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Founding Documents

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The Magna Carta

The Declaration of Independence

The Federalist Papers

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The Constitution

The Bill of Rights

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Before 1776

The Code of Hammurabi (ca. 1727-1680 BC)
The Ten Commandments (ca. 1447 BC)
The Constitutions of Clarendon (1164)
The Magna Carta (June 15, 1215)
The Declaration of Arbroath (1320)
Privileges and Prerogatives Granted by Their Catholic Majesties to Christopher Columbus (1492)
Charter to Sir Walter Raleigh (March 25, 1584)
Mayflower Compact (November 11, 1620)
The Act of Surrender of the Great Charter of New England to His Majesty (1635)
Fundamental Agreement, or Original Constitution of the Colony of New Haven (1639)
The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)
Agreement of the Settlers at Exeter in New Hampshire (1639)
The Articles of Confederation of the United Colonies of New England (May 19, 1643)
The Maryland Toleration Act (Sept. 21, 1649)
The First Thanksgiving Proclamation (1676)
English Bill of Rights (1689)
John Locke: The Second Treatise of Government (1689)
Albany Plan of Union (1754)
Colonial Charters (1606-1732)

The War for Independence

Resolutions of the Stamp Act (1765)
Anonymous Account of the Boston Massacre (March 5, 1770)
Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress (October 14, 1774)
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death! (March 23, 1775)
Call to Arms (July 6, 1775)
Virginia Declaration of Rights (June 12, 1776)
The Declaration of Independence (July 2, 1776) | History
Samuel Adams Advocates American Independence (August 1, 1776)
Common Sense - Thomas Paine (1776)
The Rights of Man - Thomas Paine (1792)
Contract Between the King and the Thirteen United States of North America (1782)
Declarations for Suspension of Arms and Cessation of Hostilities (1783)
Contract Between the King and the Thirteen United States of North America (1783)
Proclamation Declaring the Cessation of Arms (1783)
Treaty of Paris (1783)

The Constitution and Related Documents

State Constitutions (1776-1778)
Articles of Confederation (1777)
The Federalist Papers (1787)
The Anti-Federalist Papers (1787)
Understanding our Constitution: A Modern Language Paraphrase of The Federalist Papers
Constitution of the United States of America (1787)| History | Q & A | Test
The Bill of Rights (1791)
Amendments 11-27 to the Constitution of the United States
Letter Of Transmittal (September 17, 1787)
Articles of Amendment (1787)
Madison's Proposal for the Bill of Rights (1789)
Bill of Rights Preamble (1789)
The First Ten Amendments as Ratified (1789)
Amendments 11-27 to the Constitution

1783 - 1860

Memorial and Remonstrance (1785)
Annapolis Convention (September 14, 1786)
The Religious Freedom Statute (1786)
North-west Ordinance (July 13, 1787)
First Thanksgiving Proclamation (October 3, 1789)
Militia Act of 1792
Proclamation of Neutrality (1793)
Washington's Farewell Address (September 17, 1796)
Inaugural Address of John Adams (1797)
Jefferson Letter to the Danbury Baptists | History | Unedited (1802)
Marbury v. Madison (1803)
War of 1812
Treaty of Ghent (1814)
Star-Spangled Banner (1814)
Monroe Doctrine (1823)
The Lyceum Address (1838)
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)
Henry David Thoreau -- On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (1849)
Abraham Lincoln: "House Divided" Speech (1858)
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858)
On Liberty - John Stuart Mill (1860)

War Between the States

Amendments Proposed in Congress by Senator John J. Crittenden (18 December 1860)
South Carolina Declaration of Secession (24 December 1860)
Constitution of the Confederate States of America (1861)
Jefferson Davis, Farewell to Congress (21 January 1861)
Georgia Secession (29 January 1861)
A Declaration of the Causes which Impel the State of Texas to Secede from the Federal Union (2 February 1861)
Jefferson Davis, 1st Innaugural Address (18 February 1861)
Jefferson Davis, 2nd Innaugural Address (22 February 1862)
Gettysburg Address (19 November 1863)
Emancipation Proclamation (22 September 1862)

1865 - Present

Colonel David Crockett -- Not Yours to Give (1884)
William Jennings Bryan -- Cross of Gold (1896)
The Treaty of Versailles (June 28, 1919)
Franklin D. Roosevelt -- 1st Inaugural Address (March 4, 1933)
Charter of the United Nations (June 26, 1945)
International Organizations Immunities Act (December 9, 1945)
United Nations Participation Act (December 20, 1945)
Winston Churchill -- "Iron Curtain" Speech (Mar. 5, 1946)
Participation in UNESCO (July 30, 1946)
Amendment of United Nations Participation Act (October 10, 1949)
North Atlantic Treaty (April 4, 1949)
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
John F. Kennedy -- 1961 Inaugural Address (January 20, 1961)
Martin L. King -- I Have a Dream (Aug. 28, 1963)
Martin L. King -- Letter from Birmingham Jail (Apr. 16, 1963)
Ronald Reagan -- Archive of Speeches
Ronald Reagan -- A Time for Choosing (1964)
Roe v. Wade (1973)
Ronald Reagan -- Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation (1983)
Reagan's Executive Order on Federalism (October 26, 1987)
Contract with America (1994)

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