A Guide to Primary Resources for U.S. History : The "Truman Doctrine" Address to a Joint Session of Congress Yale University Law School, Avalon Project Wallace Offers An Alternative to Containment George Mason University: "History Matters" These paired resources accomplish two objectives. The first presents the actual text of the famous speech in which President Truman articulated his policy of containment, the "Truman Doctrine." The second presents a lesser-known artifact, the letter written to the President by his Secretary of Commerce Henry Wallace urging an alternative policy to containment. Students thus have the opportunity to study both possible approaches to postwar U.S. foreign policy before engaging in further debate about the means, ends, and usefulness of the Truman Doctrine. In preparation for reading the two documents, students can begin the following table by filling out the left column (as a test of prior knowledge and as a practice for making educated guesses). The students can then read the documents and compare their original answers to their answers from the text (in the right column). After students read and discuss the two possible approaches to foreign policy regarding communism, they can create political cartoons or advertisements for each policy (either in support of or against). For a class advanced in writing, the teacher could also ask students to write a newspaper editorial comparing the merits of each policy or to create a written dialogue between Truman and Wallace on containment.

(b) Describe the political differences among the colonists concerning separation from Britain

A Call for Reconciliation
Smithsonian Source: Primary Sources

The Economic Cost of Revolution
Smithsonian Source: Primary Sources

Letter from an American Farmer
Smithsonian Source: Primary Sources

Description: This collection of documents illustrates differing perspectives on the American Revolution. In the document A Call for Reconciliation, Clergyman William Smith proposes that in time America will once again be able to coexist with Britain and war is not necessary. In The Economic Cost of Revolution loyalist Charles Ingles outlines the tremendous debts that the colonies would occur due to the imbalance of the value of the current imports and exports. A Letter from an American Farmer describes the character of the “new” American who will leave behind Europe. All of these perspectives seem to be rational discussions which can be contrasted with the Sons of Liberty’s actions including tarring and feathering and the Boston Tea Party. This contrast illustrates that the political feelings of colonists were more dynamic than just people being patriots and loyalists.

Teaching Tips:

"Do Now" Suggestion

Discuss different perspectives of the American colonists on the eve of the Revolution. Why wouldn’t everyone want independence? How do these perspectives differ from the Sons of Liberty’s?

Suggestions for Using this Resource as Part of a Lesson

Assign small groups one of the historical perspectives. Have them analyze and present the reasoning behind their piece.
After reading and analyzing the perspectives, have students create a political cartoon or a broadside based on one of the historical perspectives.