Voices of freedom : a documentary history / Edited by Eric Foner

Preface -- "What is freedom?: Reconstruction, 1865-1877 -- America's gilded age, 1870-1890 -- Freedom's boundaries, at home and abroad, 1890-1900 -- The progressive era, 1900-1916 -- Safe for democracy: the united states and world war I, 1916-1920 -- From business culture to great depression: the twenties, 1920-1932 -- The new deal, 1932-1940 -- Fighting for the four freedoms: world war II, 1941-1945 -- The United States and the cold war, 1945-1953 -- An affluent society, 1953-1960 -- The sixties, 1960-1968 -- The triumph of conservatism, 1969-1988 -- Globalization and its discontents, 1989-2000 -- A new century and new crises.

"The documents in this collection show that although in some ways universal, the idea of freedom has never been a fixed, timeless concept with a single, unchanging definition. In fact, the history of the United States is in part a story of debates and struggles over freedom. Crises like the American Revolution, the Civil War, and the Cold War have permanently transformed the meaning of freedom. So too have demands by various groups of Americans for greater freedom. The primary-source selections in this book include presidential proclamations and letters by runaway slaves, famous court cases and obscure manifestos, prevailing ideas and dissenting ones. The voices range from Las Casas and Pontiac through Jefferson, Thoreau, Douglass, and Lincoln to Stanton, Sanger, Garvey, Luce, Byrd, and Obama. The Fourth Edition of Voices of Freedom includes new documents that better reflect the religious aspects of American history. It remains a comprehensive collection that offers a diverse gathering of authors and a wide breadth of opinion."