The American Reader: Words That Moved a NationThe American Reader is a stirring and memorable anthology that captures the many facets of American culture and history in prose and verse. The 200 poems, speeches, songs, essays, letters, and documents were chosen both for their readability and for their significance. These are the words that have inspired, enraged, delighted, chastened, and comforted Americans in days gone by. Gathered here are the writings that illuminate -- with wit, eloquence, and sometimes sharp words -- significant aspects of national conciousness. They reflect the part that all Americans -- black and white, native born and immigrant, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American, poor and wealthy -- have played in creating the nation's character. |
From inside the book
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... political speeches of the recent past seem to me to be singularly devoid of lasting significance . There have been ... Politicians seldom speak without reference to focus groups or pollsters to learn what people want to hear ; fearful of ...
... the hired manservants aboard the Mayflower . It was signed both by separatists and non - separatists . Women were not asked to sign , since they did not have political rights . On the day after Christmas , the 102 settlers disembarked.
... political activist after these events . In May 1761 , Otis was elected to the legislature of Massachusetts and was chosen as speaker of the house in 1766 ; however , the royal governor of the province blocked his selection as speaker ...
... politics in 1765 , when he published articles in the Boston Gazette denouncing the Stamp Act . These articles , published ... political career . In 1774 , he was a delegate to the First Continental Congress . He was also a member of the ...
... political slavery . Let us see delineated before us the true map of man . Let us hear the dignity of his nature , and the noble rank he holds among the works of God - that consent- ing to slavery is a sacrilegious breach of trust , as ...