A Chronology of US Historical Documents

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Pre-Colonial

To 1600

• The Magna Carta (1215)
• Letter from Christopher Columbus to the King & Queen of Spain (1490's)
• The *Iroquois Constitution

17th Century

1601-1649

• The First, Second, & Third Virginia Charters
• The Mayflower Compact (1620)
• The Charter of Massachusetts Bay (1629)
• The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)

1650-1700

• The Connecticut Colony Charter (1662)
• The First Thanksgiving Proclamation (1676)

18th Century

1701-1774

• The Albany Plan of 1754
• The Resolutions of the Stamp Act (Oct. 19, 1765)

1775-1800

• *Biographies of the *First Ladies & *Presidents of the United States
• Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death by Patrick Henry (March 23, 1775)
• The Declaration of Arms (July 6, 1775)
• Yankee Doodle
• The Virginia Declaration of Rights (June 12, 1776)
• The Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776)
• The Works of Benjamin Franklin
• The Articles of Confederation (Nov. 15, 1777)
• The Treaty of Paris (1783)
• The Federalist Papers
• The Memorial and Remonstrance (June 20, 1785)
• The Annapolis Convention (Sept. 14, 1786)
• Letter of Transmittal of the U.S. Constitution (Sept. 17, 1787)
• The Constitution of the United States. (1787)
• The Northwest Ordinance (July 13, 1787)
• Collection of *Rare &Historical Newspapers
• First Inaugural Address of President George Washington (April 30, 1789)
• The First State of the Union Address (Jan. 8, 1790)
• Second Inaugural Address of President George Washington (Mar. 4, 1793)
• The Proclamation of Neutrality (April 22, 1793)
• The Fugitive Slave Law of 1793
• The Treaty of Greenville (1795)
• Farewell Address of President George Washington (Sept. 17, 1796)
• The *Papers of George Washington
• Inaugural Address of President John Adams (1797)
• The Sedition Act (July 14, 1798)

19th Century

1801-1824

• First Inaugural Address of President Thomas Jefferson (1801)
• Second Inaugural Address of President Thomas Jefferson (1805)
• The *Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress
• *Thomas Jefferson Online Resources at the University of Virginia
• Information on *Monticello
• First Inaugural Address of President James Madison (1809)
• Second Inaugural Address of President James Madison (1813)
• The text of the Star Spangled Banner (Sept. 20, 1814)
• First Inaugural Address of President James Monroe (1817)
• Second Inaugural Address of President James Monroe (1821)
• The Monroe Doctrine (Dec. 2, 1823)

1825-1849

• Inaugural Address of President John Quincy Adams (1825)
• First Inaugural Address of President Andrew Jackson (1829)
• Second Inaugural Address of President Andrew Jackson (1833)
• Inaugural Address of President Martin Van Buren (1837)
• Ralph Waldo Emerson's Concord Hymn (July 4, 1837)
• Inaugural Address of President William Henry Harrison (1841)
• Inaugural Address of President James K. Polk (1845)
• Inaugural Address of President Zachary Taylor (1849)

1850-1874

• Inaugural Address of President Franklin Pierce (1853)
• Inaugural Address of President James Buchanan (1857)
• The Declaration of Causes of seceding states (Winter 1861)
• First Inaugural Address of President *Abraham Lincoln (March 4, 1861)
• The Constitution of the Confederate States of America (March 11, 1861)
• The Battle Hymn of the Republic
• McClellan's Letter to President Lincoln (July 7, 1862)
• The Gettysburg Address (Nov. 19, 1863)
• The Emancipation Proclamation (1864)
• Second Inaugural Address of President Abraham Lincoln (1865)
• *Photographic Time Line of the Civil War
• Letters from an Iowa Soldier during the Civil War
• Civil War Resources on the Web
• Civil War Generals
• Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage by Frederick Douglass (Jan. 1867)
• First Inaugural Address of President Ulysses S. Grant (1869)
• Second Inaugural Address of President Ulysses S. Grant (1873)

1875-1900

• Inaugural Address of President *Rutherford B. Hayes (1877)
• Inaugural Address of President *James Garfield (1881)
• First Inaugural Address of President *Grover Cleveland (1885)
• Inaugural Address of President *Benjamin Harrison (1889)
• Second Inaugural Address of President *Grover Cleveland (1893)
• First Inaugural Address of President *William McKinley (1897)

20th Century

1901-1924

• Second Inaugural Address of President *William McKinley (1901)
• Inaugural Address of President *Theodore Roosevelt (1905)
• Inaugural Address of President *William H. Taft (1909)
• First Inaugural Address of President *Woodrow Wilson (1913)
• Second Inaugural Address of President *Woodrow Wilson (1917)
• The Espionage Act of 1918
• Inaugural Address of President *Warren G. Harding (1921)

1925-1949

• Inaugural Address of President *Calvin Coolidge (1925)
• Inaugural Address of President *Herbert Hoover (1929)
• First Inaugural Address of President *Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933)
• Second Inaugural Address of President *Franklin D. Roosevelt (1937)
• The Neutrality Acts of 1937 & 1939
• Third Inaugural Address of President *Franklin D. Roosevelt (1941)
• The Atlantic Charter (Aug. 14, 1941)
• Roosevelt's Infamy Speech (Dec. 8, 1941)
• The Declaration of War on Japan (Dec. 8, 1941)
• The Declaration of War on Germany (Dec. 11, 1941)
• Fourth Inaugural Address of President *Franklin D. Roosevelt (1945)
• The German Surrender Documents of World War II (May 8, 1945)
• Selected *Manhattan Project documents regarding the use of the bombs. (1945)
• The Japanese Surrender Documents of World War II (Sept. 12, 1945)
• The Truman Doctrine (Mar. 12, 1947)
• Inaugural Address of President *Harry S. Truman (1949)
• The North Atlantic Treaty (Apr. 4, 1949)

1950-1974

• First Inaugural Address of President *Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953)
• Second Inaugural Address of President *Dwight D. Eisenhower (1957)
• Admission of States and Territorial Acquisition *Map
• Maps of *U.S. Battlefields
• Inaugural Address of President *John F. Kennedy (1961)
• Martin Luther King Jr's *I Have A Dream Speech (Aug. 28, 1963)
• Inaugural Address of President *Lyndon B. Johnson (1965)
• State Department White Paper on Vietnam (Feb. 27, 1965)
• Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (1968)
• First Inaugural Address of President *Richard M. Nixon (1969)
• Second Inaugural Address of President *Richard M. Nixon (1973)
• The War Powers Resolution (Nov. 7, 1973)

1975-2000

• Inaugural Address of President *Jimmy Carter (1977)
• First Inaugural Address of President *Ronald Reagan (1981)
• Second Inaugural Address of President *Ronald Reagan (1985)
• Inaugural Address of President *George H. W. Bush (1989)
• The Civil Rights Act of 1991
• First Inaugural Address of President William J. Clinton (1993)
• President William J. Clinton's 1996 State of the Union Address
• Second Inaugural Address of President William J. Clinton (1997)
• President William J. Clinton's 1997 State of the Union Address
• President William J. Clinton's 1998 State of the Union Address

21st Century

2001-Present

• First Inaugural Address of President George W. Bush (2001)
• Address of President Bush to Nation (11 September, 2001)
• President Bush's Remarks at National Day of Prayer and Remembrance (14 September, 2001)
• Address of President Bush to a Joint Session of Congress and the Nation regarding the events of 11 September, 2001 (20 September, 2001)
• Address of President Bush on the start of strikes against Al Qaeda and the Taliban (7 October, 2001)
• President George W. Bush's 2002 State of the Union Address
• President George W. Bush's 2003 State of the Union Address
• President George W. Bush's 2004 State of the Union Address
• Second Inaugural Address of President George W. Bush (2005)
• President George W. Bush's 2005 State of the Union Address
• President George W. Bush's 2006 State of the Union Address
• President George W. Bush's 2007 State of the Union Address