United States Seminal Documents
17th Century Texts
Thanksgiving Proclamation (1570L)
http://www.law.ou.edu/ushistory/thanksgiv.shtml
The Constitution of Plymouth Colony (1150L)
http://www.constitution.org/primarysources/plymouth.html
Letter from an indentured servant (1230L)
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/jamestown-browse?id=J1012
Concessions to the province of Pennsylvania (1610L)
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/pa02.asp
Select an excerpt from the Massachusetts Body of Liberties (1810L)
http://history.hanover.edu/texts/masslib.html
18th Century Texts
The Declaration of Indendence (1776) – 1490 Lexile
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/freedom/doi/text.html
Articles of Confederation (1777) – 1840 Lexile
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/articles/
Bill of Rights (1796) 1550 Lexile
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/freedom/bill/
The Adventures of Col. Daniel Boone (autobiography) (1793) 3 chapters -1460/1160/1270 Lexile
http://www.earlyamerica.com/lives/boone/
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1791 – French publication) 14 chapters --1370
Lexile*
*Taken individually, chapters can score lower than this, i.e. ch. 6 is 1150
http://www.earlyamerica.com/lives/franklin/
The Naturalization Act of 1795 – 1780 Lexile
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/naturalization/naturalization_text.
html
The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 (Can be read together or separately)
The Alien Enemies Act – 2180 Lexile
The Sedition Act – 2330 Lexile
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/sedition/
The Whiskey Rebellion –2250 Lexile
George Washington's Proclamation calling out the militia to occupy the Western
counties of Pennsylvania as it appears in the August 11, 1794 issue of Claypoole's Daily
Advertiser
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/whiskey/
A list of additional “milestone” documents available from the following web site:
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/
The Treaty of San Lorenzo (The Pinckney Treaty)
Proclamation of Neutrality
The Treaty of Greenville
Thomas Paine's "Common Sense"
The Non-Importation Agreement
George Washington's Journal
The Louisiana Purchase Treaty
The Newburgh Address
The Declaration of Arms
The Paris Peace Treaty of 1783
Letter of Transmittal of the U.S. Constitution
Declaration of Rights
Jay's Treaty
The Northwest Ordinance
Washington's Farewell Address
19th Century Texts
The Monroe Doctrine
Declaration of Causes of Seceding States
Constitution of the Confederate States of America—use the menu on the left-hand side
of the webpage in order to access each piece of the Constitution. (You may wish to
separate each of the Articles.)
The Emancipation Proclamation 1864
Letters written by Iowa Civil War Soldier, Newton Scott
Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage By Frederick Douglass
VIRGINIA V. WEST VIRGINIA, 78 U. S. 39 (1870)
20th Century Texts
Inaugural Address of Theodore Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt Infamy Speech
Executive Order 9066: The President Authorizes Japanese Relocation
Fourth Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt
Trinity Test, July 16, 1945 - Radiation Monitoring
State of the Union Address of President William J. Clinton, 1996