This concise collection of primary sources presents the story of US History as told by dissenters who, throughout the course of American history, have fought to gain rights they believed were denied to them or others, or who disagreed with the government or majority opinion.

This concise collection of primary sources presents the story of US History as told by dissenters who, throughout the course of American history, have fought to gain rights they believed were denied to them or others, or who disagreed with the government or majority opinion. Each document is introduced by placing it in its historical context, and thought-provoking questions are provided to focus the student when s/he reads the text. Instructors are at liberty to choose the documents that best highlight themes they wish to emphasize.

Preface xix
What Is Dissent? xxi
PART ONE Pre-Revolutionary Roots, 1607-1760 1
Introduction: The Long Roots of Modern Dissent 1
Roger Williams (c. 1603-1683) 5
The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution, 1644 5
Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643) 9
The Trial of Anne Hutchinson, 1637 10
Alice Tilly (1594-c. 1660) 15
Petition for the Release of Alice Tilly, 1649 15
Mary Dyer (c. 1611-1660) 16
Letter, 1659 17
Nathaniel Bacon (1647-1676) 18
Declaration in the Name of the People, July 30, 1676 19
Quaker Antislavery Petition 21
A Minute Against Slavery, 1688 22
Letter from an Anonymous Slave 24
Releese Us Out of This Cruell Bondegg, 1723 24
Native American Voices (1609-1752) 25
Powhatan, Speech to John Smith, 1609 26
Garangula, Speech to Governor La Barre of New
France, 1684 27
Loron Sauguaarum, Negotiations for the Casco Bay Treaty, 1727 29
Mashpee, Petition to the Massachusetts General Court, 1752 31
John Peter Zenger (1697-1746) 32
The New York Weekly Journal, 1733 33
Eighteenth-Century Runaway Women 35
Advertisements from the PennsylvaniaGazette, 17421748 35
PART TWO Revolution and the Birth of a Nation, 1760-1820 39
Introduction: The Republic Takes Shape 39
John Woolman (1720-1772) 41
"Considerations on Keeping Negroes, Part Second," 1762 41
John Killbuck (1737-1811) 44
Speech to the Governors of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia,
December 4, 1771 44
Samuel Adams (1722-1803) 45
The Rights of the Colonists, November 20, 1772 46
Revolutionary Women 49
Hannah Griffiths, Poem, 1768 49
Ladies of Edenton, North Carolina, Agreement, 17741775 50
Thomas Paine (1737-1809) 51
Common Sense, 1776 51
Abigail Adams (1744-1818) and John Adams (1735-1826) 57
Letters, 1776 57
Thomas Hutchinson (1711-1780) 58
A Loyalist Critique of the Declaration of Independence,
1776 59
Slave Petition 65
Petition for Gradual Emancipation, 1777 65
United Indian Nations 66
Protest to the United States Congress, 1786 67
Shays's Rebellion, 1786-1787 69
Statement of Grievances, 1786 69
George Mason (1725-1792) 70
Objections to This Constitution of Government, 1787 70
Judith Sargent Murray (1751-1820) 72
"On the Equality of the Sexes," 1790 72
Shawnee, Miami, Ottawa, and Seneca Proposal 75
Proposal to Maintain Indian Lands, 1793 76
Protest Against the Alien and Sedition Acts 77
The Virginia Resolutions, 1798 78
Tecumseh (1768-1813) 79
Letter to Governor William Henry Harrison, 1810 79
Speech to the Southern Tribes, 1811 80
Congressmen Protest the War of 1812 82
Federalist Protest, 1812 83
Free Blacks of Philadelphia 84
Protest Against Colonization Policy, 1817 84
PART THREE Questioning the Nation, 1820-1860 87
Introduction: The Reforming Impulse 87
Theodore Frelinghuysen (1787-1862) 90
Speech Protesting the Indian Removal Bill, April 9, 1830 91
Cherokee Chief John Ross (1790-1866) 92
Letter Protesting the Treaty of New Echota, 1836 93
David Walker (1785-1830) 94
Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World, 1830 94
William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879) 97
The Liberator, Vol. I, No. I, January 1, 1831 98
William Apess (1798-1839) 99
"An Indian's Looking-Glass for the White Man," 1833 100
Laborers of Boston 102
Ten-Hour Circular, 1835 102
Angelina Grimke (1805-1879) and Sarah Grimke (1792-1873) 103
Appeal to the Christian Women of the South, 1836 104
"The Original Equality of Woman," 1837 107
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) 108
"Self-Reliance," 1841 109
Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) 112
Woman in the Nineteenth Century, Part 3, 1844 112
LowellMills Girls 114
Lowell Female Industrial Reform and Mutual Aid Society, 1847 114
ElizabethCady Stanton (1815-1902) 117
Speech at Seneca Falls, July 19, 1848 117
Declaration of Sentiments, 1848 119
Sojourner Truth (c. 1797-1883) 122
Ain't I A Woman?, 1851 122
Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) 123
What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?, July 5, 1852 124
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) 125
"On Resistance to Civil Government," 1849 126
Lucy Stone (1818-1893) 135
Statement on Marriage, 1855 136
The Know-Nothings 137
American Party Platform, Philadelphia, February 21, 1856 137
John Brown (1800-1859) 139
Address to the Virginia Court at Charles Town, Virginia,
November 2, 1859 140
PART FOUR
Civil War and Reconstruction, 1860-1877 143
Introduction: A Divided Nation 143
Clement L. Vallandigham (1820-1871) 146
Response to Lincoln's Address to Congress, July 10, 1861 147
William Brownlow (1805-1877) 150
Knoxville Whig Antisecession Editorial, May 25, 1861 151
The Arkansas Peace Society 152
Arkansas Peace Society Documents, 1861 153
Joseph E. Brown (1821-1894) 156
Message to the Legislature, March 10, 1864 157
Cyrus Pringle (1838-1911) 161
The Record of a Quaker Conscience, 1863 162
African American Soldiers of the Union Army 166
Correspondence Protesting Unequal Pay, 18631864 167
Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) 173
What the Black Man Wants, April 1865 173
ZionPresbyterian Church 175
Petition to the United States Congress, November 24,
1865 175
American Equal Rights Association 176
National Convention Resolutions, New York, May 1867 177
Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) 178
From an Account of the Trial of Susan B. Anthony,
July 3, 1873 179
Is It a Crime for a U.S. Citizen to Vote?, 1873 180
PART FIVE
Industry and Reform, 1877-1912 183
Introduction: Progress and Discontent 183
Terence Powderly (1849-1924) 187
Preamble to the Constitution of the Knights of Labor,
January 3, 1878 187
"Eight Hours," by I. G. Blanchard and Jesse Jones, 1880s 189
Chief Joseph (1840-1904) 191
Appeal to the Hayes Administration, 1879 192
Mary Elizabeth Lease (1850-1933) 193
Speech to the WCTU, 1890 194
The People's Party 197
The Omaha Platform, July 1892 197
Jane Addams (1860-1935) 201
The Subjective Necessity of Social Settlements,
1892 202
Frances E. Willard (1839-1898) 203
Speech to the World's Woman's Christian Temperance
Union, 1893 204
Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) 206
Cast Down Your Bucket Where You Are, 1895 207
W. E. B. DuBois (1868-1963) 209
"Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others," 1903 210
Address to the Niagara Conference, Harpers Ferry,
West Virginia, 1906 216
Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862-1931) 218
Lynch Law in Georgia, June 20, 1899 219
"Tortured and Burned Alive," 1899 220
Carl Schurz (1829-1906) 221
Address at the University of Chicago Denouncing U.S.
Imperialism, January 4, 1899 222
Mother Jones (1830-1930) 223
"The March of the Mill Children," 1903 224
John Muir (1838-1914) 227
"The Hetch Hetchy Valley," January 1908 228
Emma Goldman (1869-1940) 233
"Marriage and Love," 1911 234
Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918) 238
Christianizing the Social Order, 1912 238
The Socialist Party 239
Socialist Party Platform, May 12, 1912 240
PART SIX Conflict and Depression, 1912-1945 245
Introduction: Becoming a World Power 245
Joe Hill (1879-1915) 249
"We Will Sing One Song," 1913 250
"The Preacher and the Slave Girl," 1913 252
Robert M. LaFollette (1855-1925) 253
Defense of Free Speech, October 6, 1917 253
Eugene V. Debs (1855-1926) 256
Antiwar Speech, Canton, Ohio, June 1918 257
RandolphBourne (1886-1918) 261
"War Is the Health of the State," 1918 261
A. Philip Randolph (1889-1979) 272
"On Socialism," 1919 272
Marcus Garvey (1887-1940) 273
Speech to the Universal Negro Improvement Association,
Philadelphia, 1919 274
Margaret Sanger (1879-1966) 275
"The Goal," 1920 277
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) 279
"Last Words," 1926 280
"Mencken's Creed" 282
Father Charles Coughlin (1891-1979) 282
National Radio Address, November 1934 283
National Radio Address, June 1936 283
Huey Long (1893-1935) 285
Speech in the U.S. Senate, February 5, 1934 285
Woody Guthrie (1912-1967) 288
"The Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd," 1939 290
"Jesus Christ," 1940 291
J. Saunders Redding (1906-1988) and Charles F. Wilson (Unknown) 292
J. Saunders Redding, "A Negro Looks at This War," 1942 292
Charles F. Wilson, Letter to President Roosevelt, 1944 294
David Dellinger (1915-2004) 296
Why I Refused to Register in the October 1940 Draft and a Little of What It Led To 296
Minoru Yasui (1916-1986) 303
Reflections on Executive Order 9066 304
Resistance 304
Statement upon Sentencing, 1942 307
Letters from Jail to His Sister Yuka Yasui, 19421943 308
PART SEVEN The Affluent Society, 1945-1966 311
Introduction: The Crack in the Picture Window 311
John Howard Lawson (1894-1977) 317
Lawson's Statement That Was Excluded from the Public
Record, 1947 318
Margaret Chase Smith (1897-1995) 320
Declaration of Conscience, 1950 321
Paul Robeson (1898-1976) 324
Testimony Before the House Committee on Un-American Activities,
June 12, 1956 325
Harry Hay (1912-2002) 331
Speech at the Gay Spirit Visions Conference, Highlands, North Carolina,
November 1990 332
Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) 335
"America," 1956 336
Songs of the Civil Rights Movement 339
Pete Seeger, "I Ain't Scared of Your Jail," 1963 340
Carver Neblett, "If You Miss Me at the Back of the Bus," 1960 340
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) 341
Letter from a Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963 342
Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977) 350
Testimony Before the Credentials Committee of the Democratic
National Convention, 1964 351
Malcolm X (1925-1965) 353
The Black Revolution, 1964 353
Stokely Carmichael (1941-1998) 355
Berkeley Speech, October 1966 356
The Black Panther Party 360
Black Panther Party Platform, 1966 361
Students for a Democratic Society 363
The Port Huron Statement, 1962 363
Protest Music I 367
Phil Ochs, "I Ain't Marching Anymore," 1965 368
Malvina Reynolds, "Little Boxes," 1962 369
Bob Dylan, "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)," 1965 370
PART EIGHT
Mobilization: Vietnam and the Counterculture, 1964-1975 373
Introduction: The Movement 373
Mario Savio (1942-1996) 308
Speech at the University of California at Berkeley,
December 2, 1964 380
Carl Oglesby (1935- ) 382
Speech Denouncing the War in Vietnam, Washington, DC,
November 27, 1965 382
The Weather Underground 386
You Don't Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way
the Wind Blows, 1969 386
John Kerry (1943- ) 388
Statement to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations,
April 23, 1971 388
Timothy Leary (1920-1996) 390
Using LSD to Imprint the Tibetan-Buddhist Experience, 1964 391
Abbie Hoffman (1936-1989) 395
Introduction, Steal This Book, 1970 396
Protest Music II 398
Pete Seeger, "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy," 1967 399
Country Joe McDonald, "I Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die
Rag," 1965 401
John Fogerty, Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Fortunate Son," 1969 402
Redstockings 403
The Redstockings Manifesto, 1969 404
S.C.U.M. (Society for Cutting Up Men) 405
S.C.U.M. Manifesto, 1968 406
Gloria Steinem (1934- ) 407
"'Women's Liberation' Aims to Free Men, Too," June 7, 1970 407
Stonewall 411
Stonewall Documents, 1969 411
The American Indian Movement 413
A Proclamation: To the Great White Father and All His People, 1969 414
PART NINE Contemporary Dissent, 1975-Present 417
Introduction: Crossing the Threshold into the New Millennium-
Globalization vs. Jihad 417
Paul Weyrich (1941- ) 423
"A Conservative's Lament: After Iran, We Need to Change
Our System and Grand Strategy," March 8, 1987 424
ACT UP 426
Vito Russo, "Why We Fight," 1988 426
Gay Liberation 428
Statement of Phill Wilson, Director of Public Policy, AIDS Project,
Los Angeles, 1994 429
Statement of Letitia Gomez, Executive Director, Latino/a Lesbian
and Gay Organization, 1994 430
The Michigan Militia 433
In Defense of Liberty II, 1995 433
Theodore Kaczynski (1942- ) 435
The Unabomber Manifesto, 1996 436
Interview with Theodore Kaczynski, June 1999 437
Ralph Nader (1934- ) 438
It's Time to End Corporate Welfare As We Know It, 1996 439
Ani DiFranco (1970- ) 443
"self evident," 2001 443
Protest Music III 448
Mos Def, "New World Water," 1999 448
Immortal Technique, "The 4th Branch," 2003 450
Steve Earle, "Rich Man's War," 2004 452
Amnesty International 453
Amnesty International's Concerns Regarding Post-September 11
Detentions in the U.S.A., March 14, 2002 454
Earth Liberation Front 456
Written Testimony Supplied to the U.S. House of Representatives
for the February 12, 2002,Hearing on "Ecoterrorism" 456
Not in Our Name 460
Statement of Conscience, 2003 460
Veterans Against the Iraq War 462
Call to Conscience from Veterans to Active Duty Troops
and Reservists, 2003 462
Message to the Troops: Resist!, October 11, 2002 464
The American Civil Liberties Union 465
Freedom Under Fire: Dissent in Post-9/11 America,
May 2003 466
MoveOn.org 469
The Many Faces of the Media, 2004 470
Michael Berg (1945- ) 472
"George Bush Never Looked Into Nick's Eyes," May 21, 2004 472
Cindy Sheehan (1957- ) 474
A Lie of Historic Proportions, August 8, 2005 474
Carly's Poem-A Nation Rocked to Sleep, August 15, 2005 476
Author's Note 479
Acknowledgments 480
About the Documents 482
Text Credits 483
Index