50 Core Documents That Tell America’s Story

Teaching American History

Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776

Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments by James Madison | June 20, 1785  

Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom by Thomas Jefferson | January 16, 1786  

Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 by James Madison | 1787

Constitution of the United States September 17, 1787

Brutus I by Brutus | October 18, 1787

Federalist No. 1 by Publius (Alexander Hamilton) | October 27, 1787

Brutus II by Brutus | November 1, 1787

Federalist No. 10 by Publius (James Madison) | November 22, 1787

Federalist No. 51 by Publius (James Madison) | February 6, 1788

Speech on Amendments to the Constitution by James Madison | June 8, 1789

Letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport by George Washington | August 21, 1790

Bill of Rights December 15, 1791

“Property” by James Madison | March 29, 1792

Farewell Address by George Washington | September 19, 1796

First Inaugural Address by Thomas Jefferson | March 4, 1801

Marbury v. Madison by Chief Justice Marshall (Opinion of the Court) | February 24, 1803

Letter to John Holmes by Thomas Jefferson | April 22, 1820

Monroe Doctrine by James Monroe | December 2, 1823

Letter to Henry Lee by Thomas Jefferson | May 8, 1825

Letter to Roger C. Weightman by Thomas Jefferson | June 24, 1826

The Webster-Hayne Debates by Daniel Webster and Robert Y. Hayne | January 1830

Fort Hill Address by John C. Calhoun | July 26, 1831

Veto Message of the Bill on the Bank of the United States by Andrew Jackson | July 10, 1832

Proclamation Regarding Nullification by Andrew Jackson | December 10, 1832

Speech on the Oregon Bill by John C. Calhoun | June 27, 1848

“What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” by Frederick Douglass | July 5, 1852

Speech on the Repeal of the Missouri Compromise by Abraham Lincoln | October 16, 1854

Dred Scott v. Sandford by Chief Justice Taney (Opinion of the Court) | March 6, 1857

Fragment on the Constitution and Union by Abraham Lincoln | January 1861

“Corner Stone” Speech by Alexander H. Stephens | March 21, 1861

Final Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln | January 1, 1863

Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln | November 19, 1863

Resolution Submitting the Thirteenth Amendment to the States by Abraham Lincoln | February 1, 1865

Second Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln | March 4, 1865

Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln by Frederick Douglass | April 14, 1876

Plessy v. Ferguson by Justice Brown (Opinion of the Court) | May 18, 1896

Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine by Theodore Roosevelt | December 6, 1904

New Nationalism Speech by Theodore Roosevelt | August 31, 1910

Progressive Party Platform of 1912 August 7, 1912

“Fourteen Points” Message by Woodrow Wilson | January 8, 1918

Speech on the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by Calvin Coolidge | July 5, 1926

Commonwealth Club Address by Franklin D. Roosevelt | September 23, 1932

Speech on the Consequences of the Proposed New Deal by Herbert Hoover | October 31, 1932

1944 State of the Union Address by Franklin D. Roosevelt | January 11, 1944

The Long Telegram by George Kennan | February 22, 1946

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka I and II by Chief Justice Warren (Opinion of the Court) | May 17, 1954

“I Have a Dream” Speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. | August 28, 1963

“Great Society” Speech by Lyndon B. Johnson | May 22, 1964

“A Time for Choosing” by Ronald Reagan | October 27, 1964

Teaching American History

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