Please note that many of the following Documents have words spelled as they were at the time they were written.
Early
Time Line of Western Philosophers
Time Line of Western Philosophy
The Code of Hammurabi (2500 BC)
The Republic by Plato (360 BC)
The Oath of Hippocrates (Fifth Century)
The Magna Carta (1215)
Natural Law
Early Church Documents
Pre-Colonial
Letter from Christopher Columbus to King and Queen of Spain (1490’s)
Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)
Martin Luther 95 Theses (1517)
17th Century
The First Virginia Charter (April 10, 1606)
The Second Virginia Charter (May 23, 1609)
The Third Virginia Charter (March 12, 1612)
The Mayflower Compact (1620)
Tulip Mania (around 1624)
Toleration Act (1649)
The First Thanksgiving Proclamation (1676)
The English Bill of Rights (1689)
18th Century
John Locke
Early Congressional Documents (1774-1789)
The Albany Plan of 1754 (1754)
John Adams’ Diary (1756)
Proclamation of 1763
The Sugar Act (1764)
The Resolutions of the Stamp Act (October 19, 1765)
Townshend Acts (1767)
Samuel Adams, The Rights of the Colonists (November 20, 1772)
The Tea Act (1773)
The Declaration of Rights (October 14, 1774)
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death by Patrick Henry (March 23,1775)
The Declaration of Arms (July 6, 1775)
Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation (1775)
Olive Branch Petition (July 8, 1775)
Common Sense by Thomas Paine (1776)
The Wealth of Nations (1776)
The Virginia Declaration of Rights (June 12,1776)
Lee Resolution 1776
The Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776)
The Works of Benjamin Franklin
The Articles of Confederation (November 15,1777)
Treaty of Alliance with France 1778
Sherman Silver Act (1890)
The Newburgh Address (1783)
The Great Seal of the United States 1782
The Paris Peace Treaty (1783)
The Federalist Papers
Memorial and Remonstrance (June 20, 1785)
Land Ordiance (1785)
The United States Constitution (1787)
Virginia Plan (1787)
The Northwest Ordinance (July 13, 1787)
Federalist Papers 10 and 51 (1787-1787)
Three-Fifths Compromise (1787)
The Great Compromise (1787)
The Letter of Transmittal of the United States Constitution (September 17, 1789)
George Washington’s First Inaugural Address (1789)
Federal Judiciary Act (1789)
The Bill of Rights (1791) Amendments 1-27
Militia Act of 1792
The Proclamation of Neutrality (April 22, 1793)
The Fugitive Slave Law of 1793
Jay’s Treaty (1794)
The Whiskey Rebellion (1794)
Patent of the Cotton Gin (1794)
The Treaty of Greenville (1795)
Pinckney’s Treaty (1795)
The Naturalization Act of 1795
Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior by George Washington
George Washington’s Farewell Address 1796
Gracchus Babeuf and the Conspiracy of the Equals 1796
George Washington’s Prayer Journal
More Washington Coming!!
The Alien Act (July 14,1798)
The Sedition Act (July 14,1798)
The Alien and Sedition Act (1798)
The Virginia and Kentucky and Resolves (1798)
19th Century
The Danbury Baptists’ letter to Thomas Jefferson (October 7, 1801)
Thomas Jefferson’s Letter to the Danbury Baptists (January 1, 1802)
The Louisiana Purchase 1803
Marbury v. Madison (1803)
Embargo Act of 1807
Non-Intercourse Act of 1809
Treaty of Ghent (1814)
The Star Spangled Banner (September 20, 1814)
Rush-Bagot Agreement (1817)
Adams-Onís Treaty (1819)
McCullough v. Maryland (1819)
Missouri Compromise (1820)
The Monroe Doctrine (December 2,1823)
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)
Tariff Of Abominations (1828)
Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek (1830)
Andrew Jackson’s Message to Congress (1830)
Indian Removal Act of 1830
South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification (1832)
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)
Declaration of Sentiments (1848)
Communist Manifesto (1848)
Compromise of 1850
Fugitive Slave Act (1850)
Fort Laramie Treaty (1851)
Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
Dred Scott Decision (Dred Scott v Sanford) (1857)
Lincoln Douglas First Debate Ottawa, Illinois August 21, 1858
Lincoln Douglas Second Debate Freeport, Illinois August 27, 1858
Lincoln Douglas Third Debate Jonesboro, Illinois September 15, 1858
Lincoln Douglas Fourth Debate Charleston, Illinois September 18, 1858
Lincoln Douglas Fifth Debate Galesburg, Illinois October 7, 1858
Lincoln Douglas Sixth Debate Quincy, Illinois October 13, 1858
Lincoln Douglas Seventh Debate Alton, Illinois October 15, 1858
Freeport Doctrine (1858)
Telegram Announcing the Surrender of Fort Sumter (1861)
Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address (March 4, 1861)
Constitution of the Confederate States (March 11, 1861)
Homestead Act (1862)
Pacific Railway Act (1862)
Morrill Act (1862)
The Battle Hymn of the Republic
The Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
War Department General Order 143: Creation of the US Colored Troops (1863)
Gettysburg Address (November 19, 1863)
Wade-Davis Bill (1864)
Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address (1865)
Articles of Agreement Regarding the Surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia (1865)
13th Amendment to the US Constitution: Abolition of Slavery (1865)
Treaty of Medicine Lodge (1867)
Reconstruction Act (1867)
Check for the purchase of Alaska (1868)
Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)
14th Amendment to the US Constitution: Civil Rights to Former Slaves (1868)
15th Amendment to the US Constitution: Voting Rights to Former Slaves (1870)
Act Establishing Yellowstone National Park (1872)
General Amnesty Act of 1872
Compromise of 1877
Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1878)
Jim Crow Laws (1877-1960’s)
Thomas Edison Patent Application for the Light Bulb (1880)
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
Pendleton Civil Service Act (1883)
Interstate-Commerce Act (1887)
Dawes General Allotment Act (1887)
Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)
Atlanta Compromise (1895)
Plessy v Ferguson (1896)
Delome Letter (1898)
Joint Resolution to Provide for Annexing the Hawaiian Islands to the United States (1898)
Teller Amendment (1898)
Open Door Policy (1899)
20th Century
Platt Amendment (1903)
Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty (1903)
Hay-Herran Treaty (1903)
Theodore Roosevelt’s Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine (1905)
Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906
16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Federal Income Tax (1913)
17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Direct Election of U.S. Senators (1913)
The Clayton Anti-Trust Act (1914)
Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of (1916)
Selective Service Act of 1917
Zimmermann Telegram (1917)
Joint Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War Against Germany (1917)
The Espionage Act of 1918
President Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points (1918)
The Treaty of Versailles (1919)
The Volstead Act (1919)
19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Women’s Right to Vote (1920)
Boulder Canyon Project Act (1928)
Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act (1930)
Tennessee Valley Authority Act (1933)
National Industrial Recovery Act (1933)
National Labor Relations Act (1935)
Social Security Act (1935)
President Franklin Roosevelt’s Radio Address unveiling the second half of the New Deal (1936)
Helvering vs. Davis- 1937
The Neutrality Acts of 1939
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Infamy Speech (1941)
President Franklin Roosevelt’s Annual Message (Four Freedoms) to Congress (1941)
Lend-Lease Act (1941)
Executive Order 8802: Prohibition of Discrimination in the Defense Industry (1941)
Joint Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War Against Japan (1941)
Executive Order 9066: Japanese Relocation Order (1942)
General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Order of the Day (1944)
Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (1944)
Manhattan Project Notebook (1945)
Surrender of Germany (1945)
United Nations Charter (1945)
Surrender of Japan (1945)
Truman Doctrine (1947)
United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
Marshall Plan (1948)
Press Release Announcing U.S. Recognition of Israel (1948)
Executive Order 9981: Desegregation of the Armed Forces (1948)
North Atlantic Treaty (April 4, 1949)
Armistice Agreement for the Restoration of the South Korean State (1953)
Senate Resolution 301: Censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy (1954)
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
National Interstate and Defense Highways Act (1956)
Executive Order 10924: Establishment of the Peace Corps. (1961)
President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Farewell Address (1961)
President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address (1961)
Inaugural Address of John F. Kennedy (1961)
Transcript of John Glenn’s Official Communication with the Command Center (1962)
Aerial Photograph of Missiles in Cuba (1962)
I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King (August 28, 1963)
Test Ban Treaty (1963)
Official Program for the March on Washington (1963)
Letter from a Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King (April 1963)
Civil Rights Act (1964)
Gulf Of Tonkin Resolution (1964)
Social Security Act Amendments (1965)
Voting Rights Act (1965)
NAFTA (1994)
21th Century
Other