Milestone Documents
- Richard Henry Lee's Resolution calling for Independence (1776)
- Declaration of Independence (1776)
- The Articles of Confederation (1777)
- Treaty of Alliance with France (1778)
- Treaty of Paris (1783)
- Virginia Plan (1787)
- Tracing the broad outlines of what would become the US Constitution
- Northwest Ordinance (1787)
- Laws on addmitting new states under the articles of confederation
- Constitution of the United States (1787)
- The Federalist Papers (1787-8)
- A critical study of the U.S. Constitution from before it was adopted by the states
see especially no. 10 and no. 51
- See also our collection of Anti-Federalist Writings and Additional Federalist Writings.
- President George Washington's First Inaugural Speech (1789)
- Federal Judiciary Act (1789)
- Establishment of the Supreme Court System
- Bill of Rights (1791)
- President George Washington's Farewell Address (1796)
- Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)
- Jefferson's Secret Message to Congress Regarding the Lewis & Clark Expedition (1803)
- Louisiana Purchase Treaty (1803)
- Marbury v. Madison (1803)
- Supreme Court ruling that established the role of the court overseeing the executive and legislative branches
- Treaty of Ghent (1814)
- Treaty ending the War of 1812 with Great Britain
- McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
- Supreme Court ruling that addressed the issue of Federal power and commerce.
|
Miscellaneous
- The Magna Carta
- Landmark document in western history where the King of England
cedes a portion of his power to his subjects. A key moment in the
infusion of the democratic ideal into modern political theory, this
document grants a legislative body the formal right to contest the
authority of the monarchy when the power of the throne is abused.
- Common Sense
- Thomas Paine's Pro-Revolution Pamphlet
- Give Me Liberty...
- Patrick Henry's Famous Speech
- A Little Speech on Liberty
- by John Winthrop
- A Caveat Against Injustice
- by Roger Sherman
- Treaty of Tripoli
- Authored by Joel Barlow
- Signed by John Adams
- The True George Washington
- by Paul Leicester Ford
- First Across the Continent
- The story of Lewis and Clark's travels across the country
- Lewis and Clark's Journal
- Daily Journal entries from Lewis and Clark
- Chauncey Judd
- The story of a teenage boy kidnapped by tories in revolutionary Connecticut
- Lincoln's First Inaugural Address
- In his first address, Lincoln tries to sustain the Union
- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
- by Frederick Douglass
- Essays from Black History
- Collected Inaugural Addresses of US Presidents
- Collected State of the Union Addresses of US Presidents
|
