Primary Source Documents for the Study of United States History
Below you will find a list of various documents relevant to the study of American History. We are slowly adding documents. Please, bear with us. BTW, yes I know they are out of chronological order. I will get that fixed soon.
European Documents
The Twelve Tables, 450-449 B.C. The Magna Charta, June 15, 1215
Edinburgh-Northampton in 1328 The Declaration of Arbroath,April 6, 1320 English Bill of Rights 1689:An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Settling the Succession of the Crown The Manner of Holding Parliament William and Mary: Toleration Act, 1689 The Treaty (or Act) of Union, 1707 King Henry VIII of England: The Act of Supremacy, 1534 Statutes of Willliam The Conqueror Theodore Beza: Supralapsarianism: The Fall of Man Was Both Necessary and Wonderful Theodore Beza - The Right of Magistrates Over Their Subjects The Dutch Declaration of Independence, 1581 Commonwealth Instrument of Government, 1653 Habeas Corpus Act 1679 Ordinance of William I, Separating the Spiritual and Temporal Courts The Petition of Right 1628 On Secular Authority: How Far Should It Be Obeyed - Martin Luther Luther A Short Treatise on Political Power, Dr. John Ponet, Bishop of Rochester and Worchester Preface to the King James Version 1611: The Translators to the Reader Age of Exploration
Excerpt from Columbus' Journal The Letter of Columbus to Luis De Sant Angel Announcing His Discovery (1493) Columbus: Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella Franco de los Cobos: Instructions to Conquistadors, 1517 The Letters Patents of King Henry the Seventh Granted unto Iohn Cabot Samuel de Champlain, Voyages, 1604 Richard Hakluyt, Discourse of Western Planting, 1584 Bartoleme de Las Casas, Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies(1542) John Locke: A Letter Concerning Toleration, 1689 THE MAGDEBURG CONFESSION, Magdeburg Bekenntnis Confessio et Apologia Pastorum et Reliquorum Ministrorum Ecclesiae Magdeburgensis, 1550 Colonial Period
Short Confession of Faith in XX Articles by John Smyth
The Settlement Of Jamestown, Captain John Smith, 1607 JOHN SMITH: Starving Time in Virginia Nathaniel Bacon's Declaration to the People Governor William Berkely on Bacon's Rebellion 19 May 1676 Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, 1639 Constitution of the Iroquois Nation
The Maryland Toleration Act, 1649 Charter Of Massachusetts Bay, 1629 The Mayflower Compact (1620) Excerpts from the Navigation Acts, Navigation Act of September 13, 1660 William Penn's Plan for Union The Petition of Right, 1628 The First Thanksgiving Proclamation - June 20, 1676 The First Virginia Charter, March 12, 1612 Virginia Charter No.2, 1612 Virginia Charter No. 3, 1612 An Ordinance and Constitution of the Virgina Company in England, 24 July 1621 Instructions for the Virginia Colony, 1606 Excerpts from the Navigation Acts, Navigation Act of September 13, 1660 Charter of Delaware - 1701 Fundamental Agreement, or Original Constitution of the Colony of New Haven, June 4, 1639 The Charter or Fundamental Laws, of West New Jersey, Agreed Upon - 1676 Charter of Georgia, 1732 Resolutions of The Germantown Mennonites, February 18, 1688 Charter of Carolina, June 30, 1665 Charter of Carolina - March 24, 1663 The Charter of New England, 1620 Charter of the Colony of New Plymouth Granted to William Bradford and His Associates, 1629 Charter for the Province of Pennsylvania-1681 Penn's Charter of Libertie, April 25, 1682 Charter to Sir Walter Raleigh, 1584 Charter of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, July 15, 1663 The Salem Covenant of 1629 Virginia Fornication Laws An Agreement of the Free People of England 1649 The Examination of Mrs Anne Hutchinson at the Court at Newton. 1637 Dutch Minister Describes the Iroquois (1644) Roger Williams: A Plea for Religious Liberty Scottish Declaration of Toleration, February 12, 1687 TAXATION NO TYRANNY: AN ANSWER TO THE RESOLUTIONS AND ADDRESS OF THE AMERICAN CONGRESS, by Samuel Johnson Essay Against the Power of the Church To Sit in Judgement on the Civil Magistracy, John Winthrop, Esq. (1637) American Revolution, Early Constitutional
The Administration of Justice Act 1774 The Albany Plan of Union, 1754 Articles of Confederation, 1777 The Bill of Rights: Amendments to the Constitution An Appeal to the Inhabitants of Quebec from the Continental Congress, Philadelphia, 1774 Robert Beverley On Bacon's Rebellion, 1704 James Madison: Letter to Thomas Jefferson on the Bill of Rights, October 17, 1788 The Boston Massacre: Boston Gazette and Country Journal, March 12, 1770 Anonymous Account of the Boston Massacre Captain Thomas Preston's account of the Boston Massacre, 13 March 1770 Daniel Dulany,"Considerations on the Propriety of Imposing Taxes in the British Colonies, for the Purpose of rasing a Revenue, by Act of Parliament" Soame Jenyns, "The Objections to the Taxation of our American Colonies by the Legislature of Great Britain, briefly consider'd." Edmund Burke, "Speech on conciliation with America, March 22, 1775"
The Continental Congress: The Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, July 6, 1775 The Currency Act of 1764
The Declaratory Act, 1766 Declaration of Independence The Federalist No. 10, by James Madison King William of England Addresses Parliament on the French Question, 31 December 1701 George Washington's Farewell Address, 1796 The Judiciary Act of 1789 The Massachusetts Government Act, 1774 Jonathan Mayhew: A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers The Northwest Ordinance (1787) Petition: Reasons for making bar, as well as Pig or Sow-Iron in his Majesty's Plantation (ca. 1750) Reason against a general Prohibition of The Iron Manufacture in his Majesty's Plantations (ca.1750) A Proclamation, by The King, for Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition, August 23, 1775 The Quartering Act, 1765 The Quebec Act, 1774 The Stamp Act, 1765 The Sugar Act, 1764 The Tea Act of 1773 The Townshend Act, 1767 The Constitution of the United States The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom The Virginia Declaration of Rights June 12, 1776
Boston Port Act, 1774 Declaration and Resolves, Continental Congress, October 14, 1774 A Summary View of the Rights of British America, Thomas Jefferson, 1774
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to the Rev. Samuel Miller, Washington, January 23, 1808, On the Free Exercise of Religion Thomas Jefferson, Letter to James Madison on Religious Freedom, Paris July 31. 1788 Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death, Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775 The Proclamation of Neutrality (1793) The Northwest Ordinance, United States Congress (Under the Articles of Confederation), July 13, 1787 The Olive Branch Petition, July 8, 1775
Considerations on the Nature and Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Parliament, James Wilson, 1774 Pitt's speech on the Stamp Act The Continental Congress’ Declaration of Rights and Grievances, Journal of the Stamp-Act Congress, October 19, 1765 Stamp Act Congress, Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress October 19, 1765 Charles Inglis, The True Interest of America Impartially Stated, 1776 Virginia Resolution, Alien and Sedition Acts Thomas Paine, Common Sense Letter to the United Baptist Churches in Virginia, George Washington, May 10, 1789 Early Republic
Washington's Farewell Address Hamilton's Opinion as to the Constitutionality of the Bank of the United States, 1791 An Act Respecting Alien Enemies The Sedition Act of July 14, 1798 Thomas Jefferson: First Inaugural Address, 1801 Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) Kentucky Resolution (1799) Marbury v. Madison 1803 Culloch v. Maryland, 1819 The Monroe Doctrine, 1823 1814 Treaty of Ghent 1814 to end the War Of 1812 The Jay Treaty, November 19, 1794 Jefferson's Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank, 1791 Pennsylvania - An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, 1780 Declaration of the Rights of Man, 1789 Jacksonian America
The American Anti-Slavery Society: Declaration of Sentiments, 1833 Rev. Dr. Richard Furman's Exposition of The View of the Baptists Relative to the Colored Population of the United States to the Governor of South Carolina, 1833 Cherokee Nation v. State of Georgia, 1831 Henry David Thoreau: On Civil Disobidence Henry Clay's Speech on Jackson's Bank Veto, July 10, 1832 Cohens v. Virginia (1821) Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819) The Dredd Scott Case, 1857 Ralph Waldo Emerson: Self-Reliance (1841) Horace Mann: Report No. 12 of the Massachusetts School Board (1848) Andrew Jackson Bank Veto Message, July 10, 1832 Seneca Falls Declaration 1948 Henry Carey, Excerpts from: The Slave Trade, Domestic and Foreign, 1853 Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Transcendentalist, 1842 The Gadsden Purchase, 1852 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; February 2, 1848 President Andrew Jackson's Proclamation Regarding Nullification, December 10, 1832 The Webster-Ashburton Treaty, August 9, 1842 Jackson on the National Bank Treaty of Tien-Tsin, June 18, 1858 Civil War and Events Leading up to It
Speech of E.S. Dargan, in the Convention of Alabama, Jan. 11, 1861
The Address of South Carolina to the Slaveholding States of the United States
Constitution of the Confederate States of America The Crittenden Compromise Democratic Platform of 1860, Breckinridge Faction Democratic Platform of 1860, Douglas Faction The Republican Party Platform of 1860 Ex Parte Milligan The Massachusetts Personal Liberty Act, 1855 Lincoln's "House Divided" Speech, 1858 John Brown's Final Address to the Court, November 2, 1859> Kansas - Nebraska Act 1854 An Act to Organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas Charles Sumner: On the Crime Against Kansas, May, 1856 Message of Governor Isham Harris to the Tennessee Assembly, Nashville, January 7, 1861 Gov. Harris's Second Message Declaration of Causes of Seceding States, 1861 Address of George Williamson, Commissioner from Louisiana to the Texas Secession Convention Ordinances of Secession of the 13 Confederate States of America General George B. McClellan to President Abraham Lincoln, on the Pennisula Campaign Quantrell's Raid on Lawrence Kansas, August 21, 1863
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, 1863 Letter from Gen. Robert E. Lee to Confederate Pres. Jefferson Davis (1863): Gettysburg The Morrill Act: Land Grant Universities Frederick Douglass: Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage, January, 1867 Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address Reconstruction
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, 1863 The Civil Rights Act of 1866 Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation on the
Wade-Davis Bill, July 8, 1864 Reconstruction Act of the Thirty-Ninth
Congress U.S. Supreme Court: Slaughterhouse Cases An Excerpt from the Joint Resolution restoring Tennessee to her Relations to the
Union, July 24, 1866 United States v. Cruikshank et al. The Wade-Davis Manifesto, August 5, 1864 Munn v. Illinois The Gilded Age
1867 Alaska Treaty with Russia Emma Lazarus: The New Colossus, 1883 The Pendleton Act The People's Party Platform, 1890 Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896 Bradwell v. Illinois, 1890 The Manifesto of the Communist Party The Overthrow of the Molly Maguires. Stories from the Archives of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, by Cleveland Moffett Andrew Carnegie, The Gospel of Wealth Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882 The Teller Amendment,1898 The Silver Purchase Act Interstate Commerce Act The Civil Service Act The West
Black Hawk's Surrender Speech, 1832 Fort Laramie Treaty, 1868 Treaty with the Apache, July 1, 1852 Treaty with the Apache, Cheyenne, and Arapaho, October 17, 1865
Treaty with the Cheyenne and Arapaho; October 14, 1865 Treaty with the Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache; July 27, 1853 Treaty With the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache; October 21, 1867 The Dawes Act General Nelson A. Miles on the "Sioux Outbreak" of 1890 A Survivor of the Wounded Knee Massacre Speaks Progressive Era
Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 1886
The Pendleton Act The People's Party Platform, 1890 Muller v. Oregon, 1908 Theodore Roosevelt: The New Nationalism 1910 Woodrow Wilson: First Inaugural Speech, 1913
President Wilson's Declaration of Neutrality, 19 August, 1914 Woodrow Wilson, War Message to Congress Booker T. Washington: The Awakening of the Negro, The Atlantic Monthly
September 1896 William Jennings Bryan, Acceptance Speech for theDemocratic nomination for President, Indianapolis, IN, August 8, 1900 William Jennings Bryan's "Cross of Gold," delivered at the Democratic National Convention, Chicago, IL, July 9, 1896. The Life of A Coal Miner, The Slow Process of a Boy Who Starts in a Breaker, and Ends an Old Man in the Breaker -- As Told By a Man Who Was Once a Miner Henry George Jr., "The Single Tax What It Is and Why We Urge It" Henry George Jr., "What the Single Tax Is Doing"
H. L. Mencken: "A Neglected Anniversary", New York Evening Mail, Dec. 28, 1917, On the Introduction of the Bathtub into the United States Menken's Creed H.L. Mencken, "THE MONKEY TRIAL": A Reporter's Account The Scopes Trail: H. L. Mencken, The Hills of Zion The Scopes Trial: Mencken Finds Daytonians Full of Sickening Doubts About Value of Publicity The Scopes Trial: Homo Neanderthalensis, by H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, June 29, 1925 The Scopes Trial: Impossibility of Obtaining Fair Jury Insures Scopes' Conviction,
Says Mencken,
by H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 10, 1925
The Scopes Trial:Mencken Likens Trial to a Religious Orgy, with Defendant a Beelzebub,
by H.L. Mencken,The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 11, 1925
The Scopes Trial: Yearning Mountaineers' Souls Need Reconversion Nightly, Mencken Finds, by H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 13, 1925 The Scopes Trial: Darrow's Eloquent Appeal Wasted on Ears That Heed Only Bryan, Says Mencken, by H.L. Mencken,The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 14, The Scopes Trial: Law and Freedom, Mencken Discovers,
Yield Place to Holy Writ in Rhea County,
by H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 15, 1925 The Scopes Trial: Mencken Declares Strictly Fair Trial Is Beyond Ken of Tennessee Fundamentalists by H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 16, 1925 The Scopes Trial: Malone the Victor, Even Though Court
Sides with Opponents, Says Mencken,
by H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 17, 1925 The Scopes Trial: Battle Now Over, Mencken Sees;
Genesis Triumphant and Ready for New Jousts, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 18, 1925
by H.L. Mencken The Scopes Trial: Tennessee in the Frying Pan
by H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 20, 1925 The Scopes Trial: Bryan,
by H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 27, 1925 The Scopes Trial: Aftermath,
by H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, September 14, 1925 Last Words, H. L. Mencken (1926) On Democracy Mark Twain's Americanism, H. L. Mencken United States v. E. C. Knight Co. Washington Gladden, Applied Christianity: Moral Aspects of Social Questions Federal Reserve Act December 23, 1913 Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 World War I
Wilson's Speech on Neutrality, 1914 Wilson's Address to Congress, 1917 Wilson's Address on Declaration of War, 1917 President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, January, 1918 The Espionage Act of May 16, 1918 The Covenant of the League of Nations (Including Amendments adopted to December, 1924) Henry Cabot Lodge: Reservations with Regard to the Treaty and the League of Nations Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Sr.: Against the League of Nations, Washington, D.C., August 12, 1919. Woodrow Wilson: Appeal for Support of the League of Nations Balfour Declaration November 2, 1917 The Entente Cordiale Between England and France - April 8, 1904 The Jazz Age
Schenk v. United States (1919) Justice Holmes' Dissenting Opinion on the Abrams v. United States Whitney v. California Warren G. Harding calls for a "Return to Normalcy," Boston, MA, May 14, 1920 The Seventeenth Amendment The Eighteenth Amendment The Volstead Act The Great Depression
World War II
Neville Chamberlain, Peace in Our Time, 1938 Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Address at Charlottesville, 1940 Franklin D. Roosevelt, The "Four Freedoms" Address to Congress, January 6, 1941 Lend Lease Act, 1941 The Atlantic Charter, 1941 West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, 1943 Franklin D. Roosevelt: "A date which will live in infamy" 8 December 1941 1941 US Congress Declaration of War on Germany December 11, 1941 Declaration of War on Japan, 1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Quarantine" Speech, October 5, 1937 Korematsu v. the United States, 1944 Eishenower's Farewell Speech The Tehran Conference, November 28-December 1, 1943 The Yalta Conference,
February, 1945 Recent America, post-1945
The Marshall Plan, 1947 Youngstown Sheet and Tube v. Sawyer, 1952 The North Atlantic Treaty (NATO Treaty) (1949) Washington D.C. - 4 April 1949 Harry S. Truman: Executive Order 9981, Desegration of the Armed Forces Brown v. Board of Education, 1954 Cooper v. Aaron, 1958 The Censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy, 1954 John Kennedy to the Southern Baptists, 1960 Lyndon B. Johnson: The American Promise The Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 1978 The Issue Before the Court: Who Gets Ahead in America? Democracy and Foreign Policy, 1990 Engle v. Vitale, 1962 Foreign Aid and Human Rights, 1976 Jimmy Carter: Foreign Aid and Human Rights, 1977 Gideon v. Wainwright, 1963 The Recall of General Douglas MacAuthur, 1951 Martin Luther King, Jr.: I Have A Dream New York Times v. United States, 1971 Sanctions Against South Africa, 1986 UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS(Adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution 217A (III) of 10 December 1948) Lyndon Johnson, The Great Society, 1964 Lyndon B. Johnson, "We Shall Overcome" March 15, 1965 Robert C. Weaver, "The Negro as an American"
June 13, 1963 Richard M. Nixon: Peace with Honor, January 23, 1973 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: Joint Resolution of Congress, H.J. RES 1145 August 7, 1964 The Tonkin Gulf Incident: President Johnson's Message to Congress, August 5, 1964 Vietnam Veterans Against the War: Statement by John Kerry to the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations, April 23, 1971 George C. Wallace, "The Civil Rights Movement:
Fraud, Sham, and Hoax", July 4, 1964 Civil Rights Acts, 1964 War Powers Act, November 7, 1973, Joint Resolution The Civil Rights Act of 1964 Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities in Viet-Nam, July 20, 1954 Between the French and the Viet Mihn Hamas Covenant: The Covenant
of the Islamic Resistance Movement, 18 August 1988 Jimmy Carter speaks of growing up behind an "Invisible Wall of Racial Segregation," Los Angeles, CA June 1, 1976. Representative Shirley Chisholm (D-NY), on The Equal Rights Amendment, Washington, D.C., May 21, 1969 Divorce and the Family in America,
November 1966, by Christopher Lasch John F. Kennedy, "Ich bin ein Berliner!" Mary Fisher, "The Whisper of AIDS," Republican National Convention Address, Houston, TX, Aug. 19, 1992. President Kennedy, Proposes a moratorium on above-ground nuclear testing, Washington, D.C., June 10, 1963 Malcolm X, "It shall be the ballot or the bullet," Speech, Washington Heights, NY, March 29, 1964. Miranda v. Arizona (1966) The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks from the pulpit on courage, Selma, AL, March 8, 1965. Martin Luther King, Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, December 10, 1964 Oslo, Norway Roe v. Wade, 1973, Supreme Court on Abortion Rights: Justice Blackmun Roe v. Wade, 1973, Supreme Court on Abortion Rights: Justice Stewart Concurring Roe v. Wade, 1973, Supreme Court on Abortion Rights: Justice Renquist Dissenting Street v. New York, 1969, Flag-burning and Freedom of Speech (Fighting Words) Street v. New York, 1969, Flag-burning and Freedom of Speech (Fighting Words): Dissent Illinois ex rel. McCollum v. Board of Education of School District,(1948): Establishment of Religion (Use of Public School Facilities for the propagation of Religion Illinois ex rel. McCollum v. Board of Education of School District,(1948), Separate Opinion: Establishment of Religion (Use of Public School Facilities for the propagation of Religion, Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 (1986): Sexuality/Sodomy Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 (1986): Sexuality/Sodomy: Dissenting Opinion Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438 (1928): Wiretaps Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438 (1928): Wiretaps: Dissenting Opinion The Tenet Plan : Israeli-Palestinian Ceasefire and Security Plan, Proposed by CIA Director George Tenet; June 13, 2001 The Wye River Memorandum; October 23, 1998 The Evil Empire, President Reagan's Speech to the House of Commons, June 8, 1982 The European Parliment's Resolution on Tibet The Economic Opportunity Act, 1964 Equal Employment Opportunity National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 The Sixties...And Beyond
National Organization of Women: Statement of Purpose, 1966 Reynolds v. Sims, 1964 Port Huron Statement of the Students for a Democratic Society, 1962
The Manifesto of the Communist Party Money Is An Unnecessary Evil From the Digger Archives: Let Me Live In A World Pure From the Digger Papers: Trip Without A Ticket From the Digger Papers: The Dialectics of Liberation REFLECTIONS ON STUDENT ACTIVISM (1988), By Abbie Hoffman, Speech to the first National Student Convention, Rutgers University, February 6, 1988 American Indian Movement: Preamble, Trail of Broken Treaties Trail of Broken Treaties 20-Point Position Paper - An Indian Manifesto Bob Dylan: The Times They are A-Changin' Bob Dylan: When the Ship Comes In Bob Dylan: My Back Pages Bob Dylan: Chimes of Freedom Bob Dylan: Mr. Tambourine Man Bob Dylan: Paths of Victory Bob Dylan: Blowin In the Wind Bob Dylan: Desolation Row Bob Dylan: Subterranean Homesick Blues Bob Dylan: It Ain't Me, Babe Phil Ochs: Draft Dodger Rag Phil Ochs: I Ain't Marching Anymore Phil Ochs: Freedom Riders Phil Ochs: What Are You Fighting For? Phil Ochs: Links On the Chain Creedence Clearwater Revival: Fortunate Son Leonard Cohen: Suzanne Weasel Words: The majority of these documents have been downloaded or copied from goverment, insitutional, or private websites where they are available for download. The texts -- most of which are public documents -- has been stripped of all code and I have redone the HTML markup from scratch, so that all pages will appear consistent in format. Some documents have been made available to me for scanning and coding; some short documents have been typed and coded. No one should construe that I have scanned and typed each and every single document myself.
Running Up the Jolly Roger: In some cases, I may have provided the texts of documents which some individuals may consider to be protected by their own proprietary interests. These documents are being used for educational purposes, only. No profit is being made and as such, I consider that these documents fall under the rubric of "fair use" for purposes of education. However, should any webmasters have a difficulty with this notion of our "fair use", please contact me so that we can come to some mutually satisfactory circumstance. Thanks.
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Last updated: Ides of September, 2002