania (No. 25), or Bolzius's simple account of the Salzburgers in Georgia (No. 40). Others of these selections are mile-stones in the growth of a national literature, stretching all the way from Cotton Mather's verbose style (No. 92) or Dummer's rugged Defence of the New- England Charters (No. 48), through Franklin's Autobiography (No. 81), to Francis Hopkinson's humor (No. 96) and Jefferson's full pipe-organ of splendid sentences (No. 188). As an account of the planting of a civilization in the wilderness, of the growth of free government, of a power to discuss great political questions with force, the sources of American history are a contribution to the world's literature.
3. Classification of Sources on the Colonies and the Revolution
ASSUMING that the use of sources needs no further argument, the next important question is, What sort of material is available on the colonial and revolutionary periods? For convenience of reference the pieces in this volume may be classified into a few general categories, as follows : —
The most important unwritten records stand along the sea-coast. These consist of old forts, such as the battery at Cambridge, Massachusetts, or the earthworks at Yorktown ; of public buildings, of which many date from the seventeenth century, as the State House at Newport, Pennsylvania Hall in Philadelphia, and the Court House at Hillsboro ; of churches, as the Old South in Boston, St. Michael s in Charleston, and the old Swedes Church (1700) in Philadelphia ; and of dwelling-houses, such as the Wayside Inn at Sudbury, Massachusetts, the Bond house at Edenton, North Carolina, the Byrd mansion at Westover, near Richmond, the Chew house at Germantown, and Mount Vernon. Such remains may be used by visiting them, or by showing photographs of them. In several ​parts of the country, as in the National Museum at Washington, the Field Museum at Chicago, and the Peabody Museum at Cambridge, there are collections of the implements and arts of the aborigines of North and South America.
Manuscript records ordinarily appeal only to the investigator, for whose benefit are the suggestions in Winsor's Narrative and Critical History, VIII, 413 et seq., and in Channing and Hart, Guide to American History, §35. Two classes of written records may, however, sometimes be used by beginners, — family papers and local records. From the unpublished town records of Brookline, Massachusetts, for example, pupils in the high schools have drawn some interesting material. It is worth while to make pupils acquainted with the handwriting of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, many facsimiles of which are found in Winsor's Narrative and Critical History, and in many other places. The letter of Alexander Scammell (No. 162) is a striking example of valuable unpublished materials which are still to be found among family papers. The Historical Manuscripts Commission, created in 1895 by the American Historical Association, is bringing to light unsuspected treasures of this kind, which will be found in the Reports of that Commission, beginning with that for 1897.
In this volume much use has been made of the official public records of various kinds, because they contain the most apt illustrations of the workings of colonial government, and because in the time of the Revolution public bodies became the spokesmen of the communities in their new relations. The votes and proceedings of the revolutionary period are livelier and more characteristic than is usually the case in such material, as may be seen in the town-meeting vote of 1765 (No. 140).
Public records have been printed in elaborate collections for all the thirteen colonies. Sets of the charters are printed in Ben. Perley Poore, Federal and State Constitutions ; in H. W. Preston, Documents illustrative of American History ; in many numbers of the American History Leaflets and Old South Leaflets ; and in other collections. Lists of these collections and of the printed colonial laws, with exact titles, may be found below (No. 6) and in Channing and Hart, Guide to American History, §29.
Hardly any state has made up a full set of its own statutes ; the best collections are Hening's Statutes for Virginia and various editions of Massachusetts laws. In many of the histories of separate colonies or states are appendices of select statutes. ​The printed records of the colonial councils and assemblies are also enumerated in Channing and Hart, Guide, §29. Parts of several of these records, — Rhode Island, 1723, Maryland, 1775, — are reprinted below (Nos. 62, 184). The best printed records are those of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina.
The proceedings of various official and unofficial assemblies and meetings are set forth in the following extracts : a colonial council (No. 30) ; a colonial assembly (No. 62) ; a meeting of freeholders (No. 42); an electorate (No. 61) ; courts of various degrees (Nos. 17, 37, 71, 72, 73, 75) ; a city government (No. 76) ; a town-meeting (Nos. 78, 140) ; a vestry meeting (No. 77) ; a Quaker meeting (No. 102) ; colonial Congresses (Nos. 184, 187, 205) ; continental Congresses (Nos. 141, 153,155, 185, 188, 189, 190) ; committees of Congress (No. 207).
The proceedings of assemblies constitute only a small part of the material available and suggestive for such a collection as this. Below will be found portions of reports of colonial governors (Nos. 19, 21, 36, 54, 57, 85, 88, 110, 135, 154), and of governors' letters and messages (Nos. 63, 65, 70, 125). Other colonial officials are also represented: colonial secretaries (Nos. 60, 124) ; a collector of customs (No. 87) ; colonial agents (Nos. 68, 146) ; a surveyor-general (No. 111) ; a comptroller-general (No. 117) ; an envoy to the Indians (No. 115) ; a judge (No. 150), and several chief justices (Nos. 18, 148, 157); boundary commissioners (No. 38).
The British administration of colonial affairs is represented by letters and mandates of the Lords of Trade (Nos. 26, 55, 58, 67, 89, 104) ; communications from the secretaries for the colonies (Nos. 27, 43, 56, 128, 144), and from the trustees of a colony (No. 42) ; a letter of the Archbishop of Canterbury (No. 101) ; proceedings before a committee of the House of Commons (No. 143) ; a speech in Parliament (No. 142) ; an Act of Parliament (No. 45) ; a royal mandate (No. 46) ; and letters of the king (Nos. 158, 215).
Among the colonial dignitaries who are cited in this volume as witnesses to the history of their times are the following governors : Cranston (No. 19) ; Wentworth (No. 21); Sharpe (No. 36) ; Dummer (No. 48) ; Keith (No. 49) ; Pownall (Nos. 53, 59, 66, 74) ; Cosby (No. 54); Clinton (No. 57) ; Johnston (No. 63) ; Lewis Morris (No. 65) ; Dinwiddie (No. 70); Bellomont (No. 85); Burnet (No. 88); Belcher (No. 100) ; Spotswood (No. 110); Hopkins (No. 125); Dunmore ​(Nos. 135, 154) ; Patrick Henry (No. 203). Many of these men were highly educated, all had unrivalled opportunities of knowing the actual forces of colonial history, and some became the advisers of the English government, among them Pownall and Hutchinson.
Other colonial worthies who appear below are Samuel Sewall (Nos. 18, 103) ; Roger Wolcott (No. 22) ; John Conrad Wyser (No. 29) ; Samuel Quincy (No. 41) ; President Clap (No. 90); Increase Mather (No. 93) ; Nathaniel Ames (No. 95) ; Lewis Morris (No. 97) ; Colonel Brewton (No. 118).
The following English and foreign statesmen and publicists have also been used: Edward Randolph (No. 34) ; Oglethorpe (No. 39) ; Edmund Burke (Nos. 44, 52) ; John Wise (No. 47) ; Montesquieu (No. 51) ; William Pitt, Lord Chatham (Nos. 128, 142) ; Earl of Waldegrave (No. 130) ; John Wilkes (No. 132) ; Horace Walpole (No. 145) ; Samuel Johnson (No. 156) ; Lafayette (No. 172) ; Mirabeau (No. 178) Vergennes (No. 216).
Besides the governors and other colonial officials mentioned above, large use has been made of the writings of the great statesmen of the revolutionary epoch. The works of Benjamin Franklin (Nos. 68, 81, 94, 133, 143, 199, 217), of John Adams (Nos. 24, 79, 153, 189, 217), and of George Washington (Nos. 108, 174, 195, 206) are the foundation of an accurate knowledge of the actual workings of the revolutionary spirit. To these may be added the writings of Josiah Quincy (No. 139); Alexander Hamilton (No. 173) ; Thomas Jefferson (No. 188) ; Robert Morris (Nos. 194, 210) ; James Madison (No. 211) ; John Jay (No. 217) ; and Henry Laurens (No. 217).
The pamphleteers and controversial writers include several of the above, and also Edward Randolph (No. 34) ; Jeremiah Dummer (No. 48) ; Keith (No. 49) ; Pownall (Nos. 53, 59, 66, 74) ; Zenger (No. 72) ; Francis Hopkinson (Nos. 96, 196) ; Thomas Story (No. 98) ; Judge Sewall (No. 103) ; Stephen Hopkins (No. 125) ; James Otis (No. 131) ; John Wilkes (No. 132) ; Martin Howard (No. 138); Dennis de Berdt (No. 146) ; Charles Chauncy (No. 147) ; John Dickinson (No. 149) ; Samuel Johnson (No. 156) ; Drayton (No. 157) ; Timothy Dwight (No. 164) ; Jonathan Odell (No. 167); Mirabeau (No. 178) ; Stansbury (No. 182) ; Thomas Paine (No. 186).
On the Revolution, and to a less degree on the earlier period, valuable extracts have been taken from the journals, private letters, and reminiscences of those who had knowledge of public affairs. While less formal ​than the public records, or the careful state papers and official correspondence and arguments of the statesmen mentioned above, they have the value of unstudied testimony, and they cause an impression of the human side of the history. The principal authors of this kind cited in this volume are Sewall (No. 18) ; Eliza Lucas (Nos. 35, 83) ; Stephens (No. 43) ; Pettit (No. 61) ; John Adams (Nos. 79, 153, 189) ; Franklin (No. 81) ; Nathaniel Ames (No. 95) ; Thomas Story (No. 98) ; Wesley (No. 99) ; John Woolman (No. 106) ; Eddis (No. 107) ; Washington (No. 108) ; Daniel Boon (No. 134) ; Josiah Quincy (No. 139) ; Thomas Hutchinson (No. 148); John Tudor (No. 151) ; John Andrews (No. 152) ; Stephen Williams (No. 160) ; Alexander Scammell (No. 162) ; Huntington (No. 163) ; Odell (No. 167) ; Curwen (No. 169) ; Richard Smith (No. 185) ; Mrs. Abigail Adams (No. 192) ; William Pynchon (No. 208).
Other journals and letters more directly concerned with military affairs are those of Curwen (No. 120) ; Colonel Winslow (No. 126) ; anonymous account of Braddock's defeat (No. 127) ; Captain John Knox (No. 129) ; Chastellux (Nos. 137, 176) ; Graydon (No. 170) ; Lafayette (No. 172) ; Thacher (No. 175) ; Drowne (No. 177) ; Pausch (No. 179) ; Boudinot (No. 180) ; Simcoe (No. 181) ; Andr (No. 183) ; Clinton (No. 193) ; Baroness Riedesel (No. 197) ; Dr. Waldo (No. 198) ; John Trumbull (No. 200) ; George Rogers Clark (No. 201) ; Steuben (No. 202) ; John Paul Jones (No. 204) ; General Greene (No. 212) ; Lord Cornwallis (No. 214) ; General Heath (No. 218).
Travellers in the eighteenth century, until the Revolution ,was impending, were fewer and less quaint than in the period before 1689. The principal foreign visitors and observers were Andrew Burnaby (No. 32) and Peter Kalm (Nos. 112, 114, 122), both authors who wrote interesting and intelligent accounts. Lesser foreigners were Bolzius (No. 40); "A Swiss Gentleman" (No. 69); De la Harpe (No. 109); Captain Carver (No. 116). The revolutionary visitors were Chastellux (Nos. 137, 176) ; Lafayette (No. 172) ; Pausch (No. 179) ; Baroness Riedesel (No. 197) ; Steuben (No. 202) ; the anonymous writer on De Grasse (No. 213) ; Cornwallis (No. 214).
Native or resident observers were the following : Captain Goelet (Nos. 23, 84) ; Gabriel Thomas (No. 25) ; "Richard Castelman" (No. 28) ; Keith (No. 49) ; Douglass (No. 50) ; Pownall (Nos. 53, 59, 66, 74) ; Madam Knight (No. 80) ; Benjamin Franklin (No. 81) ; Colonel Byrd (No. 82) ; Cotton Mather (No. 92) ; John Woolman (No. 106) ; ​William Eddis (No. 107) ; Adair (No. 113) ; John Filson (No. 134); Joseph Doddridge (No. 136).
The newspapers have furnished several pieces for this volume. Though the colonial newspaper was usually dull, and there was no system of circulating accurate news, yet nothing better reflects the spirit of the age than such extracts as are found on the runaway advertisements (No. 105) ; on privateers (No. 121) ; on mobs (No. 161) ; on the Tories (No. 168) ; on Lexington and Concord (No. 191) ; on the Confederation (No. 209).
In the eighteenth century there was already a school of formal historians (see list below, No. 7) . Out of these, extracts have been made from the following : Daniel Neal (No. 20) ; Robert Proud (No. 31) ; Robert Beverly (No. 33) ; Edmund Burke (Nos. 44, 52) ; Sir William Keith (No. 49) ; William Douglass (No. 50) ; William Gordon (No. 219) ; David Ramsay (No. 220).
Among colonial authors many were ministers of the gospel, of various denominations. Such were Lawson (No. 16) ; Burnaby (No. 32) ; Maury (No. 37) ; Bolzius (No. 40) ; Clap (No. 90) ; Byles (No. 91) ; Cotton and Increase Mather (Nos. 92, 93) ; John Wesley (No. 99) ; Doddridge (No. 136) ; Chauncy (No. 147) ; Williams (No. 160) : Dwight (No. 164); Odell (No. 167); and Gordon (No. 219). Physicians wrote much less ; yet several important pieces are taken from the writings of Dr. Douglass (No. 50) ; Dr. Thacher (No. 175) ; Dr. Waldo (No. 198) ; and Dr. Ramsay (No. 220).
Some of the most highly educated, brilliant, and witty writers of the eighteenth century were women ; and quotations appear from Eliza Lucas (Nos. 35, 83) ; Sarah Kemble Knight, one of the best observers of her time (No. 80) ; Mrs. Reed (No. 165) ; Mrs. Adams, perhaps the most distinguished woman in the Revolution (No. 192) ; and the courageous Baroness Riedesel (No. 197).
Verse writers were few, and only a few pieces have proved to be so illustrative of historical incident as to come into this volume. These are Byles's eulogy of George I (No. 91) ; verses in an almanac (No. 94); "Ballad of Pigwacket" (No. 119) ; Paine's "Liberty Tree " (No. 159) ; Dwight's "Columbia" (No. 164) ; "Nathan Hale" (No. 171) ; Stansbury's "Lords of the Main" (No. 182) ; Francis Hopkinson's "Battle of the Kegs" (No. 196). ​
NO library has anything approaching a complete set either of originals or of reprints of the historical writings of colonial and revolutionary times. Nevertheless, one who examines the books in a special library of Americana is amazed at the number, variety, and interest of the material. Six great libraries deserve special mention, all growing collections, and several of them purchasers of rarities at great prices : 1. The John Carter Brown Library at Providence, kept up as a private collection, but under the direction of a trained specialist librarian. 2. The Lenox Library at New York, also brought together by a private man, but now a part of the great New York Public Library. 3. The Boston Public Library, containing the Prince Collection and other valuable accumulations of many private gifts, supplemented by purchases. 4. The Harvard College Library, which contains a well classified collection, abounding in rarities. 5. The Library of Congress, containing great treasures of early books and manuscripts, as yet uncatalogued and almost unexplored. 6. The library of the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester, especially rich in colonial and later newspapers.
Of many early prints there are but half a dozen copies extant, and it is almost impossible for later libraries to secure sets equally complete with the older collections. Nevertheless, there are numerous and valuable Americana in the libraries of Cornell University, Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Wisconsin Historical Society. In each state a special historical society is likely to collect early printed works, newspapers, and reprints on the history of that state. Some libraries will lend rare books directly, or through a local librarian who makes himself responsible.
Abroad, the largest collection of Americana is that of the British Museum, containing some unique pamphlets not to be found in America ; and there are also rare pamphlets in the Bodleian Library of Oxford. In England is also a great reservoir of colonial manuscript material, chiefly in the Public Record Office. Transcripts of many of these documents have been made and transferred to America, as, for example, the Minutes of the Lords of Trade, which are in the Pennsylvania Historical Society. Continental archives have also material on discovery and colonization, especially those of Simancas in Spain, and those of France, Genoa, and Venice. ​
5. Reprints of Collected Sources on the Colonies and the Revolution
NEARLY all the important early works have been reprinted, sometimes verbatim, oftener with corrections of spelling and grammar. Many such reprints are made by historical societies ; others are gathered in series, as Rider's Rhode Island Historical Tracts, and Munsell's Historical Series. Others appear in special reprint editions, with introduction and notes by a special editor. A few have been facsimiled, notably the Declaration of Independence (Force, American Archives, Fifth Series, I, 1597, and elsewhere). For making transcripts or for verifying a passage, the original edition is always preferable even to a careful reprint.
For many of the separate colonies there are collections of documents, which may be found through Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, II-V, and Channing and Hart, Guide to American History, § § 23, 29. There are also several valuable collections of related documents, some of which are enumerated below. The colonial collections specially mentioned contain many documents concerning all the colonies. The titles in this list do not include collections of sources bearing exclusively on the history of a single colony, nor do they contain colonial archives, or the many valuable collections of state and local historical societies. Such material may be found through Channing and Hart, Guide, § § 23, 29, 31, 34, 77-130, and through A. P. C. Griffin, Bibliography of American Historical Societies (in American Historical Association, Report for 1895). Tyler, in his American Literature and Literary History of the Revolution (No. 15), gives lists of sources.
John Almon, A Collection of Interesting Authentic Papers, relative to the Dispute between Great Britain and America, shewing the Causes and Progress of that Misunderstanding, front 1764 to 1775. London, 1777. — Always cited as the Prior Documents.
John Almon, The Remembrancer, or Impartial Repository of Public Events. 17 vols. London, 1775-1784. — Vols. XII-XVII edited by John Debrett.
The Annual Register, or a View of the History, Politicks, and Literature, for the Year 1758. London, 1759-. — This series has been continued annually, to the present time. It includes a narrative history of the year, and republications of contemporary letters and other material. ​Alden Bradford, Speeches of the Governors of Massachusetts from 1765 to 1775 ; and the Answers of the House of Representatives to the same. Boston, 1818. — These documents describe many of the controversies leading up to the Revolution.
Congress of the United States, Journals of Congress. Containing the Proceedings [1774-1788] (contemporaneous edition). 13 vols. Philadelphia, 1777-1788. — Also a reprint in 13 vols. (Philadelphia, 1800-1801), and another in 4 vols., under the title Journals of the American Congress: From 1774 to 1788 (Washington, 1823).
Congress of the United States, Secret Journals of the Acts and Proceedings of Congress. 4 vols. Boston, 1821. — Extracts omitted in making up the public journals, especially on the history of the Confederation and on foreign affairs.
Evert Augustus Duyckinck and George Long, Cyclopœdia of American Literature ; embracing Personal and Critical Notices of Authors, and Selections from their Writings. From the Earliest Period to the Present Day. 2 vols. New York, 1856.
Peter Force, compiler, American Archives : Fourth Series. Containing a Documentary History of the English Colonies in North America [1774- 1776]. 6 vols. Washington, 1837-1846. — Fifth Series. Containing a Documentary History of the United States [1776-1783]. 3 vols. Washington, 1848-1853.
Albert Bushnell Hart and Edward Channing, editors, American History Leaflets. 30 numbers (to be had separately). New York, 1892-1896. — Includes many colonial documents.
George P. Humphrey, American Colonial Tracts. Rochester, May, 1897-. — Published monthly ; to be had separately.
Thomas Hutchinson, A Collection of Original Papers relative to the History of the Colony of Massachusetts-Bay [1628-1750]. Boston, 1769. — A useful set.
Edwin Doak Mead, editor, Old South Leaflets. 75 numbers (to be had separately or bound in 3 vols.). Boston, 1883-1896. — Many historical pieces ; texts not carefully collated. Valuable for schools.
Frank Moore, Diary of the American Revolution. From Newspapers and Original Documents. 2 vols. New York, etc., 1859-1860. — A well-chosen series of extracts arranged chronologically, covering the years 1775-1781.
Frank Moore, editor, Songs and Ballads of the American Revolution. New York, 1856.
Hezekiah Niles, Principles and Acts of the Revolution in America. Baltimore, 1822 ; also a reprint, New York, 1876. — This is a very useful volume, though many of the selections are very dull. It covers the period 1765- 1783.
​Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan and Berthold Fernow, editors, Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State of New-York. 15 vols. Albany, 1856-1887. — Much matter not relating exclusively to New York ; includes a useful index volume. Vols. IV-VIII, X, XI on the period after 1689.
William Stevens Perry, editor, Historical Collections relating to the American Colonial Church. 5 vols. Hartford, 1870-1878. — A very small edition, and therefore rare.
Ben. Perley Poore, compiler, The Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and other Organic Laws of the United States. 2 parts. Washington. 1877. — A much-needed reprint is in preparation (1897).
Winthrop Sargent, editor, The Loyalist Poetry of the Revolution. Philadelphia, 1857.
William L. Saunders, editor, The Colonial Records of North Carolina (10 vols.), and Walter Clark, editor, The State Records of North Carolina (4 vols.). 14 vols. Raleigh and Winston, 1886-1896. — Very inconveniently arranged, without contents or index, but abounding in general material. Covers the period 1662-1780; still in progress.
Jared Sparks, editor, Correspondence of the American Revolution. 4 vols. Boston, 1853. — Interesting and valuable letters, addressed chiefly to Washington. May be picked up at second hand for a small sum.
Jared Sparks, editor, The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution. 12 vols. Boston, 1829-1830. — Arranged rather clumsily ; much of the same matter appears in better form in Wharton s edition.
Edmund Clarence Stedman and Ellen Mackay Hutchinson, editors, A Library of American Literature, from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time. 11 vols. New York, 1888-1890. — Part of Vol. II and Vol. III on the period 1689-1783; very well chosen, though not with immediate reference to the historical value of the pieces. An excellent set for a school library, and often found at second hand.
Anthony Stokes, A View of the Constitution of the British Colonies, in North America and the West Indies, at the time the Civil War broke out on the Continent of America. London, 1783. — Contains many writs and forms from colonial procedure.
John Wingate Thornton, The Pulpit of the American Revolution : or, the Political Sermons of the Period of 1776. With a Historical Introduction, Notes, and Illustrations. Boston, 1860.
Francis Wharton, editor, The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States. 6 vols. Washington, 1889. — Official edition, arranged chronologically, with a valuable introduction.
William A. Whitehead, Frederick W. Ricord, and William Nelson, editors, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. 19 vols. Newark, 1880-1897. — One of the most valuable collections of colonial sources ; it includes several volumes of reprints from rare newspapers ; still in progress. ​
6. Select Library of Sources on Colonization
THIS volume contains examples of many colonial writers, but only a short extract from most of them, and many important writers do not appear here at all. For careful study of colonial history, and for extensive topical work, the student or pupil needs a greater range of material ; hence every library and high school ought to have at least a few of the sources in complete editions.
The purchase of such books, many of them long out of print, is a work of time. Any library or school may on application receive the catalogues of second-hand dealers, or put a list of desiderata in the hands of a book-seller. The Publishers' Weekly inserts (gratis) lists of books sought for by dealers. Often people will give old books of value to a permanent collection, if requested.
First in importance are the general printed collections mentioned in the preceding section (No. 5), or so many of them as the library can afford. Next may come selections from the records of one colony and state out of each of the three groups of southern, New England, and middle colonies. Virginia, Massachusetts, and New York or Pennsylvania were the most important in each group, and have the completest literature. Next to them in general historical interest come the Carolinas, Maryland, and Connecticut. Rhode Island and New Hampshire also have important records.
Below will be found a list of some of the most useful sources. Most of the volumes may be readily purchased new or at second hand, though the large sets are expensive. To these should be added such other colonial records, laws, collections, and histories containing documents as the most available library may be willing to buy (see lists in Channing and Hart, Guide, §§ 23. 29, 95-130), especially those of that colony which has the closest relation with the state or the place in which the library is situated. The local records (if printed) should of course be included; and a few of the typical town records, as those of Boston, Worcester, Lancaster, Watertown, Providence, East Hampton (L.I.).
CONTEMPORARY HISTORIANS
Throughout the colonial period, and especially from 1 40 to the end of the Revolution, there were writers who set out to make formal histories of one colony or of a group of colonies ; and though — with some ​exceptions, as Hutchinson — they had the use only of limited material, they relate the result of many of their own observations, and reflect the impressions made on the public mind at the time. In some cases they used and have reprinted rare accounts. The principal titles are the following : —
Amos Adams, A Concise, Historical View of the Perils, Hardships, Difficulties, and Discouragements which have attended the Planting and Progressive Improvement of New England. Boston, 1769. — A clear and valuable work.
Isaac Backus, A History of New England, with particular Reference to the Denomination of Christians called Baptists. 3 vols. Boston, 1777-1796. —Volume II extends from 1690 to 1784. Backus was an historian of the modern type, who searched far and wide for manuscript material.
Jeremy Belknap, The History of New Hampshire. 3 vols. Boston, 1742.
[Robert Beverly], The History of Virginia, in Four Parts [1584-1720]. London, 1705 (and later editions) .
John (Daly) Burk, The History of Virginia, from its First Settlement to the Present Day. 3 vols. Petersburg, Va., 1804-1805. — With appendices of documents.
George Chalmers, An Introduction to the History of the Revolt of the American Colonies. 2 vols. Boston, 1845. — Also Vol. I, London, 1782.
John Drayton, Memoirs of the American Revolution, from its Commencement, to the Year 1776 inclusive. 2 vols. Charleston, 1821. — Really the work of William Henry Drayton (No. 157), written between 1776 and 1779.
William Gordon, The History of the Rise, Progress, and Establishment, of the Independence of the United States of America. 4 vols. London, 1788 (or 3 vols. New York, 1789). — See below, No. 219.
Alexander Hewatt, An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia. 2 vols. London, 1779.
Stephen Hopkins, An Historical Account of the Planting and Growth of Providence. (In Rhode Island Historical Society, Collections, VII, 13-65.) — One of the earliest attempts at local history.
Thomas Hutchinson, The History of the Colony of Massachusets Bay [Vol. I, 1764] . The History of the Province of Massachusetts Bay . . . until the Year 1750 [Vol. II, 1767] . The History of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, from the Year 1750, until June, 1774 [Vol. III. 1828]. — Volume III of this work is an account of the causes of the Revolution. Hutchinson was the most careful and scientific writer of his time, though prejudiced by his own position as governor of a contumelious colony.
Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana : or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England. London, 1702. (Three reprints, 2 vols., Hartford, 1820, 1853, 1855.) — Hardly historical in spirit. — See Contemporaries, I, No. 148.
Daniel Neal, The History of New- England containing an Impartial Account of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Affairs of the Country to the Year of our Lord, 1700. To which is added The Present State of New- England. 2 vols. London, 1720. — Also a later edition. —See below, No. 20.
Samuel Penhallow, History of the Wars of New-England with the Eastern, Indians [1703-1725]. Boston, 1726. — Reprinted, 1859.
Robert Proud, The History of Pennsylvania, in North America [1681-1742]. 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1797-1798. — Proud was a Quaker who came to Pennsylvania in 1759. The book was written from 1778 to 1780. — See below, No. 31.
David Ramsay, The History of the American Revolution. 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1789. — Ramsay was a member of Congress in 1782, 1783, 1785-1786, and used the documentary material of that body. His work has many merits. — See below, No. 220.
David Ramsay, The History of South-Carolina, from its First Settlement in 1670, to the Year 1808. 2 vols. Charleston, 1809.
Samuel Smith, The History of the Colony of Nova-Cœsaria, or New-Jersey. Burlington, N. J., 1765.
William Smith, The History of the late Province of New-York, from its Discovery, to . . . 1762. 2 vols. (New York Historical Society, Collections, IV-V.) New York, 1829-1830. — With documents. Smith lived in New York from his birth in 1728 to his departure as a loyalist exile in 1783. Volume II (1736-1762) is therefore contemporary.
C. Stedman, The History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War. 2 vols. London, 1794. — Really by William Thomson. A British view.
Mercy Warren, History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution. Interspersed with Biographical, Political and Moral Reflections. 3 vols. Boston, 1805. — Mrs. Warren was the sister of James Otis. Her work shows spirit and intelligence, though it is expressed in a pedantic fashion.
PUBLIC RECORDS AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
Upon the varieties and uses of public records a discussion appears above (No. 3). Here is a brief list of some of the most important collections. Most of them may be had, either from the state or society publishing them, or at second hand. Single volumes or partial sets are often available. A long list of such works may be found in Channing and Hart, Guide, § 29. In many cases, parts of records are printed in the collections or proceedings of state historical societies (see No. 5 above). ​Boston, Reports of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston. (Edited by William Henry Whitmore and William S. Appleton.) 27 vols. 1876- 1896. — Contains records of Boston, Dorchester, Roxbury, the Boston Selectmen's Minutes, etc. The most important single set of town records.
Canada, Reports on Canadian Archives. (By Douglas Brymner, archivist.) 15 vols. Ottawa, 1881-1896. — Very valuable, and still in progress.
Concord, N. H., Concord Town Records [1732-1820]. Concord, 1894.
Connecticut, The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut [1636-1776]. (Compiled by James Hammond Trumbull and Charles J. Hoadly.) 15 vols. Hartford, 1850-1890.
East Hampton, Records of the Town of East- Hampton, Long Island. 4 vols. Sag-Harbor, 1887-1889.
Louisiana, Historical Collections of Louisiana. (Edited by Benjamin Franklin French.) 5 vols. New York, 1846-1853. Second Series, 2 vols., New York, 1869-1875. — Covers the French relations in the southwest.
Maryland, Archives of Maryland [1636-1777]. (Edited by William Hand Browne.) 16 vols. Baltimore, 1883-1897.
New Hampshire, Records [1623-1800]. (Compiled by Nathaniel Bouton, Isaac W. Hammond, and Albert S. Batchellor.) 27 vols. Concord, etc., 1867-1896.
New York, Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York. (Edited by Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan and Berthold Fernow.) 15 vols. Albany, 1856-1887. — One of the best sets ever published on colonial history ; includes documents of all kinds, conveniently arranged, printed, and indexed ; valuable on all the colonies. It may readily be bought at from $10 to $20 a set.
Pennsylvania, Colonial Records [1683-1790]. 1 6 vols. Philadelphia, 1852-1853. — Pennsylvania Archives [1664-1790]. (Compiled by Samuel Hazard.) 12 vols. Philadelphia, 1852-1856. Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series. (Edited by John B. Linn and William H. Egle.) 19 vols. Harrisburg. 1874-1890.
Rhode Island, Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England. (Compiled by John Russell Bartlett.) 10 vols. Providence, 1856-1865.
South Carolina, Historical Collections of South Carolina [1492-1776] . (Compiled by B. R. Carroll.) 2 vols. New York, 1836. — Many interesting papers on the south.
Virginia, The Statutes-at-Large, being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia [1619-1792]. (Compiled by William Waller Hening.) 13 vols. Philadelphia and New York, 1823. — Perhaps the most important set of colonial statutes printed.
JOURNALS, MEMOIRS, AND REMINISCENCES
In addition to the works from which extracts are taken for this volume, and the titles of which appear at the ends of the pieces (for an enumeration, see No. 3 above), the following may be mentioned:—
Thomas Anburey, Travels through the Interior Parts of America [1776-1781] . vols. London, 1789.
William Bartram, Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida … [1773-1778]. Philadelphia, 1791.
Anne Grant, Memoirs of an American Lady: with Sketches of Manners and Scenes in America, as they Existed previous to the Revolution. (Edited by James Grant Wilson.) Albany, 1876.—Also earlier editions.
Thomas Hutchinson, The Diary and Letters of His Excellency, Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of His Late Majesty's Province of Massachusetts Bay, in North America. (Compiled by Peter Orlando Hutchinson.) 2 vols. Boston, 1884-1886.
Charles Lee, Memoirs. … To which are added his Political and Military Essays also, Letters to, and from many distinguished Characters, both in Europe and America. (Edited by Edward Langworthy.) London, 1792.
Christopher Marshall, Extracts from the Diary … kept in Philadelphia and Lancaster, during the American Revolution [1774-1781]. (Edited by William Duane.) Albany, 1877.
Return Jonathan Meigs, A Journal of Occurrences which happened … in the Detachment commanded by Colonel Benedictine Arnold. … (No place, no date.)
Gouverneur Morris, The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris, Minister of the United States to France; Member of the Constitutional Convention, etc. (Edited by Anne C. Morris.) 2 vols. New York, 1888.
Count de Rochambeau, Memoirs … relative to the War of Independence of the United States. (Translated by M. W. E. Wright.) Paris, 1838.
Robert Rogers, Journals … containing an Account of the several Excursions he made under the Generals who commanded upon the Continent of North America during the late War. London, 1765.
Tench Tilghman, Memoir … together with an Appendix, containing Revolutionary Journals and Letters, hitherto unpublished. Albany, 1876.
Elkanah Watson, Men and Times of the Revolution; or, Memoirs … including Journals of Travels in Europe and America, from 1777 to 1842. New York. 1856.
George Whitefield, Journal of a Voyage from London to Savannah [Dec. 28th, 1737-May 7th, 1738.] London, 1739.—Also other editions.
Eliza Wilkinson, Letters … during the Invasion and Possession of Charles-town, S. C. by the British in the Revolutionary War. (Edited by Caroline Gilman.) New York, 1839.
COLLECTED WORKS OF PUBLIC MEN
Besides the authors from whom extracts are taken for this work (see No. 3 above), the following are important : —
George Chalmers, Opinions of Eminent Lawyers on various points of English Jurisprudence, chiefly concerning the Colonies. Fisheries, and Commerce, of Great Britain. 2 vols. London, 1814. — Reprinted, I vol., Burlington, 1858.
Charles, Marquis Cornwallis, Correspondence. (Edited by Charles Ross.) 3 vols. London, 1859.
Silas Deane, Papers (New York Historical Society, Collections for the years 1886-1890). 5 vols. New York, 1887-1891. — Includes much previously unpublished matter.
Charles James Fox, Memorials and Correspondence. (Edited by Lord John Russell.) 3 vols. London. 1853-1854.
Philip Freneau, Poems written and published during the American Revolutionary War. 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1809. — Also other editions.
John Jay, Correspondence and Public Papers. (Edited by Henry P. Johnston.) 4 vols. New York, 1890-1893.
William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, Correspondence. (Edited by William Stanhope Taylor, and Captain John Henry Pringle.) 4 vols. London, 1838-1840.
John Witherspoon, Works 4 vols. New York, 1800-1801. — Also 9 vols., Edinburgh, 1804-1805.
BIOGRAPHIES CONTAINING SOURCES
[John Almon], Anecdotes of the Life of the Right Hon. William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. Sixth edition. 3 vols. London, 1797.
James Trecothick Austin, The Life of Elbridge Gerry. With Contemporary Letters. 2 parts. Boston, 1828-1829. — Part I extends to the close of the American Revolution.
Eben Edwards Beardsley, Life and Correspondence of the Right Reverend Samuel Seabury, D.D. Boston, 1881.
Edward Barrington de Fonblanque, Political and Military Episodes derived from the Life and Correspondence of John Burgoyne. London, 1876.
George Washington Greene, The Life of Nathanael Greene. 3 vols. New York, 1867-1871.
James Kendall Hosmer, The Life of Thomas Hutchinson, Royal Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Boston, 1896.
Robert Henry Lee, Memoir of the Life of Richard Henry Lee. 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1825.
Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, Life of Paul Jones. 2 vols. Boston, 1841.
John Marshall, The Life of George Washington. 5 vols. Philadelphia, 1804- 1807. — Also an abridged edition in 2 vols., 1832.
Josiah Quincy, Memoir of the Life of Josiah Quincy, Junior, of Massachusetts Bay [1744-1775]. (Edited by Eliza Susan Quincy.) Boston, 1875. — Also other editions.
Kate Mason Rowland, The Life of George Mason [1725-1792]. 2 vols. New York, 1892.
Charles Janeway Stillé, The Life and Times of John Dickinson [1732-1808]. (Pennsylvania Historical Society, Memoirs, Vol. XIII.) Philadelphia, 1891. — Also printed separately.
Charles Janeway Stillé, Major-General Anthony Wayne and the Pennsylvania Line in the Continental Army. Philadelphia, 1893.
Charlemagne Tower, Jr., The Marquis de La Fayette in the American Revolution. 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1895.
George Tucker, The Life of Thomas Jefferson . . . with Parts of his Correspondence never before published. 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1837.
William Tudor, The Life of James Otis. Boston, 1823.
Henry Cruger Van Schaack, The Life of Peter Van Schaack. New York, 1842.
William Vincent Wells, The Life and Public Services of Samuel Adams. . . . With Extracts from his Correspondence, State Papers, and Political Essays. 3 vols. Boston, 1865.
Barrett Wendell, Life of Cotton Mather the Puritan Priest. (Makers of America Series.) New York, 1891.
A GOOD COLLECTION OF SOURCES ON THE PERIOD 1689-1783
Out of the books enumerated above, and other works, a few may be selected. Most of the exact titles appear in the above lists, or in the foot-notes to the pieces below, if not otherwise indicated. The books out of print may be found through a dealer in second-hand books. An asterisk (*) indicates the most useful books for a small library.
(*)John Adams and Abigail Adams, Familiar Letters.
American History Leaflets. (30 nos.)
Thomas Anburey, Travels. (2 vols.)
William Bradford, Life and Correspondence of Joseph Reed. (2 vols.)
Edmund Burke, Account of the European Settlements. (2 vols.)
(*)Correspondence of the American Revolution. (Sparks, 4 vols.) Samuel Curwen, Journal and Letters.
John Dickinson, Writings. (2 vols.) Documents relating to the Colonial History of New Jersey. (19 vols.)
(*)Documents relative to the Colonial History of New-York. (Vols. IV-VIII, X, XI.) William Douglass, Summary. (2 vols.)
(*)Benjamin Franklin, Works. (Sparks and Bigelow, 10 vols.) Alexander Graydon, Memoirs.
William Heath, Memoirs.
Francis Hopkinson, Miscellaneous Essays. (3 vols.)
Gilbert Imlay, Topographical Description.
Peter Kalm, Travels. (2 editions.)
Maryland Archives. (16 vols.)
Cotton Mather, Magnalia.
(*)Frank Moore, Diary of the Revolution. (2 vols.)
New Hampshire Records. (27 vols.)
(*)Hezekiah Niles, Principles and Acts of the Revolution. Old South Leaflets. (75 nos., or 3 vols.) < br/> Thomas Paine, Writings. (Several editions.)
Thomas Pownall, Administration of the Colonies.
William Pynchon, Diary.
Madame Riedesel, Letters and Memoirs. (2 editions.)
Samuel Sewall, Diary. (3 vols.)
Stedman and Hutchinson, Library of American Literature. (Vols. II-III.)
W. L. Stone, Letters of Brunswick and Hessian Officers.
James Thacher, Military Journal.
(*)Town records of Boston or Providence or Worcester.
John Trumbull, Autobiography.
(*)George Washington, Writings. (Sparks, 12 vols.)
Barrett Wendell, Cotton Mather.
Francis Wharton, Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence. (6 vols.)