MAJOR DOCUMENTS

COLLECTIONS

• Basic Documents and Writings - U.S. History - links compiled by the Bureau of International Information Programs/U.S. Department of State
• Basic Readings in U.S. Democracy
, publication of the Bureau of International Information Programs/U.S. Department of State, which includes court decisions, legislative acts, and presidential decrees that form the bedrock of American democracy, as well as letters, essays, speeches, and poems that chart the country's search for itself as a democratic society
• Links to Collections of Historical Materials - links compiled by the Bureau of International Information Programs/U.S. Department of State
• The Avalon Project at Yale Law School: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy - The Avalon Project is dedicated to providing access via the World Wide Web to primary source materials in the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government.
• A Chronology of U.S. Historical Documents - College of Law/University of Oklahoma
• AmDocs: Documents for the Study of American History - University of Kansas

DOCUMENTS

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (July 4, 1776)

• The Declaration of Independence - The Charters of Freedom - Exhibit Hall/U.S. National Archives & Records Administration
• Declaring Independence: Drafting the Documents - Online Exhibition/Library of Congress
  • "A Dunlap Broadside," one of only twenty-four known surviving copies of the first printing of the Declaration of Independence, done by John Dunlap in Philadelphia, July 4, 1776"
• The Declaration of Independence - The Charters of Freedom - Exhibit Hall/U.S. National Archives & Records Administration

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES

• The Constitution of the United States - Bureau of International Information Programs/U.S. Department of State
• Analysis and Interpretation - Annotations of cases decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, prepared by the Congressional Research Service/Library of Congress
• The Constitution of the United States - The Charters of Freedom - Exhibit Hall/U.S. National Archives & Records Administration

THE BILL OF RIGHTS

• The Bill of Rights - Bureau of International Information Programs/U.S. Department of State
• The Bill of Rights - The Charters of Freedom - Exhibit Hall/U.S. National Archives & Records Administration

OTHER DOCUMENTS

• The Mayflower Compact (1620) - Bureau of International Information Programs/U.S. Department of State
• The Articles of Confederation - College of Law/University of Oklahoma
• The Paris Peace Treaty of 1783 - College of Law/University of Oklahoma
• The Treaty of Paris (1783) - American Originals II - Exhibit Hall/U.S. National Archives & Records Administration
• The Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863) - Bureau of International Information Programs/U.S. Department of State
• The Emancipation Proclamation - Exhibit Hall/U.S. National Archives & Records Administration

SELECTED SPEECHES

• Famous Speeches - links compiled by the Bureau of International Information Programs/U.S. Department of State
• Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents - Bartleby.com
• The Gettysburg Address (1863) - Bureau of International Information Programs/U.S. Department of State
• The Gettysburg Address - Online Exhibit/Library of Congress
• The Monroe Doctrine (1823) - Bureau of International Information Programs/U.S. Department of State
• "Thus Spoke Chief Seattle: The Story of an Undocumented Speech," by Jerry L. Clark, Prologue, Spring 1985, U.S. National Archives & Records Administration
• "I Have a Dream" - Address delivered at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28, 1963 - The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project at Stanford University (German version)