American Debates and Speeches

The United States of America is a nation formed from ideas: Democracy, Freedom, and Equality. These core American ideals were greatly shaped by the courageous speeches, essays, and debates of early Americans. This includes Sojourner Truth's thunderous call for the abolition of slavery and suffrage for women, Abraham Lincoln's poetic Gettysburg Address, and Patrick Henry's dire and revolutionary exclamation for liberty. Through captivating images and engaging sidebars, readers will understand the contextual significance of these influential documents and be able to connect them to modern forms of activism. Features include: Primary texts for readers to examine, as well as the context needed to better understand the importance of these texts. Features transcriptions of or from the texts on which each volume focuses. Historical photographs, paintings, and other primary source images give readers a glimpse into the past. The texts correlate to the History dimension of the C3 Framework for Social Studies state standards, in particular its focus on historical sources and evidence.