Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1789, “Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.” In studying the history of the United States, it is important to go back to primary source material. We have gathered in one convenient location, some of the key documents and speeches that all well-informed citizens of the United States would want to be familiar with.
- Magna Carta 1215
- Columbus Letter Announcing His Discovery 1493
- The Mayflower Compact 1620
- Pennsylvania Charter of Privileges 1701
- Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death Patrick Henry, 1775
- The Declaration of Independence 1776
- Articles of Confederation 1777
- Constitution of the United States ratified 1788
- Bill of Rights and the Later Amendments
- Petition from the Pa. Society for the Abolition of Slavery1790
- To those who keep slaves, and approve the practice Richard Allen 1794
- Washington’s Farewell Address 1796
- The Star Spangled Banner 1814
- The Monroe Doctrine 1823
- Choctaw Chief George W. Harkins to the American People1832
- Lincoln’s House Divided Speech 1858
- Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address 1861
- The Emancipation Proclamation 1863
- Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address 1865
- The Gettysburg Address 1863
- The Pledge of Allegiance 1892
- The American’s Creed 1918
- “Second Bill of Rights” The Economic Bill of Rights, 1944, FDR, excerpted from State of the Union address
- Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You John F. Kennedy, 1961
- I Have a Dream Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963
- The Federalist: A Commentary on the Constitution of the United …
- William Barrett Travis‘ Letter from the Alamo, 1836
To download .pdf of The Federalist Papers click on the link. Wave your mouse/cursor over the “ebook-free” button. A sub-menu pops up. Select EPUB/PDF. Then follow the instructions I have listed directly below:
Copy them. Save them. Print them out. Most of all, read them.
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puts me in the rememberance of an old Star Trek episode.
Kirk and crew found a world devastated by war..the Yangs struggling against the ?… anyway at the end, this tattered freedom fighter brings out a tattered US flag and copy of the declaration of independance, his barely understood speech begins to give a rendition of the pledge of allegiance…and it is finally understood how timeless those freedoms really are…and the awful price paid to defend them against those who would cast them aside
Posts like this is why I love this site so much. Thanks for putting all of this together.
Suggest adding Travis’ letter from the Alamo to the collection
Done.
Any further requests for inclusion?
How about Reagan’s evil empire, tear down the wall speech.
By the way, the Bible was once a lost book. II Kings 22 tells of it being found again.
This list is awesome but incomplete. And it highlights EXACTLY why we need to revamp this site format to make all this information easily accessible. Digging into the archives is a chore unless you know what you’re looking for, what the title wa, and roughly when it was posted.
Darth, you up to this? its a bitch of a job but it has to be done. the library would be a clusterf**k without the Dewey Decimal system, ya know?
You need to add the 45(?) communist goals circa 1963 btw. And Orwell’s Politics and the English Language would be a good addition as well.
The commie goals I will as. I’m not putting books on here. Already did a list of uncertainty books.
the orwell piece isnt a book. on second thought, it isnt in the same league as the stuff above either.
it IS however an overlooked gem
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm
good stuff for HS age kids trying to find their voice learning to write and read critically