Landmark reference source covering major themes in American history, with emphasis on African American history, women's history, immigration history, as well as 21st-century issues ranging from terrorism to campaign finance to LGBTQ rights.

Table of Contents

• Contributors
• Reader’s Guide
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part 1: 1619-1831
• John Rolfe’s Letter to Sir Edwyn Sandys about Enslaved Africans
• Mayflower Compact
• Virginia’s Act XII and III
• Jonathan Edwards: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
• Proclamation of 1763
• Quartering Act
• Declaration of Rights of the Stamp Act Congress
• Boston Non-Importation Agreement
• Intolerable Acts
• Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress
• Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or Death” Speech
• Proclamation by the King for Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition
• Common Sense
• Abigail Adams: “Remember the Ladies” Letter to John Adams
• Virginia Declaration of Rights
• Declaration of Independence
• Articles of Confederation
• Treaty of Fort Pitt
• Pennsylvania: An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery
• James Madison’s Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments
• Northwest Ordinance
• Constitution of the United States
• Federalist Papers 10, 14, and 51
• George Washington’s First Inaugural Address
• George Washington’s First Annual Message to Congress
• Jefferson’s and Hamilton’s Opinions on the Constitutionality of the Bank of the United States
• Bill of Rights
• Fugitive Slave Act of 1793
• George Washington’s Farewell Address
• Alien and Sedition Acts
• Thomas Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address
• Thomas Jefferson’s Message to Congress about the Lewis and Clark Expedition
• Marbury v. Madison
• Act to Prohibit the Importation of Slaves
• Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee
• McCulloch v. Maryland
• Missouri Compromise
• Monroe Doctrine
• Gibbons v. Ogden
• Andrew Jackson: On Indian Removal
• William Lloyd Garrison’s First Liberator Editorial
• Part 2: 1832-1898
• Andrew Jackson’s Veto Message regarding the Second Bank of the United States
• South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification and Andrew Jackson’s Proclamation
• Margaret Fuller: Woman in the Nineteenth Century
• Joint Resolution of Congress for the Annexation of Texas
• Seneca Falls Convention Declaration of Sentiments
• Compromise of 1850
• Frederick Douglass’s “Fourth of July” Speech
• Kansas-Nebraska Act
• Dred Scot v. Sandford
• Abraham Lincoln’s “House Divided” Speech
• South Carolina Declaration of Causes of Secession
• Jefferson Davis’s Inaugural Address to the Confederacy
• Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address
• Homestead Act
• Morrill Act
• Emancipation Proclamation
• War Department General Order 143
• Gettysburg Address
• Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
• Articles of Agreement Relating to the Surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia
• Black Code of Mississippi
• Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
• Civil Rights Act of 1866
• Articles of Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
• Treaty of Fort Laramie
• Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
• Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
• Ku Klux Klan Act
• Act Establishing Yellowstone National Park
• Rutherford B. Hayes’s Inaugural Address
• Thomas Edison’s Patent Application for the Incandescent Light Bulb
• Chinese Exclusion Act
• Pendleton Civil Service Act
• T. Thomas Fortune: “The Present Relations of Labor and Capitol”
• Interstate Commerce Act
• Dawes Severalty Act 990
• Andrew Carnegie: “Wealth”
• Sherman Antitrust Act
• Immigration Act of 1891
• Populist Party: Omaha Platform
• Eugene V. Debs s “Liberty” Speech
• Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta Exposition Address
• Plessy v. Ferguson
• William Jennings Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” Speech
• United States v. Wong Kim Ark
• William McKinley’s Message to Congress about Cuban Intervention
• Part 3: 1901-1956
• The Insular Cases: Downes v. Bidwell
• Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
• Niagara Movement Declaration of Principles
• Pure Food and Drug Act
• Muller v. Oregon
• Ida B. Wells: “Lynching: Our National Crime”
• Jane Addams: “Why Women Should Vote”
• Progressive Party Platform
• Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
• Zimmermann Telegram
• Woodrow Wilson: Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War against Germany
• Espionage and Sedition Acts
• Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points
• Hammer v. Dagenhart
• Schenck v. United States
• Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
• Immigration Act of 1924
• Alain Locke: “Enter the New Negro”
• Herbert Hoover’s “Rugged Individualism” Speech
• Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address
• Tennessee Valley Authority Act
• National Industrial Recovery Act
• Social Security Act
• National Labor Relations Act
• Paul S. Taylor: “Again the Covered Wagon”
• Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Campaign Address at Madison Square Garden
• United States v. Curtiss-Wright
• Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms Message to Congress
• Lend-Lease Act
• Executive Order 8802: Banning Discrimination in Government and Defense Industries
• Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Pearl Harbor” Speech
• Executive Order 9066: Internment of Japanese Americans
• Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Order of the Day
• Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill)
• Korematsu v. United States
• George F. Kennan: “Long Telegram”
• Truman Doctrine
• Marshall Plan
• Taft-Hartley Act
• Press Release Announcing U.S. Recognition of Israel
• Executive Order 9981: Desegregation of the Armed Forces
• Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer
• Brown v. Board of Education
• Senate Resolution 301: Censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy
• Southern Manifesto
• Federal-Aid Highway Act
• Part 4: 1957-2019
• Executive Order 10730: Enforcing Desegregation of Little Rock Central High School
• Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Farewell Address
• John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address
• Executive Order 10924: Establishment of the Peace Corps
• John Glenn’s Official Communication with the Command Center
• Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
• John F. Kennedy’s Civil Rights Address
• Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” Speech
• Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
• Griswold v. Connecticut
• Voting Rights Act
• Miranda v. Arizona
• National Organization for Women (NOW) Statement of Purpose
• Loving v. Virginia
• Kerner Commission Report Summary
• Equal Rights Amendment
• Richard Nixon’s Smoking Gun Tape
• Roe v. Wade
• Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
• Ronald Reagan’s “Evil Empire” Speech
• César Chávez’s Commonwealth Address
• Andrew Sullivan: “Here Comes the Groom: A (Conservative) Case for Gay Marriage”
• George H. W. Bush’s Address to Congress on the Persian Gulf Crisis
• Republican Contract with America
• Bill Clinton’s Radio Address on the Welfare Reform Act
• Articles of Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton
• Bush v. Gore
• George W. Bush’s Address to the Nation on September 11, 2001
• USA PATRIOT Act
• Bybee Torture Memo
• Lawrence v. Texas
• Barack Obama’s First Inaugural Address
• Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
• Barack Obama: Remarks on Signing the Affordable Care Act
• Obergefell v. Hodges
• Donald J. Trump’s Inaugural Address
• Articles of Impeachment of Donald J. Trump
• List of Documents by Category