Writing the American Past reproduces dozens of untranscribed, handwritten documents, offering students the opportunity to transcribe, decipher, and interpret primary sources.

Writing the American Past reproduces dozens of untranscribed, handwritten primary documents: diary entries from Massachusetts in the 1690s, a woman detailing the Great Awakening, an eighteenth-century treaty with Native Americans, a letter by a slave, all of which capture the essence of the American past and introduce students to the raw material of pre-1877 US history: the written document.

Expertly introduced and edited by Mark M. Smith, this unique textbook offers students the rare opportunity to engage directly with original documents, teaching them how to transcribe, decipher, and interpret primary sources while providing a foundation and a template for understanding the American past.