Author:   Kinna Date:1841 Annotation: This is a letter from an Amistad captive. Document: Westville Jan. 4th 1841 Dear Friend, I want to write you a few lines my dear friend because you love us, and because you talk to the great court, and tell America people to make us free. We want to go home to…

Date:1839 Annotation: In 1845, John L. O’Sullivan (1813-1895), editor of the Democratic Review, referred in his magazine to America’s “manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” The idea that America had a special destiny to stretch across the continent motivated many Americans to dream…

Author:   Stephen F. Austin Date:1836 Annotation: Stephen F. Austin defends Texas’ Declaration of Independence. Document: It is with the most unfeigned and heartfelt gratitude that I appear before this enlightened audience, to thank the citizens of Louisville, as I do in the name of the people of Texas, for the kind and generous sympathy they have…

Author:   Andrew Jackson Date:1835 Annotation: President Andrew Jackson defends his policy of Indian removal. Document: The plan of removing the aboriginal people who yet remain within the settled portions of the United States to the country west of the Mississippi River approaches its consummation. It was adopted on the most mature consideration of the condition of…

Date:1835 Annotation: This declaration announced the colonist’s intention to fight for the restoration of the Constitution of 1824 and independent Mexican statehood for Texas. Document: WHEREAS, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and other Military Chieftains have, by force of arms, overthrown the Federal Institutions of Mexico, and dissolved the Social Compact which existed between Texas and…

Author:   John Marshall Date:1832 Annotation: Supreme Court ruling on state jurisdiction over Indian lands. Document: MARSHALL, C. J. This cause, in every point of view in which it can be placed, is of the deepest interest. The defendant is a State, a member of the Union, which has exercised the powers of government over a people…

Date:1831 Annotation: In 1831 the US Supreme Court issued a judgment that defined Native Americans as “domestic dependant nations” instead of foreign nations. This redesignation allowed states like Georgia to disenfranchise Native American tribes of their lands. The Supreme Court refused to interfere with the Cherokee Nation because the Cherokee Nation didn’t have control of their…

Date:1830 Annotation: An Act to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi. Document: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That it shall and may be…

Author:   John Marshall Date:1824 Annotation: This court decision established that the Constitution defines federal power to regulate commerce and no part of such power can be exercised by a state. Document: The appellant contends that this decree is erroneous because the laws which purport to give the exclusive privilege it sustains are repugnant to the Constitution…

Author:   James Monroe Date:1823 Annotation: The United States not only feared European intervention in Florida, but also in the Pacific Northwest and in Latin America. In 1821, Russia claimed control of the entire Pacific coast from Alaska to Oregon and closed the area to foreign shipping. This development coincided with rumors that Spain, with…