Reading

Documents & Speeches

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• Magna Carta, 15 Jun 1215
• Declaration of Abroath, 6 Apr 1320
• First Charter of Virginia, 10 Apr 1606
• Petition of Right, 7 Jun 1628
• Nineteen Propositions, 1 Jun 1642
• Carolina Charter, 24 Mar 1663
• English Bill of Rights, 13 Feb 1688
• Patrick Henry’s Resolutions Against the Stamp Act, 29 May 1765
• Virginia Resolves, 29 May 1765
• Declaration of Rights of the Stamp Act Congress, 19 Oct 1765
• Josiah Quincy The Southern Journal, 7 Mar 1773
• Thomas Jefferson Summary View of the Rights of British America, 1774
• Declaration & Resolves of the First Continental Congress, 14 Oct 1774
• Patrick Henry Illusions of Hope, 23 Mar 1775
• Declaration of the Causes & Necessity of Taking Up Arms, 6 Jul 1775
• Virginia Declaration of Rights, 12 Jun 1776
• First Virginia Constitution, 29 Jun 1776
• Declaration of Independence (w/ Jefferson’s draft notes), 4 Jul 1776
• Thomas Jefferson A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, 18 Jun 1779
• Articles of Confederation, 1 Mar 1781
• Thomas Jefferson Draft of a Constitution for Virginia, Jun 1783
• George Washington Circular to the States, 8 Jun 1783
• Treaty of Paris, 3 Sep 1783
• Thomas Jefferson Report of a Plan of Government for the Western Territory, 1 Mar 1784
• James Madison Vices of the Political System of the United States, Apr 1787
• Harrington to the Freemen of the United States, 30 May 1787
• Alexander Hamilton Plan of Government, 18 Jun 1787
• Northwest Ordnance, 13 Jul 1787
• George Washington Letter to the President of Congress on the Constitution, 17 Sep 1787
• Tench Coxe An American Citizen I-III, 26-29 Sep 1787
• James Wilson in the State House Yard at Philadelphia, 6 Oct 1787
• Federalist Papers 1-85, 27 Oct 1787 – 16 Aug 1788
• Oliver Ellsworth Letters to a Landholder I-XIII, 5 Nov 1787 – 24 Mar 1788
• Roger Sherman Letters of a Countryman I-V, 14 Nov – 20 Dec 1787
• George Washington Letter to Charles Carter on the Constitution, 14 Dec 1787
• George Washington Letter to Charles Carter on the Constitution, 12 Jan 1788
• Tench Coxe A Freeman I-III, 23 Jan – 6 Feb 1788
• Virginia Ratification of the Constitution, 26 Jun 1788
• George Washington Letter to Thomas Jefferson on the Constitution, 31 Aug 1788
• Constitution of the United States, 4 Mar 1789
• George Washington First Inaugural Address, 30 Apr 1789
• George Washington Letter to Gouverneur Morris on Compensation for Slaves, 13 Oct 1789
• George Washington Message to Congress, 8 Jan 1790
• Thomas Jefferson Response to the Citizens of Albermarle, 12 Feb 1790
• George Washington Message to Congress, 8 Dec 1790
• Thomas Jefferson Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank, 15 Feb 1791
• Alexander Hamilton’s Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank, 23 Feb 1791
• Bill of Rights, 15 Dec 1791
• Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, 12 Feb 1793
• George Washington Letter to John Adams on Immigration, 15 Nov 1794
• George Washington Farewell Address, 19 Feb 1796
• Alien & Sedition Acts, 8 Jun – 14 Jul 1798
• Virginia Resolution, 24 Dec 1798
• Kentucky Resolution, 3 Dec 1799
• Thomas Jefferson Letter to John Taylor on Anti-republican New England, 4 Jun 1798
• George Washington Last Will & Testament, 9 Jul 1799
• Thomas Jefferson First Inaugural Address, 4 Mar 1801
• Thomas Jefferson Public Letter to the Danbury Baptists, 1 Jan 1802
• Alexander Hamilton Letter to Gouverneur Morris on the Constitution, 29 Feb 1802
• Thomas Jefferson Letter to John Dickinson on the Louisiana Purchase, 9 Aug 1803
• Thomas Jefferson Second Inaugural Address, 4 Mar 1805
• Thomas Jefferson Letter to John Adams on Artificial Aristocracy, 28 Oct 1813
• Treaty of Ghent, 24 Dec 1814
• Thomas Jefferson Explanations of the Three Volumes Bound in Marbled Paper (Alexander Hamilton’s Schemes), 4 Feb 1818
• James Tallmadge Jr. Speech to Congress on His Amendment, 15 Feb 1819
• Tallmadge Amendment, 13 Feb 1819
• Spencer Roane Rights of the States and of the People No. 4, 22 Jun 1819
• Rufus King Substance of Two Speeches on the Missouri Bill, 22 Nov 1819
• Thomas Jefferson Letter to James Monroe on Rufus King, 3 Mar 1820
• Thomas Jefferson Letter to John Holmes on the Knell of the Union, 22 Apr 1820
• Thomas Jefferson Letter to Marquis de Lafayette on Pretenders to Humanity, 26 Dec 1820
• Compromise of 1820 (Missouri Compromise), 6 Mar 1820
• Thomas Jefferson Letter to John Cartwright on the Rights & Powers of Generations, 5 Jun 1824
• David Crockett Not Yours to Give, 2 Apr 1828
• Tariff of 1828 (Tariff of Abominations), 19 May 1828
• South Carolina Exposition & Protest, 19 Dec 1828
• Andrew Jackson First Inaugural Address, 4 Mar 1829
• Andrew Jackson Message to Congress, 8 Dec 1829
• Andrew Jackson Veto Message Regarding Funding of Infrastructure Development, 27 May 1830
• Henry Clay on the American System, 2-6 Feb 1832
• Andrew Jackson Bank Veto, 10 Jul 1832
• Tariff of 1832, 14 Jul 1832
• South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification, 24 Nov 1832
• Andrew Jackson Nullification Proclamation, 10 Dec 1832
• Andrew Jackson Message Regarding South Carolina Nullification of Federal Legislation, 16 Jan 1833
• John C. Calhoun Against the Force Bill, 15-16 Feb 1833
• John Tyler on the Force Bill, Feb-Mar 1833
• Force Bill of 1833, 2 Mar 1833
• Tariff of 1833 (Compromise Tariff), 2 Mar 1833
• Andrew Jackson Second Inaugural Address, 4 Mar 1833
• South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification (Force Bill), 18 Mar 1833
• Andrew Jackson Farewell Address, 4 Mar 1837
• Abraham Lincoln Lyceum Address, 1838
• John C. Calhoun in Support of the Veto Power, 28 Feb 1842
• John O’Sullivan on Annexation, Jul 1845
• Jefferson Davis on the Oregon Question, 6 Feb 1846
• James Polk War Message to Congress, 11 May 1846
• George Evans Vote Yourself a Farm, 1846
• Wilmot Proviso, 8 Aug 1846
• David Wilmot on his Amendment Restricting Slavery from Territory Hereafter Acquired, 8 Feb 1847
• Abraham Lincoln on the Mexican War, 12 Jan 1848
• Jefferson Davis Letter to M. D. Haynes on the Slavery Question, 18 Aug 1849
• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 2 Feb 1848
• Jefferson Davis on Slavery in the Territories, 13-14 Feb 1850
• Compromise of 1850, 9-20 Sep 1850
• South Carolina Ordinance Declaring Right of Secession, 26 Apr 1852
• Abraham Lincoln Eulogy on Henry Clay, 6 Jul 1852
• Gadsden Purchase Treaty, 30 Dec 1853
• Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, 30 May 1854
• Abraham Lincoln Peoria Speech, 16 Oct 1854
• Charles Sumner on the Crime Against Kansas, 19-20 May 1856
• Abraham Lincoln House Divided Speech, 16 Jun 1858
• Lincoln-Douglas Sixth Debate, 13 Oct 1858
• Abraham Lincoln Cooper Union Address, 27 Feb 1860
• Jefferson Davis on the Relations of States, 7 May 1860
• Robert Toombs’ Speech to the Georgia Legislature, 13 Nov 1860
• Crittenden Compromise, 8 Dec 1860
• Secession Acts of the Thirteen Confederate States, 20 Dec 1860 – 20 Nov 1861
• Abraham Lincoln Letter to Alexander Stephens on Interference with Slavery, 22 Dec 1860
• Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce & Justify the Secession of South Carolina From the Federal Union, 24 Dec 1860
• Declaration of the Causes Which Impel Texas to Seced from the Federal Union, 2 Jan 1861
• Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce & Justify the Secession of Mississippi From the Federal Union, 9 Jan 1861
• Jefferson Davis Farewell to the U.S. Senate, 21 Jan 1861
• Georgia Declaration of the Causes of Secession, 29 Jan 1861
• Jefferson Davis First Inaugural Address, 18 Feb 1861
• Corwin Amendment (Original 13th Amendment), 2 Mar 1861
• Abraham Lincoln First Inaugural Address, 4 Mar 1861
• Constitution of the Confederate States of America, 11 Mar 1861
• Abraham Lincoln Proclamation on State Militia, 15 Apr 1861
• Report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs on the President’s Message Relating to the Affairs Between the Confederate and the United States, 1 May 1861
• Clement Vallandingham on Executive Usurpation, 10 Jul 1861
• James Bayard on Executive Usurpation, 19 Jul 1861
• Jefferson Davis Message to Congress, 18 Nov 1861
• Abraham Lincoln Message to Congress, 3 Dec 1861
• Benjamin Curtis on Executive Power, Oct 1862
• Lot Morrill on the Confiscation of Property, 5 Mar 1862
• Benjamin Wade Traitors & Their Sympathizers, 21 Apr 1862
• Jefferson Davis Second Inaugural Address, 22 Feb 1862
• Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, 22 Sep 1862
• Abraham Lincoln Proclamation Suspending Habeas Corpus, 24 Sep 1862
• Abraham Lincoln Message to Congress, 1 Dec 1862
• John Bingham Shall the Government Surrender to the Rebellion, 14 Jan 1863
• James Wall on the Indemnification Bill, 2 Mar 1863
• Emancipation Proclamation, 1 Jan 1863
• Abraham Lincoln Letter to James Conkling, 26 Aug 1863
• Henry Davis Speech at Philadelphia, 24 Sep 1863
• Abraham Lincoln Gettysburg Address, 19 Nov 1863
• Alexander Long on the Present Condition & Future Prospects of the Country, 8 Apr 1864
• Thaddeus Steven The Rebellious States, 2 May 1864
• Abraham Lincoln Second Inaugural Address, 4 Mar 1865
• Thaddeus Stevens Reconstruction, 7 Sep 1865
• John Bingham One Country, One Constitution and One People, 28 Feb 1866
• John S. Mosby Letter to Dr. Aristides Monteiro on the Cause of the War, 9 Jun 1894
• Gen Stephen D. Lee Address at New Orleans, 25 Apr 1906
• John S. Mosby Letter to Samuel Chapman on the Cause of the War, 4 Jun 1907
• Federal Writers’ Project Slave Narratives, 1936-1938

Books

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• View of the Constitution of the United States by St. George Tucker, 1803
• History of the Rise, Progress & Termination of the American Revolution by Mercy Warren, 1805
• Tyranny Unmasked by John Taylor of Caroline, 1821
• New Views of the Constitution of the United States by John Taylor of Caroline, 1823
• A View of the Constitution of the United States of America by William Rawle, 1825
• Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835
• The American Democrat or Hints on the Social & Civic Relations of the United States of America by James Fenimore Cooper, 1838
• A Brief Enquiry into the True Nature and Character of Our Federal Government by Abel P. Upshur, 1840
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, 1845
• A Disquisition on Government & A Discourse on the Constitution & Government of the the United States by John C. Calhoun, 1851
• Teachings of Patriots & Statesmen or The Founders of the Republic on Slavery by Ezra B. Chase, 1860
• The Causes of the American Civil War by John Lothrop Motley, 1861
• A City Laid Waste The Capture, Sack, & Destruction of the City of Columbia by William Gilmore Simms, 1865
• The Origin of the Late War Traced From the Beginning of the Constitution to the Revolt of the Southern States by George Lunt, 1866
• The American Republic Its Constitution, Tendencies and Destiny by Orestes A. Brown, 1866
• Is Davis a Traitor or Was Secession a Constitutional Right Previous to the War of 1861? by Albert Taylor Bledsoe, 1866
• No Treason by Lysander Spooner, 1867-1870
• Crimes of the Civil War & Curse of the Funding System by Henry Clay Dean, 1868
• A Constitutional View of the Late War Between the States: Its Causes, Character, Conduct and Results, 1868
• American Bastille A History of the Illegal Arrests & Imprisonment of American Citizens During the Late Civil War by John A. Marshall, 1869
• The Campaigns of Gen Robert E. Lee An Address by LtGen Jubal A. Early, 1872
• Narrative of Military Operations, Directed, During the Late War Between the States by Joseph E. Johnston, 1874
• The Prostrate State South Carolina Under Negro Government by James S. Pike, 1874
• Memoirs of General William T. Sherman, 1875
• John Ransom’s Andersonville Diary, 1881
• Destruction & Reconstruction Personal Experiences of the Late War by Richard Taylor, 1879
• Advance & Retreat Personal Experiences in the Unites States & Confederate States Armies by LtGen John B. Hood, 1880
• The Republic of Republics or American Federal Liberty by Bernard J. Sage, 1881
• The Rise & Fall of the Confederate Government by Jefferson Davis, 1881
• Co. Aytch, Maury Grays, First Tennessee Regiment or A Side Show of the Big Show by Sam R. Watkins, 1882
• Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, 1885-1886
• Mosby’s War Reminiscences & Stuart’s Cavalry Campaigns by John S. Mosby, 1887
• Hard Tack & Coffee by John D. Billings, 1887
• Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, 1888
• A Short History of the Confederate States of America by Jefferson Davis, 1890
• War Reminiscences by the Surgeon of Mosby’s Command by Aristides Monteiro, 1890
• From Manassas to Appomattox Memoirs of the Civil War in America by LtGen James Longstreet, 1895
• Up from Slavery An Autobiography by Booker T. Washington, 1901
• The Impeachment & Trial of Andrew Johnson by David Dewitt, 1903
• The Real Lincoln From the Testimony of His Contemporaries by Charles L. C. Minor, 1904
• Recollections & Letters of Gen Robert E. Lee edited by Capt Robert E. Lee, 1904
• Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer by G. Moxley Sorrel, 1905
• Documentary History of Reconstruction Political, Military, Social, Religious, Educational, & Industrial 1865 to the Present Time by Walter L. Fleming, 1906
• Reconstruction Political & Economic 1865-1877 by William A. Dunning, 1907
• Stuart’s Cavalry in the Gettysburg Campaign by John S. Mosby, 1908
• LtGen Jubal A. Early Autobiographical Sketch and Narrative of the War Between the States, 1912
• Lee’s Dispatches Unpublished Letter’s of Gen Robert E. Lee to Jefferson Davis & the War Department of the Confederate States of America 1862-1865 edited by Douglas Southall Freeman, 1915
• The Heritage of the South: A History of the Introduction of Slavery Its Establishment from Colonial Times & Final Effect Upon the Politics of the United States by Jubal A. Early, 1915
• The Creed of the Old South 1865-1915 by Basil L. Gildersleeve, 1915
• The Memoirs of Colonel John S. Mosby, 1917
• The Influence of Magna Carta on American Constitutional Development by H. D. Hazeltine, 1917
• The Declaration of Independence A Study in the History of Political Ideas by Carl Becker, 1922
• I’ll Take My Stand The South & the Agrarian Tradition by Twelve Southerners, 1930
• The Critical Year A Study of Andrew Johnson & Reconstruction by Howard K. Beale, 1930
• Bedford Forrest and His Critter Company by Andrew N. Lytle, 1931
• Robert E. Lee A Biography (4 Vol) by Douglas Southall Freeman, 1934
• Who Owns America? A New Declaration of Independence edited by Herbert Agar & Allen Tate, 1936
• I Rode with Stonewall by Henry Kyd Douglas, 1940
• Lincoln Takes Command by John S. Tilley, 1941
• Lee’s Lieutenants A Study in Command (3 Vol) by Douglas Southall Freeman, 1942
• The Life of Johnny Reb The Common Soldier of the Confederacy by Bell Irvin Wiley, 1943
• The South During Reconstruction by E. Merton Coulter, 1947
• The Coming of the Glory by John S. Tilley, 1949
• The Life of Billy Yank The Common Soldier of the Union by Bell Irvin Wiley, 1951
• Origins of the New South 1877-1913 by C. Vann Woodward, 1951
• American Revolutionaries in the Making: Political Practices in Washington’s Virginia by Charles S. Sydnor, 1952
• The Conservative Mind From Burke to Elliot by Russell Kirk, 1953
• The Strange Career of Jim Crow by C. Vann Woodward, 1955
• The Civil War A Narrative (3 Vol) by Shelby Foote, 1958-1974
• Thaddeus Stevens Scourge of the South by Fawn M. Brodie, 1959
• North of Slavery The Negro in the Free State 1790-1860 by Leon F. Litwack, 1961
• Refugee Life in the Confederacy by Mary E. Massey, 1964
• The Political Economy of Slavery: Studies in the Economy & Society of the Slave South, 1965
• The Era of Reconstruction 1865-1877 by Kenneth M. Stampp, 1965
• The Old Republicans by Norman K Risjord, 1965
• Ideological Origins of the American Revolution by Bernard Bailyn, 1967
• The Radical Republicans Lincoln’s Vanguard for Racial Justice by Hans Trefousse, 1968
• Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil War by Eric Foner, 1970
• A More Perfect Union The Impact of the Civil War & Reconstruction on the Constitution by Harold M Hyman, 1973
• Roll, Jordan, Roll The World the Slaves Made by Eugene D. Genovese, 1974
• Time on the Cross The Economics of American Negro Slavery by Robert W. Fogel & Stanley L. Engerman, 1974
• The Diplomacy of Annexation by David M. Pletcher, 1975
• Government by Judiciary The Transformation of the Fourteenth Amendment by Raoul Berger, 1977
• Mary Chestnut’s Civil War edited by C. Vann Woodward, 1981
• Federalism The Founders’ Design by Raoul Berger, 1987
• Reconstruction America’s Unfinished Revolution 1863-1877 by Eric Foner, 1988
• Albion’s Seed by David Hackett Fischer, 1989
• Abraham Lincoln Speeches & Writings 1832-1865 (2 Vol) edited by Roy P. Basler & Don E. Fehrenbacher, 1989
• Carolina Cavalier The Life & Mind of James Johnston Pettigrew by Clyde Wilson, 1990
• Black Slaveowners Free Black Slave Masters in South Carolina 1790-1860 by Larry Koger, 1990
• Yankee Leviathan The Origins of Central State Authority in America 1859-1877 by Richard Bensel, 1990
• An American Iliad The Story of the Civil War by Charles P. Roland, 1991
• My Heart is So Rebellious The Caldwell Letters 1861-1865 edited by J. Michael Welton, 1991
• The Confederate Constitution of 1861 An Inquiry into American Constitutionalism by Marshall L. DeRosa, 1991
• The Slaveholder’s Dilemma Freedom & Progress in Southern Conservative Thought 1820-1860 by Eugene Genovese, 1992
• Africa & Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World 1400-1800 by John Thornton, 1992
• The Founders & the Classics Greece, Rome, & the American Enlightenment by Carl J. Richard, 1994
• Maryland The South’s First Casualty by Bart Talbert, 1995
• The Hard Hand of War Union Military Policy Toward Southern Civilians 1861-1865 by Mark Grimsley, 1995
• For Cause & Comrades Why Men Fought in the Civil War by James M. McPherson, 1997
• Stonewall of the West Patrick Cleburn & the Civil War by Craig Symonds, 1997
• The Military Memoirs of Gen John Pope edited by Peter Cozzens & Robert I. Girardi, 1998
• American Scripture Making the Declaration of Independence by Pauline Maier, 1998
• To Die in Chicago Confederate Prisoners at Camp Douglas 1862-1865 by George Levy, 1999
• Forced Into Glory Abraham Lincoln’s White Dream by Lerone Bennett Jr., 1999
• Lincoln’s Critics The Copperheads of the North by Frank L. Klement, 1999
• Our Secret Constitution How Lincoln Remade America by George P. Fletcher, 2003
• Complicity How the North Promoted, Prolonged, & Profited from Slavery by Anne Farrow, Joel Lang & Jenifer Frank, 2005
• The Mind of the Master Class History & Faith in the Southern Slaveholder’s Worldview by Eugene & Elizabeth Genovese, 2005
• White Cargo The Forgotten History of Britain’s White Slaves in America by Don Jordan & Michael Walsh, 2007
• Mr. Lincoln Goes to War by William Marvel, 2007
• Lincoln’s Darkest Year The War in 1862 by William Marvel, 2008
• The Years of Anguish Fauquier County, VA 1861-1865 by Emily G. Ramey & John K Gott, 2008
• The Great Task Remaining The Third Year of Lincoln’s War, 2010
• Tarnished Victory Finishing Lincoln’s War, 2011
• Colonization After Emancipation Lincoln & the Movement for Black Resettlement by Phillip W. Magness & Sebastian N. Page, 2011
• Sick from Freedom African-American Illness & Suffering During the Civil War & Reconstruction by Jim Downs, 2012
• Northern Opposition to Mr. Lincoln’s War edited by D. Jonathan White, 2014
• With Malice Toward Some Treason & Loyalty the Civil War Era by William A. Blair, 2014
• The American Revolution Writings from the Pamphlet Debate 1764-1776 (2 Vol) edited by Gordon S. Wood, 2015
• Lincoln’s Autocrat The Life of Edwin Stanton by William Marvel, 2015
• The American Revolution, State Sovereignty, & the American Constitutional Settlement 1765-1800, 2016
• Lincoln & the Politics of Slavery The Other Thirteenth Amendment & the Struggle to Save the Union by Daniel W. Crofts, 2016
• Society of Rebels Diary of Amanda Edmonds edited by Lee Lawrence, 2016
• When the Yankees Come Former South Carolina Slaves Remember Sherman’s March From the Sea by Paul Graham, 2016
• Bust Hell Wide Open The Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest by Samuel W. Mitcham, 2016
• Secession on Trial The Treason Prosecution of Jefferson Davis by Cynthia Nicoletti, 2017
• Era of the Oath Northern Loyalty Tests During the Civil War & Reconstruction by Harold Hyman, 2017
• Lincoln’s Mercenaries Economic Motivation among Union Soliders during the Civil War by William Marvel, 2018
• War Crimes Against Southern Civilians by Walter Brian Cisco, 2021
• African Founders How Enslaved People Expanded American Ideals by David Hackett Fischer, 2022