Primary Sources: America (U.S.A.): Documents

A collection of links to documents important to the study of American History.
Provided by World Wide Web Virtual Library History.

Site sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and Northern Illinois University Libraries.

"Beginning with the Continental Congress in 1774, America's national legislative bodies have kept records of their proceedings. The records of the Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention, and the United States Congress make up a rich documentary history of the construction of the nation and the development of the federal government and its role in the national life. These documents record American history in the words of those who built our government.

Books on the law formed a major part of the holdings of the Library of Congress from its beginning. In 1832, Congress established the Law Library of Congress as a separate department of the Library. It houses one of the most complete collections of U.S. Congressional documents in their original format. In order to make these records more easily accessible to students, scholars, and interested citizens, A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation brings together online the records and acts of Congress from the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention through the 43rd Congress, including the first three volumes of the Congressional Record, 1873-75. "

The American State Papers, comprising a total of thirty-eight physical volumes, contain the legislative and executive documents of Congress during the period 1789 to 1838. The collection includes documents that cover the critical historical gap from 1789 to the printing of the first volume of the U.S. Serial Set in 1817. The books are arranged into ten topical classes or series:
I. Foreign Relations
II. Indian Affairs
III. Finances
IV. Commerce and Navigation
V. Military Affairs
VI. Naval Affairs
VII. Post Office Department
VIII. Public Lands
IX. Claims
X. Miscellaneous

A collection of primary source documents related to American History.

This site from the National Archives provides access to and information about the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the U.S., and the Bill of Rights.

govinfo provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.

"This web-friendly presentation of the original text of the Federalist Papers (also known as The Federalist) was obtained from the e-text archives of Project Gutenberg. Any irregularities with regard to grammar, syntax, spelling, or punctuation are as they exist in the original e-text archives."

"Contains 277 documents relating to the work of Congress and the drafting and ratification of the Constitution. Items include extracts of the journals of Congress, resolutions, proclamations, committee reports, treaties, and early printed versions of the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Most broadsides are one page in length; others range from 1 to 28 pages. A number of these items contain manuscript annotations not recorded elsewhere that offer insight into the delicate process of creating consensus. In many cases, multiple copies bearing manuscript annotations are available to compare and contrast."

"Drawn from the Library’s collections, the presentation that follows gathers the key documents linked to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address."

Primary source documents related to the history of America; provided by the Library of Congress. Covers

• 1763-1815:The American Revolution and the New Nation
• 1815-1860:National Expansion and Reform
• 1860-1877:Civil War and Reconstruction

This website was designed to provide access to what are considered the 100 milestone documents in the history of the United States. The creators behind the site want users "to read these milestone documents, consider their meaning, discuss them, and decide which are the most significant and why." In addition to the documents, the site also provides information for educators, competitions, and related resources. Here are just a few of the 100 documents included: Articles of Confederation, Treaty of Ghent, Emancipation Proclamation, Marshall Plan, Voting Rights Act.

"... an innovative digital editorial project, will change that by making some 55,000 long lost documents of the early War Department available online to scholars, students, and the general public. By providing free and open access to these previously unavailable documents, Papers of the War Department 1784-1800 will offer a unique window into a time when there was no law beyond the Constitution, when the federal government hardly existed outside of the Army and Navy, and when a new nation struggled to define itself at home and abroad." Center for History and new Media

"TeachingAmericanHistory.org is a project of the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University. The Ashbrook Center is an independent, non-partisan non-profit, the mission of which is to restore and strengthen the capacities of the American people for constitutional self-government. To fulfill this mission, Ashbrook offers educational programs for students, teachers, and citizens."