Primary Documents                                                   

 The Mayflower Compact

The Declaration of Independence

 

U.S. Constitution

 

The Monroe Doctrine

 

The Emancipation Proclamation

 

The Great Seal of the U.S.

 

The Star-Spangled Banner

 

Articles of Confederation (1777)

 

Treaty of Paris (1783)

 

Northwest Ordinance (1787)

 

Federalist Papers, No. 10 & No. 51 (1787–1788)

 

President George Washington's First Inaugural Speech (1789)

 

Bill of Rights (1791)

 

President George Washington's Farewell Address (1796)

 

Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)

 

Louisiana Purchase Treaty (1803)

 

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

 

Treaty of Ghent (1814)

 

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

 

President Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address (1865)

 

Gettysburg Address (1863)

 

Martin Luther King's speeches