A Chronology of Historical Documents

Pre-Colonial Era / 1601-1649 / 1650-1700 / 1701-1774 / 1775-1800 / 1801-1824 / 1825-1849
1850-1874 / 1875-1900 / 1901-1924 / 1925-1949 / 1950-1974 / 1975-2000 / 2001-Present

Pre-Colonial

• 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)

• 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 of1937 &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 Clinton's 1996 State of the Union Address
  • Second Inaugural Address of President William J. Clinton (1997)
  • President Clinton's 1997 and 1998 State of the Union Addresses

21st Century

• 2001-Present

  • 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

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