Historic Documents – PatriotPost.US.
“It is the duty of every good citizen to use all the opportunities which occur to him, for preserving documents relating to the history of our country.” —Thomas Jefferson, 1823
Founding Documents
- The Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776)
- The Articles of Confederation (November 15, 1777)
- The New Jersey Plan (June 15, 1787)
- Hamilton’s Plan of Union (June 18, 1787)
- Letter Of Transmittal (September 17, 1787)
- The Constitution of the United States of America (September 17, 1787)
- The Federalist Papers (1787-1788)
- Bill of Rights Preamble (1789)
- The First Ten Amendments as Ratified (1789)
- Madison’s Proposal for the Bill of Rights (June 8, 1789)
- The Bill of Rights (December 15, 1791)
- Amendments 11-27 to the Constitution of the United States (February 7, 1795)
- A Note on the Signers of The Declaration of Independence
Foundations of the West (Ancient-1492)
- The Code of Hammurabi (1727-1680 B.C.)
- The Ten Commandments (1447 B.C.)
- The Constitutions of Clarendon (1164)
- The Magna Carta (June 15, 1215)
- The Declaration of Arbroath (1320)
Exploration and the Colonial Era (1492-1765)
- Privileges and Prerogatives Granted by Their Catholic Majesties to Christopher Columbus (1492)
- The Letter of Columbus to Luis De Sant Angel Announcing His Discovery (1493)
- A Letter from Christopher Columbus to the King and Queen of Spain (1494)
- Ninety-Five Theses (October 31, 1517)
- The Augsburg Confession (1530)
- Charter to Sir Walter Raleigh (March 25, 1584)
- The Colony At Roanoke (1586)
- Elizabeth I’s Speech to the Troops at Tilbury (1588)
- Constitution of the Iroquois Nations (Late 16th century)
- The First Virginia Charter (April 10, 1606)
- The Settlement Of Jamestown (1607)
- The Second Virginia Charter (May 23, 1609)
- The Third Virginia Charter (March 12, 1612)
- The Mayflower Compact (1620)
- How The Pilgrims Lived (1621)
- Charter Of Massachusetts Bay (1629)
- The Act of Surrender of the Great Charter of New England to His Majesty (1635)
- Agreement of the Settlers at Exeter in New Hampshire (1639)
- The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (January 14, 1639)
- Fundamental Agreement, or Original Constitution of the Colony of New Haven (June 4, 1639)
- The Articles of Confederation of the United Colonies of New England (May 19, 1643)
- Maryland Toleration Act of 1649 (September 21, 1649)
- Connecticut Colony Charter (1662)
- The First Thanksgiving Proclamation (June 20, 1676)
- English Bill of Rights (1689)
- An Apology for Printers (June 10, 1731)
- Defense of John Peter Zenger (August 4, 1735)
- The Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation (c. 1748)
- Albany Plan of Union (1754)
- Braddock’s Defeat (b July 18, 1755)
- In Opposition to Writs of Assistance (b February 1761)
- The Way to Wealth (1758)
Independence and the Early State (1765-1789)
- Resolutions of the Stamp Act (October 19, 1765)
- Anonymous Account of the Boston Massacre (March 5, 1770)
- Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress (October 14, 1774)
- Yankee Doodle (1775)
- Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death! (March 23, 1775)
- Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms (July 6, 1775)
- Common Sense (1776)
- The Lee Resolution (June 7, 1776)
- Virginia Declaration of Rights (June 12, 1776)
- General Orders (July 2, 1776)
- Samuel Adams Advocates American Independence (August 1, 1776)
- Treaty of Alliance with France (1778)
- George III’s Letter on the Loss of America (c. 1780)
- The Commerce Between Master and Slave (1782)
- Contract Between the King and the Thirteen United States of North America (1782) (July 16, 1782)
- Speech to Officers at Newburgh (1783)
- Treaty of Paris (1783)
- Declarations for Suspension of Arms and Cessation of Hostilities (January 20, 1783)
- Contract Between the King and the Thirteen United States of North America (1783) (February 25, 1783)
- Proclamation Declaring the Cessation of Arms (April 11, 1783)
- Memorial and Remonstrance (June 20, 1785)
- The Religious Freedom Statute (1786)
- The Annapolis Convention (Sept. 14, 1786)
- Northwest Ordinance (1787)
- The Virginia Plan (May 29, 1787)
- The North-west Ordinance (July 13, 1787)
- Closing Speech at the Constitutional Convention (September 17, 1787)
- Letter from the Federal Convention President to the President of Congress, Transmitting the Constitution (September 17, 1787)
- Speech in Defense of the Ratification of the Constitution (June 6, 1788)
- On the Adoption of the Constitution (June 24, 1788)
- Federal Judiciary Act (1789)
- Washington’s First Inaugural Address (April 30, 1789)
Antebellum America (1789-1860)
- First Thanksgiving Proclamation (October 3, 1789)
- Washington’s First State of the Union Address (January 8, 1790)
- Militia Act of 1792 (May 2, 1792)
- The Fugitive Slave Law (1793)
- The Proclamation of Neutrality (April 22, 1793)
- The Treaty of Greenville (August 3, 1795)
- Washington’s Farewell Address (September 17, 1796)
- Inaugural Address of John Adams (Saturday, March 4, 1797)
- Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)
- Daniel Boone Settles Kentucky (c. 1800)
- Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address (March 4, 1801)
- Letter to the Danbury Baptists (January 1, 1802)
- Jefferson’s Secret Message to Congress on the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1803)
- Louisiana Purchase Treaty (1803)
- Marbury v. Madison (1803)
- Tecumseh to Governor Harrison at Vincennes (August 12, 1810)
- Sleep not longer, O Choctaws and Chickasaws (1811)
- War of 1812 (June 18, 1812)
- A British Account of the Burning of Washington (1814)
- Treaty of Ghent (1814)
- The Burning of Washington (August 23, 1814)
- Star Spangled Banner (September 14th, 1814)
- McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
- The Missouri Compromise (1820)
- Address on U.S. Foreign Policy (July 4, 1821)
- How a Log Cabin Was Built (1822)
- The Monroe Doctrine (December 2, 1823)
- Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)
- Jackson’s Message to Congress ‘On Indian Removal’ (1830)
- Second Reply to Hayne (January 26, 1830)
- To The Public (January 1, 1831)
- Proclamation Regarding Nullification (December 10, 1832)
- American Anti-Slavery Society’s Declaration of Sentiments (1833)
- Democracy in America, Volume 1, Part A (1835)
- Democracy in America, Volume I, Part B (1835)
- Message to the Seminoles (February 16, 1835)
- Jackson’s Farewell Address (1837)
- The American Scholar (1837)
- The Concord Hymn (1837)
- The Lyceum Address (January 27, 1838)
- Democracy in America, Volume II, Part A (1840)
- Democracy in America, Volume II, Part B (1840)
- Self Reliance (1841)
- Garnet’s ‘Call to Rebellion’ (1843)
- Memorial to the Massachusetts Legislature (1843)
- Peter Wilson (Waowawanaonk) on The Empire State (May 4, 1847)
- Report No. 12 of the Massachusetts School Board (1848)
- Seneca Falls Declaration (1848)
- Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2, 1848)
- Keynote Address at Seneca Falls (July 19, 1848)
- On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (1849)
- Compromise of 1850 (1850)
- The Underground Railroad (1850)
- The Clay Compromise Measures (March 4, 1850)
- What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? (July 5, 1852)
- Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
- Speech on the Repeal of the Missouri Compromise at Peoria, Illinois (October 16, 1854)
- Massachusetts Personal Liberty Act (1855)
- Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
- “House Divided” Speech (June 16, 1858)
- The Death of John Brown (1859)
- John Brown’s Speech to the Court at his Trial (November 2, 1859)
- The Fall Of The Alamo (1860)
- The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (1860)
- Address at Cooper Institute, New York City (February 27, 1860)
- A Plea for Free Speech in Boston (December 10, 1860)
Secession and War (1860-1865)
- South Carolina Declaration of Secession (December 24, 1860)
- Constitution of the Confederate States of America (1861)
- Declaration of Causes of Seceding States (1861)
- Telegram Announcing the Surrender of Fort Sumter (1861)
- The Battle Hymn of the Republic (1861)
- Farewell Speech to the United States Congress (January 21, 1861)
- Georgia Secession (January 29, 1861)
- A Declaration of the Causes which Impel the State of Texas to Secede from the Federal Union (February 2, 1861)
- Lincoln’s Farewell Address to Springfield (February 11, 1861)
- Jefferson Davis, 1st Innaugural Address (February 18, 1861)
- Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address (March 4, 1861)
- The Homestead Act (1862)
- The Morrill Act (1862)
- The Pacific Railway Act (1862)
- Jefferson Davis, 2nd Innaugural Address (February 22, 1862)
- The Emancipation Proclamation (September 22, 1862)
- War Department General Order 143: Creation of the U.S. Colored Troops (1863)
- The Gettysburg Address (November 19, 1863)
- The Wade-Davis Bill (1864)
- Articles of Agreement Relating to the Surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia (1865)
- Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address (April 10, 1865)
Reconstruction and Westward Expansion (1865-1914)
- Ex parte Milligan (1866)
- Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage (January 1867)
- Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)
- The Great Chicago Fire (October 14, 1871)
- Act Establishing Yellowstone National Park (1872)
- Woman’s Rights to the Suffrage (1873)
- Surrender Speech to the U.S. Army at Bears Paw Battle (October 5, 1877)
- Reasons for Being a Republican (September 28, 1880)
- Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
- Pendleton Act (1883)
- The New Colossus (1883)
- Not Yours to Give (1884)
- Memorial Day Address (May 30, 1884)
- Dawes Act (1887)
- Interstate Commerce Act (1887)
- Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)
- Address to the Atlanta Exposition (September 18, 1895)
- Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
- The People’s [Populist] Party Platform (1896)
- Cross of Gold (July 9, 1896)
- De Lôme Letter (1897)
- Joint Resolution on the Annexation of the Hawaiian Islands (1898)
- The Strenuous Life (April 10, 1899)
- Against Imperialism (August 8, 1900)
- Platt Amendment (1903)
- Theodore Roosevelt’s Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine (December 6, 1904)
- Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address (March 4, 1905)
- On American Motherhood (March 13, 1905)
- The San Francisco Earthquake (April 19, 1906)
- Speech at Harpers Ferry: The Niagara Movement (August 16, 1906)
- Muller v. Oregon (1908)
- Lynching: A National Crime (April 1909)
- The New Nationalism (1910)
The Modern State and Foreign Engagement (1914-1945)
- The Fundamental Principle of a Republic (June 21, 1915)
- Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916 (1916)
- Joint Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War Against Germany (1917)
- The American’s Creed (1917)
- Zimmermann Telegram (1917)
- Address to the Jury (July 9, 1917)
- Free Speech in Wartime (October 6, 1917)
- The Balfour Declaration (November 2, 1917)
- Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points (1918)
- The Espionage Act (May 16, 1918)
- Senate Speech Against the League of Nations (August 12, 1919)
- Boulder Canyon Project Act (1928)
- National Industrial Recovery Act (1933)
- Tennessee Valley Authority Act (1933)
- Franklin D. Roosevelt — 1st Inaugural Address (March 4, 1933)
- National Labor Relations Act (1935)
- Social Security Act (1935)
- ‘We Have Only Just Begun to Fight’ (October 31, 1936)
- Letter from FDR to President of National Federation of Federal Employees (August 16, 1937)
- ‘We Shall Fight on the Beaches’ (June 4, 1940)
- Executive Order 8802: Prohibition of Discrimination in the Defense Industry (1941)
- Lend-Lease Act (1941)
- The Atlantic Charter (1941)
- The Four Freedoms (1941)
- Roosevelt’s Infamy Speech (December 8, 1941)
- Executive Order 9066: Resulting in the Relocation of Japanese (1942)
- General Eisenhower’s Order of the Day (1944)
- Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (G.I. Bill) (1944)
- Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Call to Prayer (June 6, 1944)
- Korematsu v. United States (December 18, 1944)
- Surrender of Germany (1945)
- Surrender of Japan (1945)
- Roosevelt’s Fourth Inaugural Address (January 20, 1945)
- Statement on the Bombing of Hiroshima (August 6, 1945)
- International Organizations Immunities Act (December 9, 1945)
- United Nations Participation Act (December 20, 1945)
Cold War, Cultural Upheaval, and the Reagan Era (1945-1991)
- “Iron Curtain” Speech (March 5, 1946)
- Participation in UNESCO (July 30, 1946)
- Truman Doctrine (1947)
- The Marshall Plan (June 5, 1947)
- Executive Order 9981: Desegregation of the Armed Forces (1948)
- Government Press Release Announcing U.S. Recognition of Israel (1948)
- North Atlantic Treaty (April 4, 1949)
- Amendment of United Nations Participation Act (October 10, 1949)
- ‘Enemies From Within’ Speech at Wheeling, West Virginia (February 9, 1950)
- Recall of General Douglas MacArthur (April 16, 1951)
- Eisenhower’s First Inaugural Address (January 20, 1953)
- Armistice Agreement for the Restoration of the South Korean State (July 27, 1953)
- Senate Resolution 301: Censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy (1954)
- Brown v. Board of Education (May 17, 1954)
- National Interstate and Defense Highways Act (1956)
- Eisenhower’s Second Inaugural Address (January 21, 1957)
- Executive Order 10730: Desegregation of Central High School (September 24, 1957)
- Cooper v. Aaron (Brown II) (1958)
- The Sharon Statement (1960)
- Kennedy’s Address to Southern Baptist Leaders (September 12, 1960)
- Executive Order 10924: Establishment of the Peace Corps (1961)
- President Kennedy Appeals to the Congress for a Tax Cut (1961)
- Eisenhower’s Farewell Address (January 17, 1961)
- John F. Kennedy — 1961 Inaugural Address (January 20, 1961)
- Glenn’s Official Communication with the Command Center (1962)
- MacArthur’s Farewell Speech to West Point (May 12, 1962)
- Statement on the Cuban Missile Crisis (October 22, 1962)
- Test Ban Treaty (1963)
- Letter from Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963)
- I Have a Dream (August 28, 1963)
- Civil Rights Act (1964)
- Goldwater’s Acceptance Speech for the Republican Presidential Nomination (1964)
- Tonkin Gulf Resolution (1964)
- A Time for Choosing (October 27, 1964)
- Voting Rights Act (1965)
- Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
- Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968)
- ‘Vietnamization’ (November 3, 1969)
- Vietnam War Testimony to the House Foreign Relations Committee (April 22, 1971)
- War Powers Resolution (1973)
- Roe v. Wade (January 22, 1973)
- United States v. Nixon (1974)
- Reagan’s Speech to the 1976 Republican National Convention (1976)
- Reagan’s Acceptance Speech to the 1980 Republican National Convention (1980)
- ‘Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!’ (July 17, 1980)
- Reagan’s First Inaugural Address (January 20, 1981)
- Ronald Reagan — Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation (1983)
- The Evil Empire (March 8, 1983)
- Reagan’s Remarks at Pointe du Hoc on the 40th Anniversary of D-Day (June 6, 1984)
- Reagan’s Second Inaugural Address (January 21, 1985)
- Executive Order 12612: Reagan’s Executive Order on Federalism (October 26, 1987)
- Texas v. Johnson (1989)
- Democracy and Foreign Policy (1990)
Contemporary America (1991-Present)
- Statement Announcing Operation Desert Storm (January 16, 1991)
- Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Iran-Contra Investigation (1993)
- Contract With America (1994)
- Statement by the President following the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks (September 11, 2001)
- Remarks at National Day of Prayer and Remembrance (September 13, 2001)
- Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People (September 20, 2001)
- Commencement of Military Strikes Against al Qaeda and the Taliban (October 7, 2001)
Party Platforms
- 1840 Democratic Platform
- 1844 Democratic Platform
- 1848 Democratic Platform
- 1852 Democratic Platform
- 1856 Democratic Platform
- 1856 Republican Platform
- 1860 Democratic Platform
- 1860 Republican Platform
- 1864 Democratic Platform
- 1864 Republican Platform
- 1868 Democratic Platform
- 1868 Republican Platform
- 1872 Democratic Platform
- 1872 Republican Platform
- 1876 Democratic Platform
- 1876 Republican Platform
- 1880 Democratic Platform
- 1880 Republican Platform
- 1884 Democratic Platform
- 1884 Republican Platform
- 1888 Democratic Platform
- 1888 Republican Platform
- 1892 Democratic Platform
- 1892 Republican Platform
- 1896 Democratic Platform
- 1896 Republican Platform
- 1900 Democratic Platform
- 1900 Republican Platform
- 1904 Democratic Platform
- 1904 Republican Platform
- 1908 Democratic Platform
- 1908 Republican Platform
- 1912 Democratic Platform
- 1912 Republican Platform
- 1916 Democratic Platform
- 1916 Republican Platform
- 1920 Democratic Platform
- 1920 Republican Platform
- 1924 Democratic Platform
- 1924 Republican Platform
- 1928 Democratic Platform
- 1928 Republican Platform
- 1932 Democratic Platform
- 1932 Republican Platform
- 1936 Democratic Platform
- 1936 Republican Platform
- 1940 Democratic Platform
- 1940 Republican Platform
- 1944 Democratic Platform
- 1944 Republican Platform
- 1948 Democratic Platform
- 1948 Republican Platform
- 1952 Democratic Platform
- 1952 Republican Platform
- 1956 Democratic Platform
- 1956 Republican Platform
- 1960 Democratic Platform
- 1960 Republican Platform
- 1964 Democratic Platform
- 1964 Republican Platform
- 1968 Democratic Platform
- 1968 Republican Platform
- 1972 Democratic Platform
- 1972 Republican Platform
- 1976 Democratic Platform
- 1976 Republican Platform
- 1980 Democratic Platform
- 1980 Republican Platform
- 1984 Democratic Platform
- 1984 Republican Platform
- 1988 Democratic Platform
- 1988 Republican Platform
- 1992 Democratic Platform
- 1992 Republican Platform
- 1996 Democratic Platform
- 1996 Republican Platform
- 2000 Democratic Platform
- 2000 Republican Platform
- 2004 Democratic Platform
- 2004 Republican Platform
- 2008 Democratic Platform
- 2008 Republican Platform