| Introduction | | 9 | (1) |
| How to Use This Book | | 10 | (1) |
| | 11 | (1) |
| ``Of the Island of Hispanola,'' in Very Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies (1542) |
| | 12 | (1) |
|
| From an anonymous Aztec chronicler in Fray Bernardino de Sahagun, General History of Things in New Spain (1582) |
| | 13 | (3) |
| The Mayflower Compact (1620) |
| | 16 | (1) |
| Massachusetts School Lams (1642 and 1647) |
| | 17 | (2) |
| Letter to Providence (1655) |
| | 19 | (1) |
|
| Resolution of the Germantown Quakers (1688) |
| | 20 | (2) |
| From The English Bill of Rights (1689) |
| | 22 | (2) |
| Poor Richard's Almanack (1733) |
| | 24 | (2) |
|
| Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress (1765) |
| | 26 | (2) |
| ``Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!'': Speech to the Virginia Convention (1775) |
| | 28 | (2) |
|
| Memorial of the Presbytery of Hanover (1776) |
| | 30 | (1) |
| | 31 | (6) |
|
| The Declaration of Independence (1776) |
| | 37 | (4) |
|
| Letter to John Adams (1776) |
| | 41 | (1) |
|
| Articles of Confederation (1778) |
| | 42 | (9) |
| Notes on the State of Virginia (1785) |
| | 51 | (1) |
|
| ``What is an American?'': Letters from an American Farmer, Letter III (1782) |
| | 52 | (4) |
| J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur |
|
| The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1786) |
| | 56 | (2) |
|
| The Constitution of the United States (1787) |
| | 58 | (22) |
| From The Northwest Ordinance (1787) |
| | 80 | (2) |
| The Federalist, Nos. 1, 10, and 51 (1788) |
| | 82 | (6) |
|
|
| | 88 | (4) |
|
| Letter to Moses Seixas (1790) |
| | 92 | (1) |
|
| Letter to the New Church in Baltimore (1793) |
| | 93 | (1) |
|
| | 94 | (3) |
|
| First Inaugural Address (1801) |
| | 97 | (4) |
|
| Letter to Danbury Baptist Association (1802) |
| | 101 | (1) |
|
| opinion in Marbury v. Madison (1803) |
| | 102 | (2) |
|
| Address to the of the Iroquois Confederacy and Missionary Cram (1805) |
| | 104 | (1) |
|
| Report to Thomas Jefferson (1806) |
| | 105 | (3) |
|
| opinion in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) |
| | 108 | (2) |
|
| The Monroe Doctrine (1823) |
| | 110 | (3) |
|
| From Memorial of the Cherokee Nation (1830) |
| | 113 | (1) |
| The Liberator, vol. 1, no. 1 (1831) |
| | 114 | (2) |
|
| From A North Carolina Lam Forbidding the Teaching of Slaves to Read and Write (1831) |
| | 116 | (1) |
| Proclamation to the People of South Carolina (1832) |
| | 117 | (5) |
|
| Democracy in America (1835) |
| | 122 | (2) |
|
| | 124 | (3) |
|
| Editorial on Manifest Destiny (1845) |
| | 127 | (4) |
|
| 12th Annual Report to the Massachusetts Board of Education (1848) |
| | 131 | (2) |
|
| ``Let Us Consider Man's Superiority'': Address to the Seneca Falls Conference (1848) |
| | 133 | (3) |
|
| From Declaration of Sentiments (1848) |
| | 136 | (2) |
| Civil Disobedience (1849) |
| | 138 | (4) |
|
| ``Proposal to Preserve the Union'': Speech on the Compromise of 1850 (1850) |
| | 142 | (2) |
|
| ``A'n't I a Woman'': Address to the Women's Rights Convention, Akron, Ohio (1851) |
| | 144 | (2) |
|
| Fourth of July Oration (1852) |
| | 146 | (3) |
|
| Opinion in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1852) |
| | 149 | (6) |
|
| `A House Divided': Address to the Illinois Republican Convention (1858) |
| | 155 | (3) |
|
| Debate with Stephen Douglas (1858) |
| | 158 | (3) |
|
| Last Statement to the Court (1859) |
| | 161 | (2) |
|
| From The Homestead Act (1862) |
| | 163 | (1) |
| Gettysburg Address (1863) |
| | 163 | (2) |
|
| Emancipation Proclamation (1863) |
| | 165 | (2) |
|
| Second Inaugural Address (1865) |
| | 167 | (2) |
|
| Letters Setting Terms of Lee's Surrender at Appomattox (1865) |
| | 169 | (1) |
|
|
| Farewell to His Army (1865) |
| | 170 | (1) |
|
| ``Are Women Persons?'': Address after Her Arrest for Illegal Voting (1873) |
| | 171 | (2) |
|
| Preamble to the Constitution of the Knights of Labor (1878) |
| | 173 | (2) |
| Report on the Arid Region of the West (1878) |
| | 175 | (2) |
|
| ``I Will Fight No More Forever'': Speech to the U.S. Army (1877) |
| | 177 | (1) |
| Chief Joseph (Inmutooyahlatlat) |
|
| Address in Washington (1879) |
| | 178 | (2) |
| Chief Joseph (Inmutooyahlatlat) |
|
| Opinion on Yick Wo v. Hopkins, Sheriff, etc. (1886) |
| | 180 | (2) |
|
| | 182 | (3) |
|
| From Preamble to the Platform of the Populist Party (1892) |
| | 185 | (2) |
| The Pledge of Allegiance (1892, revised 1923 and 1954) |
| | 187 | (1) |
| Address at the Atlanta Exposition (1895) |
| | 188 | (4) |
|
| dissenting opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) |
| | 192 | (4) |
|
| | 196 | (2) |
|
| The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine (1904) |
| | 198 | (3) |
|
| From Declaration of the Conservation Conference (1908) |
| | 201 | (2) |
| First Inaugural Address (1913) |
| | 203 | (4) |
|
| | 207 | (4) |
|
| ``The Fourteen Points'': Address to Congress (1918) |
| | 211 | (3) |
|
| ``Rugged Individualism'': Campaign Speech in New York City (1928) |
| | 214 | (5) |
|
| ``The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Fear Itself'': First Inaugural Address (1933) |
| | 219 | (4) |
|
| | 223 | (1) |
|
| dissenting opinion in Minersville School District v. Gobitis (1940) |
| | 223 | (3) |
|
| Message Asking for War against Japan (1941) |
| | 226 | (2) |
|
| Declaration of War on Germany and Italy (1941) |
| | 228 | (1) |
|
| ``The Four Freedoms'': Message to Congress (1941) |
| | 229 | (4) |
|
| Opinion in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943) |
| | 233 | (2) |
|
| ``The Spirit of Liberty'': Address on ``I Am American Day'' (1944) |
| | 235 | (2) |
|
| ``The Truman Doctrine'': Message to Congress (1947) |
| | 237 | (3) |
|
| Statement on the Atomic Bomb (1950) |
| | 240 | (1) |
|
| Declaration of Conscience (1950) |
| | 241 | (4) |
|
| Farewell Address to the American People (1961) |
| | 245 | (4) |
|
| ``Ask Not What Your Country Can Do for You'': Inaugural Address (1961) |
| | 249 | (3) |
|
| ``I Have a Dream'': Address at the March on Washington (1963) |
| | 252 | (5) |
|
| ``Why We Can't Wait'': Letter from Birmingham City Jail (1963) |
| | 257 | (7) |
|
| From the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (1964) |
| | 264 | (1) |
| From the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (1965) |
| | 265 | (2) |
| Opinion in New York Times Co. v. United States (1971) |
| | 267 | (1) |
|
| Speech at Moscow State University (1988) |
| | 268 | (5) |
|
| Presidents of the United States |
| | 273 | (2) |
| Glossary | | 275 | (14) |
| Document Sources | | 289 | (2) |
| Series Index | | 291 | |
