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Primary Sources for United States History Documents

SOURCE	DATE	and SIGNIFICANCE
Mayflower Compact	1620	First governing document
Massachusetts Body of Liberties	1641	First legal code
Second Treatise of Government	1690	Society based on natural rights
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom	1786	Source for Bill of Rights
Declaration of Independence	1776	Why we rebelled against Britain
George Washington Farewell Address	1796	Advice about 3 key political ideas
Massachusetts Constitution	1780	Model for the federal Constitution
Northwest Ordinance	1787	Expansion by new states, banned slavery in new states
Magna Carta	1215	King is not above the law; subject to his subjects
English Bill of Rights	1689	Rights of citizens
The Constitution of the USA by section	1787	The supreme law of the land
Federalist No. 10	1787	James Madison's argument for Constitution and against factions
Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments	1848	Women's declaration of independence
Emancipation Proclamation	1863	The slaves are freed in the South
Gettysburg Address	1863	Dedication of the cemetary at the battle that was the turning point of the Civil War
Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address	1865	Approach to Reconstruction; Condemned slavery
House Divided Speech	1858	Lincoln's speech against Dred Scott Decision
The New Colossus	1883	Emma Lazarus's account of immigrants coming to America through New York City
Peace Without Victory Speech	1917	Terms for ending the war without a traditional victory
The New Nationalism Speech	1910	Human welfare supported by a strong federal government
Niagara Movement Declaration of Principles	1905	DuBois' opposition to racial segregation and disenfranchisement
Atlanta Exposition Address	1895	Booker T. Washington addressing racial progress through accommodation
Four Freedoms Speech	1941	Franklin Roosevelt's speech regarding the fundamental freedoms of people everywhere in the world; Freedom of speech; Freedom of religion; Freedom from war; Freedom from fear
The Spirit of Liberty	1944	Learned Hand
Announcement by Truman of the dropping of the atom bomb	1945	"Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima, an important Japanese Army base."
The Truman Doctrine	1947
The Sources of Soviet Conduct	1947	George Kennan
John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address	1961
Letter from Birmingham City Jail	1963	Reverend Martin Luther King
I Have a Dream Speech	1963	Reverend Martin Luther King
Johnson's Voting Rights Speech to Congress	1965	Lyndon Johnson
Nixon Resignation	1974
Reagan's Speech at Moscow State University	1988	Reagan's vision for a free world
George Bush speech after the terrorist bombings of 9-11	2001

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WHO'S WHO or Key People in US History

For more information on key people, use H-BOT, an historical fact finder from George Mason University.

Person	Time Period	Field and Nationality	Key Writing or Achievement	Lasting Impact
King Philip		Native American leader	King Philip's war	Colonists establish an identity separate from the people in England because they win the war. Native Americans begin a long decline due to colonists taking their land
John Rolfe and John Smith
Powhaten		Native American chief in Virginia area
Nataniel Bacon			Bacon's Rebellion
Roger Williams
John Edwards			Great Awakening
John Locke	1632-1704	Philosophy	Second Treatise of Civil Government (1690)	Locke influenced the development of Political Thought in the United States.
Paul Revere
Charles de Secondat Montesquieu	1689-1755	French Philosopher		Influenced the United States Government through the idea of the separation of powers in the government.
Thomas Jefferson	1743-1826	3rd President of the United States	The Declaration of Independence	Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and was elected to be the third President of the United States. He is known as one of the founding fathers of the United States.
Sam Adams	1722-1803	United States statesman		Political Philosopher and Founding Father, he was one of the leaders of the American Revolution
John Adams	1735-1826	2nd President of the United States		Adams was one of the founding fathers of the United States, the second president of the country, a federalist, and one of the main political faces of the American Revolution
John Hancock	1737-1792	United States Politician		Governor of Massachusetts, President of the Continental Congress, and the first man to sign the Declaration of Independence
Ben Franklin	1706-1790	United States founding father		Ben Franklin was a United States Renaissance man of sorts known for his achievements of the realms of politics and sciences.
Thomas Paine
Marquis de Lafayette		French aristocrat who is sympathetic to the USA	participates in the Revolution	Helps France to see its way to come into the Revolution and help the USA win
Lord Cornwallis		British general who surrenders to the US after battle of Yorktown
Alexander Hamilton	1755-1804	member of Continental Congress; one of founding fathers	A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress political pamphlet supporting right of Continental Congress to do trade boycott of Britain Later, he writes most of The Federalist Papers - 85 essays supporting ratification of the Constitution	Fought alongside Washington in Revolutionary War, but resigns from Washington's staff after accused of disrespect. Outspoken against slavery. With friend Madison, he is a strong federalist. First Secty of Treasury under Pres. Washington. Aaron Burr, Hamilton's long-time political rival, lost a bid for NY governor in 1804, blames Hamilton and claims insult; the two duel, Hamilton dies.
James Madison	American Revolution/ Early Republic 1751-1836	4th President of the United States	Known as the Father of the Constitution, Wrote the Bill of Rights, 3rd Pres. of the US 1809-1817	One of the Founding Fathers, known for his achievements with the constitution and being a president
George Washington	American Revolution/ Early Republic 1732-1799	1st President of the United States	Commander and Chief during the Revolution, first president of the US 1789-1797	An American hero, monuments and memorials in his name all over the United States.
Chief Pontiac
Andrew Jackson	1767-1845	7th President of the United States		Jackson and his political allies formed the doctrine of Jacksonian Democracy which strengthened the power of the executive and judicial branches of the federal government over that of the congress establishing the philosophical base for the modern democratic party.
John Marshall	1755-1835	Chief Justice of the United States		During his time on the Supreme Courts in the early days of the United States he confirmed the power of the the federal government over that of the states
Tecumseh
Frederick Douglass	1818-1895	United States Abolitionist		A former slave Douglass was one of the most prominent voices in the fight for abolition and equal rights in history.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton		American woman	women's rights	doctrine of sentiments at Seneca Falls
Susan B. Anthony		American woman	women's rights	Seneca Falls first woman's congress about female rights
Grimke sisters		Quakers	abolitionists
William L. Garrison		American journalist and newspaper editor.	abolitionist
Frederick Douglas		runaway slave	abolitionist
Horace Mann	1796-1859	American Education Reformer	teacher and writer	His philosophy towards education helped to establish the basis for the modern United States public school system
Ralph Waldo Emerson	1803-1882	American Transcendentalist author	"Self Reliance"	Helped to establish the philosophical ideology of transcendentalism which served as a counter to the prevailing philosophical ideology of the time.
Henry David Thoreau	1817-1862	American Transcendentalist	" Walden" and "Civil Disobedience"	Through his works Thoreau became one of the most prominent voices for environmentalism and civil disobedience in history.
Harriet Beecher Stowe	1811-18961799-	American author & abolitionist	Uncle Tom's Cabin 1852	Uncle Tom’s Cabin, like most of Stowe’s novels, is rambling in structure, but rich in pathos and dramatic incident. It is one of the best examples of the so-called sentimental fiction that enjoyed popularity in the United States during the 1800s. Her book definitely influenced people to become anti-slavery.
Dred Scott	1799-1858	United States slave	Dred Scott decision	Scott was a United States slave who unsuccessfully petitioned the supreme court for his freedom when he moved from a slave state to a free state and then back.
Abraham Lincoln	1809-1865	16th President of the United States	Gettysburg Address	Under the command of Abraham Lincoln Union troops won the Civil War and in January of 1865 the 13th Amendment was passed abolishing slavery.
Stephen A. Douglas	1813-1861	Western Part of Illinois	American Politician	He was the Democratic Party nominee for President in 1860 and lost to Abraham Lincoln. Stephen was nicknamed the Little Giant. He was responsible for Compromise of 1850 that settled slavery issues. He reopened slavery question with Kansas-Nebraska Act that allowed people in new territories to have slavery or not. Supported Dred Scott Supreme Court Decision. Douglas believed deeply in democracy.
John Brown	1800-1859	Torrington, Connecticut	White abolitionist	Practiced armed Insurrection. Lead Pottawatomie Massacre in 1856 and Raid at Harpers Ferry in 1859. John was known as the most controversial of all 19th century Americans. He attempted a liberation movement of enslaved African Americans in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in which he failed and was tried for treason and hung.
Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson
Benjamin Davis
William T. Sherman				Total War and the March across Georgia to Savannah
Ulysses Grant				Northern General who wins at Vicksburg and accept surrender of Lee. Later becomes President
Robert E. Lee
Mr. Plessy
Alexander Graham Bell	1847-1922	born in Edinburg, Scotland but migrates to America	Eminent Scientist, Inventor	Invented the telephone. Received first U.S. patent for invention of telephone. Founding member of National Geographic Society. Studied speech and hearing due to his mother and wife being deaf.
Andrew Carnegie	1835-1919	Scottish-American industrialist		businessman, a major philanthropist, and the founder of Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel Company which was later merged with Elbert H. Gary's Federal Steel Company and several smaller companies to create U.S. Steel. Built libraries in many places. Started the Carnegie institute of Technology in Pittsburgh.
Henry Ford				Assembly Line and Ford cars. Mobilizes America
Thomas Edison	1847-1931	American inventor		American inventor most prolifically remembered for inventing the light bulb, phonograph, and motion picture camera
J. P. Morgan	1837-1913	American financier		Morgan was an American financier who helped to transform American business into the leading world power during the progressive era
John Rockefeller	1839-1937	First US Billionaire, first major philanthropists, owner of Standard Oil		first major philanthropists in US Organized the Standard Oil Company owned 3/4ths oil in US supreme court found Standard Oil to be in violation of anti trust laws and broke it up into individual firms. Founded University of Chicago. Founded Rockefeller institute for Medical Research.
Cornelius Vanderbilt	1794-1877	American entrepreneur		Vanderbilt is most remembered for his railroad empire that helped connect the far reaches of the United States geographically, economically, politically, and culturally.
Samuel Gompers	1850-1924	American Union Leader	American Federation of Labor	With the founding of the AFL Gompers established the modern day union which since has helped to establish fair pay and working conditions of workers from all walks of life.
Eugene Debs	1855-1926	American Union Leader		Founding member of both the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World he would become one of the United States most prominent socialists and a candidate for the United States Presidency and a member of the Democratic Party and the Socialist Party
Theodore Roosevelt	1858-1919	26th President of the United States		Rough Rider, Progressive,
William Howard Taft	1857-1930	27th President of the United States
Woodrow Wilson	1856-1924	28th President of the United States
Jane Addams	1860-1935	Social Reformer and Mother of social work	Hull House	First Nobel prize to an American woman 1931
William Jennings Bryan
John Dewey
Robert La Follette
Upton Sinclair		American writer, journalist and muckraker	wrote "The Jungle"	His work led to the establishment of the FDA and clean up of the meat industry
Ida Tarbell	1857-1944	American Journalist	The History of the Standard Oil Co.	19 part muck racking series that exposed the unethical strategies Rockerfeller employed that were responsible for Standard Oil sources, and its damaging effect in private oil manufactures in PA.
Carrie Chapman Catt
W.E.B. Du Bois	1868-1963	African-American Activist	Founding member of the NAACP	Played a key role is reshaping black and white relations in America.
Marcus Garvey
Alice Paul
Booker T. Washington
Sacco
Vanzetti
Charles Darwin		British Writer	Theory of Evolution	Evolution theory changed the way men viewed themselves, society, religion, responsibilities,
John Maynard Keynes			Economics
Ludwig von Mises
Friedrich von Hayek
Milton Friedman
Herbert Hoover		31st President of the United States
Franklin D. Roosevelt	1882-1945	32nd President of the United States
Eleanor Roosevelt	1884-1962	First Lady of the United States. Married to FDR	Wrote the syndicated column "My Day." Contributed to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).	Was involved with the League of Women Voters. Worked for the causes of women, African Americans, the poor, the unemployed, and the youth. Became a US delegate to the United Nations. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eleanor/
Huey Long
Charles Coughlin
Harry Truman	1884-1972	33rd President of the United States
Dwight Eisenhower	1890-1969	34th President of the United States
John F. Kennedy	1917-1963	35th President of the United States
Lyndon Johnson	1908-1973	36th President of the United States
Richard Nixon	1913-1994	37th President of the United States
Ronald Reagan	1911-2004	40th President of the United States
Whittaker Chambers	1901-1961	Spy for Communist Russia	Perjury and espionage of Alger Hiss	Pro-Communist who betrayed US
Alger Hiss	1904-1996	US lawyer, businessman. writer		Was secretly a communist while in federal service.
Edgar Hoover	1895-1972	First director of FBI		Founded FBI and remained director of the program for 48 years
Senator Joseph McCarthy			Red Scare II
Julius Rosenberg
Ethel Rosenberg
Robert Kennedy
Martin Luther King			"I have a dream"
Thurgood Marshall
Earl Warren
Rachel Carson		American scientist and environmentalist
Rosa Parks	1913-2005 (known for her actions in the 1950s-60s)	pioneer of the civil rights movement		In December of 1955, this seamstress in Alabama was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white passenger. Her actions sparked bus boycotts all over the south and the protests that would continue throughout the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.
Malcolm X
Betty Friedan
Gloria Steinem
Cesar Chavez
Bill Clinton	1946-present	42nd President of the United States
George W. Bush	1946-present	43rd President of the United States
Al Gore	1948-present	Vice President to Bill Clinton. 2000 Presidential nominee.	An Inconvenient Truth (2006)	Al Gore was the Democratic nominee in the controversial 2000 Presidential election. The election was ultimately decided for the Republican nominee George W. Bush in the Supreme Court case Gore v. Bush (2000). In 2007 Al Gore won an honorary international Emmy for his documentary An Inconvenient Truth.