Closer Readings Commentary
50 Core Documents That Tell America's Story
Photo caption
Constitution of the United States
At Ashbrook University , they teach students and teachers about America by using original historical documents. This is their core list of documents that we believe all students and teachers ought to study in order to understand what it means to be an American.
Declaration of Independence | July 4, 1776
Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments by James Madison | June 20, 1785
Virginia Statute for Religious Liberty by Thomas Jefferson | January 16, 1786
Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 (excerpts) by James Madison | 1787
Constitution of the United States | 1787
Brutus I | October 18, 1787
Federalist No. 1 by Publius (Alexander Hamilton) | October 27, 1787
Brutus II by Brutus | November 1, 1787
Federalist No. 10 by Publius (James Madison) | November 22, 1787
Federalist No. 51 by Publius (James Madison) | February 6, 1788
Speech on Amendments to the Constitution by James Madison | June 8, 1789
Letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport by George Washington | August 21, 1790
Adoption of the First Ten Amendments | December 15, 1791
Property by James Madison | March 29, 1792
Farewell Address by George Washington | October 19, 1796
First Inaugural Address by Thomas Jefferson | March 4, 1801
Marbury v. Madison (excerpts) | February 24, 1803
Letter to John Holmes by Thomas Jefferson | April 22, 1820
Monroe Doctrine by James Monroe | December 2, 1823
Letter to Henry Lee (excerpt) by Thomas Jefferson | May 8, 1825
Letter to Roger C. Weightman (excerpt) by Thomas Jefferson | June 24, 1826
The Webster-Hayne Debates (excerpts) by Daniel Webster and Robert Y. Hayne | January 1830
Fort Hill Address (excerpts) by John C. Calhoun | July 26, 1831
Veto Message of the Bill on the Bank of the United States by Andrew Jackson | July 10, 1832
Proclamation Regarding Nullification by Andrew Jackson | December 10, 1832
Speech on the Oregon Bill (excerpts) by John C. Calhoun | June 27, 1848
The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass | July 5, 1852
Speech on the Repeal of the Missouri Compromise by Abraham Lincoln | October 16, 1854
Dred Scott v. Sandford (excerpts) | March 6, 1857
Fragment on the Constitution and Union by Abraham Lincoln | January 1861
“Corner Stone” Speech (excerpt) by Alexander H. Stephens | March 21, 1861
Final Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln | January 1, 1863
Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln | November 19, 1863
Resolution Submitting the Thirteenth Amendment to the States by Abraham Lincoln | February 1, 1865
Second Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln | March 4, 1865
Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln by Frederick Douglass | April 14, 1876
Plessy v. Ferguson (excerpts) | May 18, 1896
Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine by Theodore Roosevelt | December 6, 1904
New Nationalism Speech by Theodore Roosevelt | August 31, 1910
Progressive Party Platform of 1912 | August 7, 1912
Fourteen Points by Woodrow Wilson | January 8, 1918
Speech on the Occasion of the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by Calvin Coolidge | July 5, 1926
Commonwealth Club Address by Franklin D. Roosevelt | September 23, 1932
Speech on the Consequences of the Proposed New Deal (excerpts) by Herbert Hoover | October 31, 1932
State of the Union Address by Franklin D. Roosevelt | January 11, 1944
The Long Telegram by George Kennan | February 22, 1946
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka I and II (excerpts) | May 1954
I Have a Dream Speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. | August 28, 1963
Great Society Speech by Lyndon B. Johnson | May 22, 1964
A Time for Choosing by Ronald Reagan | October 27, 1964