Historic Documents


 

U.S. Historical Documents

 
Declaration of Independence - "...When in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary forone People to dissolve the Political bands which have connected them with another...

Constitution of the United States - "...We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to...

Amendments to the Constitution - Articles in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America...

Gettysburg Address - by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln - "...Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal...

Emancipation Proclamation - by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln - "...That on the 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free...

Articles of Confederation - "...perpetual Union between the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts-bay Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia..."

The Northwest Ordinance - An Ordinance for the government of the Territory of the United States northwest of the River Ohio, (July 13, 1787)

First Thanksgiving Proclamation - "...The Holy God having by a long and Continual Series of his Afflictive dispensations in and by the present Warr with the Heathen Natives of this land...



 

Historical Poems & Songs:

 
My Country, 'Tis of Thee - Samuel Francis Smith (1808-1895) was a Baptist clergyman and poet, as well as writer of many hymns. All but one...

Paul Revere's Ride - by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. "Listen, my children, and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere...

Concord Hymn - by Ralph Waldo Emerson. "By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood And fired the shot heard round the world...



 

Misc. Historical Texts:

 
Washington's Farewell Address - 1796

Civil Disobedience - essay by Henry David Thoreau

Martin Luther King Speech - "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

FDR on Pearl Harbor - Dec. 8, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's message to Congress following Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor

Miranda v. Arizona - Supreme Court Ruling - "right to remain silent... right to an attorney..."

Monroe Doctrine - The Monroe Doctrine was expressed during President Monroe's seventh annual message to Congress, December 2, 1823

 

Non-U.S. Historical Documents

 
The Magna Carta - English charter from 1216 A.D.

French Declaration - "Rights of Man" - "...to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, unalienable, and sacred rights of man..."

Declaration of Israel's Independence - Issued at Tel Aviv on May 14, 1948 (5th of Iyar, 5708)

Aristotle, on Democracy - "...If the people are not utterly degraded, although individually they may be worse judges than those who have special knowledge - as a body they are as good or better..."