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Historical Documents and Speeches |
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Historical Documents and Speeches
American history was built on a chronological record of significant events, each event having a cause and subsequent effect on another event. Historical events are presented in history as being tangible, being tied to a date, or an exact happening. Read important historical documents that helped form our way of governing the people the and events of the United States from c. 1000 up until today in chronological order.
Voyages to the Vinland (c. 1000)
The Magna Carta (1215)
15th Century
A Letter from Christopher Columbus to the King & Queen of Spain (1490's)
Christopher Columbus - Extracts From Journal (1492)
King Ferdinand's Letter to the Taino/Arawak Indians (1492)
Privilidges and Prerogatives Granted to Christopher Columbus (1492)
Amerigo Vespucci's Account of His First Voyage (1493)
John Cabot's Discovery of North America (1497)
16th Century
Franco de los Cobos, Instructions to Conquistadors (1528)
Bartoleme de Las Casas, Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies (1542)
Richard Hakluyt Discourse of Western Planting (1584)
Arthur Barlowe, First Voyage to Virginia (1584)
Charter to Sir Walter Raleigh (1584)
The Colony at Roanoke (1586)
Thomas Hariot, A Report of the New Found Land in Virginia (1588)
17th Century
The Iroquois Constitution (1600's)
Witchcraft Trial Documents (1600's)
Samuel de Champlain, Voyages (1604)
Instructions for the Virginia Colony, (1606)
The First Virginia Charter (1606)
The Settlement of Jamestown by Captain John Smith (1607)
The Second Virginia Charter (1609)
The Third Virginia Charter (1612)
The Mayflower Compact (1620)
William Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation (1620-47)
How The Pilgrims Lived (1621)
An Ordinance and Constitution of the Virginia Company in England (1621)
Captain John Smith, General Historie of Virginia (1624)
The Petition of Right (1628)
The 1629 Charter Of Massachusetts Bay
Father Andrew White's First Impressions of Maryland & Native Inhabitants (1634)
Thomas Morton, Description of the Indians in New England (1637)
The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)
Dutch Minister Describes the Iroquois (1644)
The Maryland Toleration Act, (1649)
The Instrument of Government (1653)
A Healing Question, by Sir Henry Vane (1656)
Virginia Slave Laws (1660's)
Connecticut Colony Charter of 1662
John Elliot's Brief Narrative (1670)
The First Thanksgiving Proclamation (1676)
Charles II's Grant of New England to the Duke of York, 1676 - Exemplified by Queen Anne; 1712
William Penn, Some Account of the Province of Pennsylvania (1681)
The English Bill of Rights (1689)
John Locke's The Second Treatise of Government (1690)
18th Century
An Act Declaring the Negro, Mulatto, and Indian slaves within this dominion, to be real estate (1705)
The North Carolina Biennial Act (1712)
Poor Richard's Almanack (1747)
The Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation (1748)
The 1754 Albany Plan of Union
Gottlieb Mittelberger On the Misfortune of Indentured Servants (1754)
Gen. Braddock's Defeat, by George Washington (1755)
In Opposition to Writs of Assistance (1761)
Governor Glen, The Role of the Indians in the Rivalry Between France, Spain, and England, 1761
Resolutions of the Stamp Act (1765)
Answer of the Massachusetts Assembly to Governor Bernard (1765)
Benjamin Franklin: On the Price of Corn and Management of the Poor (1766)
An Inquiry into the Rights of the British Colonies, Richard Bland (1766)
Samuel Adams - Circular Letter from the Massachusetts House of Representatives to the Speakers of other Houses of Representatives (1768)
Samuel Adams, The Rights of the Colonists (1772)
An Appeal to the Inhabitants of Quebec (1774)
The Articles of Association (1774)
The Charlotte Town Resolves (1775)
Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms (1775)
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death, Patrick Henry (1775)
The War Inevitable, Patrick Henry (1775)
The Olive Branch Petition (1775)
Resolutions and Recommendations of the Continental Congress (1776)
Thomas Paine's Common Sense (1776)
Samuel West, On the Right to Rebel against Governors (1776)
The Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776)
The Constitution of Virginia (1776)
Lee Resolution (1776)
John Adams Letter to Abigail Adams on the Occasion of the Declaration of Independence (1776)
Thomas Jefferson's "Rough Draft" of the Declaration of Independence (1776)
The Declaration of Independence (1776)
Samuel Adams Advocates American Independence (1776)
The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1777)
The New York Constitution (1777)
Treaty of Alliance with France (1778)
Articles of Confederation (1778)
The Essex Result: Believed to be authored by Theophilus Parsons
Newburyport, Massachusetts (1778)
Thomas Jefferson, A Bill Concerning Slaves (1779)
An Act For the Gradual Abolition of Slavery (1780)
A Sermon on the Day of the Commencement of the Constitution (1780)
King George III's Letter on the Loss of America (1780)
Articles of Capitulation - Yorktown (1781)
From the Diary of Ebenezer Denny on the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown (1781)
Letters From An American Farmer, Letter III - What Is An American (1782)
Preliminary Articles of Peace (1782)
Original Design of the Great Seal of the United States (1782)
Contract Between the King and the Thirteen United States of North America, signed at Versailles 1782
The Paris Peace Treaty of 1783
George Washington's Newburgh Address (1783)
Memorial and Remonstrance (1785)
The Annapolis Convention (1786)
Northwest Ordinance (1787)
The Federalist Papers (1787)
The Federalist Papers, No. 10 & No. 51 (1787)
William Davie In The Constitutional Convention (1787)
The Agrippa Letters by James Winthrop (1787)
Speeches Of Charles Pinckney, Abraham Baldwin, And Hugh Williamson In The Constitutional Convention (1787)
Benjamin Franklin's Speech at the Continental Convention (1787)
Letter of Transmittal of the United States Constitution (1787)
The United States Constitution (1787)
James Madison Speech on Amendments to the Constitution (1787)
Alexander Hamilton On the Adoption of the Constitution (1788)
Federal Judiciary Act (1789)
Address of the Senate to George Washington (1789)
Succession to the Office of the President of the United States (1789)
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789)
Benjamin Franklin: An Address to the Public Concerning Slavery (1789)
James Madison's Introduction of the Bill of Rights (1789)
George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation (1789)
Opinion on the Constitutionality of the Residence Bill (1790)
An Act Providing for Holding a Treaty or Treaties to Establish Peace with Certain Indian Tribes (1790)
Daniel Boone Settles Kentucky (1790's)
The First State of the Union Address (1790)
The Bill of Rights (1791)
Thomas Jefferson's Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank (1791)
Opinion on Renouncing Treaties with France (1793)
The Fugitive Slave Law of 1793
The Proclamation of Neutrality (1793)
Benjamin Franklin: Information To Those Who Would Remove To America (1794)
Treaty with the Six Nations (1794)
The Whiskey Rebellion (1794)
Patent for Cotton Gin (1794)
The Treaty of Greenville (1795)
Treaty of San Lorenzo (1795)
Naturalization Act of 1795
The Farewell Address of President George Washington (1796)
The Alien Act - An Act Respecting Alien Enemies (1798)
Venture Smith, Narrative of a Slave's Capture (1798)
The Sedition Act of 1798
Kentucky Resolutions (1798)
John Adams Message to the Senate on the Death of George Washington (1799)
19th Century
The Louisiana Purchase Treaty (1800)
State v. Boon (1801)
Thomas Jefferson's Wall of Separation Letter (1802)
Marbury v. Madison (1803)
Black Laws of Ohio (1804)
An Act to Prohibit the Importation of Slaves (1807)
Chief Tecumseh to Governor Benjamin Harrison at Vincennes (1810)
An Act Declaring War Between The United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland and the Dependencies Thereof and The United States of America (1812)
The Star Spangled Banner - Our National Anthem (1814)
Dolly Madison on the Burning of Washington (1814)
A British Account of the Burning of Washington (1814)
The Treaty of Ghent (1814)
Report of the Hartford Convention (1815)
The Indiana Constitution (1816)
Treaty with Spain (Acquisition of Florida) (1819)
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
The Monroe Doctrine (1823)
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)
President Andrew Jackson's Message to Congress 'On Indian Removal' (1830)
William Lloyd Garrison from The Liberator (1831)
Worcester v. Georgia (1832)
Democracy in America - Alexis de Tocqueville (1835)
Texas Declaration of Independence (1836)
The Fall of the Alamo (1836)
Letter XII - Legal Disabilities of Women (1837)
Andrew Jackson's Farewell Address (1837)
Lincoln's Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois (1838)
John L. O'Sullivan on Manifest Destiny (1839)
Webster-Ashburton Treaty with Great Britain (1842)
Mexican War Message of President Polk (1846)
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)
Treaty with Mexico (1848)
On The Duty of Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau (1849)
The Clay Compromise Measures (1850)
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
Henry Carey Excerpts from: The Slave Trade, Domestic and Foreign (1853)
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
Abraham Lincoln Speech on the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
The Dred Scott Decision (1856)
Abraham Lincoln Speech on the Dred Scott Decision (1856)
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858)
Abraham Lincoln's House Divided Speech (1858)
Freeport Doctrine - Stephen A. Douglas (1858)
John Brown's Speech to the Court at his Trial (1859)
The Death of John Brown (1859)
Abraham Lincoln's Cooper Union Address (1860)
The Crittenden Compromise (1860)
South Carolina Declaration of Succession (1860)
Alexander H. Stephens "Cornerstone" Speech (1861)
The Confederate Constitution (1861)
Inaugural Address of Jefferson Davis (1861)
Telegram Announcing the Surrender of Fort Sumter (1861)
Time Line of The Civil War in Photographs
Morrill Act (1862)
McClellan's Letter to Lincoln on His Evacuation from the Peninsula Campaign (1862)
Homestead Act (1862)
Pacific Railway Act (1862)
War Department General Order 143: Creation of the U.S. Colored Troops (1863)
The Gettysburg Address (1863)
Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (1863)
Proclamation on the Wade-Davis Bill (1864)
The Emancipation Proclamation (1864)
"40 Acres and a Mule" (1865)
Louisiana Black Codes, an Act (1865)
Terms of Lee's Surrender at Appomattox (1865)
Articles of Agreement Relating to the Surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia (1865)
Adjt. and Insp. General's Office, General Orders No. 14 (1865)
Gen. Robert E. Lee's Farewell to His Army (1865)
Abraham Lincoln's Last Speech of April 11, 1865
Proclamation Declaring the end of the Civil War (1865)
Black Codes of Mississippi (1865)
Civil Rights Act of 1866
Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage (1867)
Alaska Purchase Treaty with Russia (1867)
Fort Laramie Treaty with the Sioux Tribe (1868)
Act Establishing Yellowstone National Park (1872)
Susan B. Anthony On Women's Right to Vote (1873)
Ulysses S. Grant: Reasons for Being a Republican (1880)
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
Pace v. State OF Alabama, 106 U.S. 583 (1883)
Pendleton Act (1883)
Theodore Roosevelt: The Duties of American Citizenship (1883)
The Dawes Act (1887)
Interstate-Commerce Act (1887)
Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)
Davis v. Beason (1890)
The Pledge of Allegiance (1892)
The Atlanta Compromise (1895)
Cross of Gold Speech, William Jennings Bryan (1896)
Plessey v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896)
Annexation of the Hawaiian Islands (1898)
Recognition of the Independence of Cuba (1898)
Treaty with Spain (Cession of Porto Rico and the Philippines) (1898)
Theodore Roosevelt: The Strenuous Life (1899)
Daniel Boone's Move to Kentucky, by Theodore Roosevelt
20th Century
Platt Amendment (1903)
Theodore Roosevelt's Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine (1905)
Theodore Roosevelt: On American Motherhood (1905)
Theodore Roosevelt: The Man with the Muck Rake (1906)
New York Sun Describes the San Francisco Earthquake (1906)
Theodore Roosevelt: The New Nationalism (1910)
Woodrow Wilson's Address to Native Americans (1912)
Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of (1916)
The American's Creed (1917)
Woodrow Wilson's War Message (1917)
President Wilson's 14 Points Speech (1918)
The Espionage Act of May 16, 1918
The Indian Citizenship Act (1924)
Calvin Coolidge's Authority and Religious Liberty (1924)
Immigration Act of 1924
The Covenant of the League of Nations (1924)
Calvin Coolidge's The Inspiration of the Declaration of Independence (1926)
Rugged Individualism - Herbert Hoover (1928)
National Industrial Recovery Act (1933)
21st Amendment - Repeal of Prohibition (1933)
Franklin D. Roosevelt's First Fireside Chat (1933)
Apache Nation Constitution (1934)
Grovey v. Townsend, 295 U.S. 45 No. 563. (1935)
National Labor Relations Act (1935)
The Social Security Act of 1935
Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Quarantine" Speech (1937)
Neutrality Act of 1939
Franklin D. Roosevelt's The Arsenal of Democracy (1940)
Atlantic Charter (1941)
Lend Lease Act (1941)
President Roosevelt's Four Freedoms Speech (1941)
Franklin D. Roosevelt's Infamy Speech (1941)
Congressional Declaration of War on Japan (1941)
Congressional Declaration of War on Germany (1941)
Executive Order 9066: Japanese Relocation Order (1942)
Documents Relating to African Americans in the Armed Services (1942)
General Dwight D. Eisenhower's Order of the Day (1944)
Servicemen's Readjustment Act (G. I. Bill) (1944)
The German Surrender Documents of World War II (1945)
The Japanese Surrender Documents of World War II (1945)
The United Nations Charter (1945)
Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" Speech, The Sinews of Peace (1946)
The Truman Doctrine (1947)
The Marshall Plan (1947)
Press Release Announcing U.S. Recognition of Israel (1948)
President Harry S. Truman Executive Order 9981 (1948)
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
The North Atlantic Treaty (1949)
Dwight D. Eisenhower: The Chance for Peace (1953)
Mutual Defense Treaty between the Republic of Korea and the United States (1953)
Senate Resolution 301: Censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy (1954)
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954)
Executive Order 10730 of Desegregation by President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1957)
President Eisenhower: Federal Court Orders Must be Upheld (1957)
Civil Rights Act of 1957
American Foreign Policy and International Law
Executive Order 10924: Establishment of the Peace Corps. (1961)
John F. Kennedy's: The Berlin Crisis (1961)
President Kennedy's Letter to President Diem of Vietnam (1961)
President Kennedy's Address to Congress on Urgent Needs (1961)
General Douglas MacArthur's Farewell Speech (1962)
President Kennedy's Speech at Rice University (1962)
President John F. Kennedy: Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
President Kennedy's Address Before the Irish Parliament (1963)
Test Ban Treaty (1963)
John Kennedy: Civil Rights Message (1963)
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Letter From Birmingham Jail (1963)
Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" (1963)
The Negro As An American (1963)
President Lyndon B. Johnson: Let Us Continue (1963)
Lyndon B. Johnson, Great Society Speech (1964)
The Civil Rights Movement: Fraud, Sham, and Hoax (1964)
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Tonkin Gulf Resolution (1964)
President Lyndon B. Johnson on the Tonkin Gulf Incident (1964)
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance (1964)
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "Our God Is Marching On!" Montgomery, Ala (1965)
Lyndon B. Johnson - We Shall Overcome (1965)
White Paper on Vietnam (1965)
The Miranda Warning (1966)
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "Beyond Vietnam" Address (1967)
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Declaration of Independence from the War in Vietnam (1967)
Fair Housing Act of 1968
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "I've Been to the Mountaintop" (1968)
President Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam Renunciation Speech (1968)
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (1968)
Robert Kennedy's Speech on the Death of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (1968)
Edward Kennedy's Eulogy to Brother Robert F. Kennedy (1968)
Richard Nixon's Vietnamization Speech (1969)
President Nixon: Cambodian Invasion (1970)
Vietnam Veterans Against the War Statement by John Kerry to the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations (1971)
President Nixon's Report on Vietnam (1969)
Letter from President Nixon to President Nguyen Van Thieu of the
Republic of Vietnam (1973)
Richard M. Nixon, Peace With Honor Vietnam War Agreement (1973)
War Powers Resolution (1973)
Roe v. Wade (1973)
Richard Nixon's Resignation (1974)
Age Discrimination Act of 1975
President Ronald Reagan's First State of the Union Address (1982)
Ronald Reagan's Speech to the British House of Commons (1983)
Civil Liberties Act of 1988
President Ronald Reagan's Farewell Address (1989)
Civil Rights Act of 1991
United States Congress's "Contract With America" (1994)
President William Clinton's Oklahoma City Bombing Speech (1995)
21st Century
President's Address to the Nation September 11, 2001
President Bush's Remarks on National Day of Prayer and Remembrance (2001)
President Bush's Address to a Joint Session of Congress September 20th 2001
President Bush's Address to the Nation Announcing First Strikes Against Taliban October 7th 2001
State of the Union Address of George W. Bush (2002)
Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States
Civil Rights Acts - All
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