Historical Resources

Western Journalism is offering these historical resources to help inform and educate

American Values

• From The Federalist Papers
• The Bill Of Rights
• The Constitution of The United States of America
• The Declaration of Independence
• The Way to Wealth
• What Is an American? From Letter 3

Are Both Tradition And Reason Western?

• Crito
• From The Second Treatise on Government
• Pericles’ Funeral Oration

Cold War, Cultural Upheaval, And The Reagan Era (1945-1991)

• Amendment Of United Nations Participation Act
• Armistice Agreement For The Restoration Of The South Korean State
• Brown v. Board of Education
• Civil Rights Act
• Cooper v. Aaron (Brown II)
• Democracy And Foreign Policy
• Eisenhower’s Farewell Address
• Eisenhower’s First Inaugural Address
• Eisenhower’s Second Inaugural Address
• “Enemies From Within” Speech At Wheeling, West Virginia
• Executive Order 10730: Desegregation of Central High School
• Executive Order 10924: Establishment of the Peace Corps
• Executive Order 12612: Reagan’s Executive Order on Federalism
• Executive Order 9981: Desegregation of the Armed Forces
• Glenn’s Official Communication With the Command Center
• Goldwater’s Acceptance Speech for the Republican Presidential Nomination
• Government Press Release Announcing U.S. Recognition of Israel
• I Have a Dream
• “Iron Curtain” Speech
• John F Kennedy-1961 Inaugural Address
• Kennedy’s Address to Southern Baptist Leaders
• Letter from Birmingham Jail
• MacArthur’s Farewell Speech to West Point
• Miranda v. Arizona
• “Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!”
• National Interstate and Defense Highways Act
• North Atlantic Treaty
• Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
• Participation in UNESCO
• President Kennedy Appeals to the Congress for a Tax Cut
• Reagan’s Acceptance Speech to the 1980 Republican National Convention
• Reagan’s First Inaugural Address
• Reagan’s Remarks at Pointe du Hoc on the 40th Anniversary of D-Day
• Reagan’s Second Inaugural Address
• Reagan’s Speech to the 1976 Republican National Convention
• Recall of General Douglas MacArthur
• Roe v. Wade
• Ronald Reagan–Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation
• Senate Resolution 301: Censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy
• Statement on the Cuban Missile Crisis
• Test Ban Treaty
• Texas v. Johnson
• The Evil Empire
• The Marshall Plan
• The Sharon Statement
• A Time for Choosing
• Tonkin Gulf Resolution
• Truman Doctrine
• United States v. Nixon
• “Vietnamization“
• Vietnam War Testimony to the House Foreign Relations Committee
• Voting Rights Act
• War Powers Resolution

Community and Government Issues

• From The Book of I Samuel- Chapter 8
• Resistance to Civil Government

Contemporary America (1991-Present)

• Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People
• Commencement of Military Strikes Against al Qaeda and the Taliban
• Contract With America
• Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Iran-Contra Investigation
• Remarks at National Day of Prayer and Remembrance
• Statement Announcing Operation Desert Storm
• Statement by the President Following the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks

Early Constitutional Issues

• Declaration of Sentiments
• From A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
• Second Inaugural Address (1864)
• Self-Reliance
• What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July?
• Hume: On The Origin of Justice and Property

Exploration and the Colonial Era (1492-1765)

• A Letter from Christopher Columbus to the King and Queen of Spain
• Agreement of the Settlers at Exeter in New Hampshire
• Albany Plan of Union
• An Apology for Printers
• Braddock’s Defeat
• Charter of Massachusetts Bay
• Charter to Sir Walter Raleigh
• Common Sense-Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession
• Common Sense-Of the Origin and Design of Government in General, with Concise Remarks on the English Constitution
• Connecticut Colony Charter
• Constitution of the Iroquois Nations
• Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Crisis
• Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms
• Defense of John Peter Zenger
• Elizabeth I’s Speech to the Troops at Tilbury
• English Bill of Rights
• Fundamental Agreement, or Original Constitution of the Colony of New Haven
• How the Pilgrims Lived
• In Opposition to Writs of Assistance
• Maryland Toleration Act of 1649
• Ninety-Five Theses
• Privileges and Prerogatives Granted by Their Catholic Majesties to Christopher Columbus
• The Act of Surrender of the Great Charter of New England to His Majesty
• The Articles of Confederation of the United Colonies of New England
• The Augsburg Confession
• The Colony at Roanoke
• The First Thanksgiving Proclamation
• The First Virginia Charter
• The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
• The Letter of Columbus to Luis De Sant Angel Announcing His Discovery
• The Mayflower Compact
• The Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation
• The Second Virginia Charter
• The Settlement of Jamestown
• The Third Virginia Charter
• The Way to Wealth

Foundations of the West

• The Code of Hammurabi
• The Constitutions of Clarendon
• The Declaration of Arbroath
• The Magna Carta
• The Ten Commandments

Founding Documents

• Amendments 11-27 to the Constitution of the United States
• Bill of Rights Preamble
• Hamilton’s Plan of Union
• Letter of Transmittal
• Madison’s Proposal For the Bill of Rights
• The Articles of Confederation
• The Bill of Rights
• The Constitution of the United States of America
• The Declaration of Independence
• The First Ten Amendments as Ratified
• The New Jersey Plan

Independence And The Early State (1765-1789)

• Anonymous Account of the Boston Massacre
• Closing Speech at the Constitutional Convention
• Common Sense- Introduction
• Common Sense-Of the Present Ability of America, With Some Miscellaneous Reflexions 
• Common Sense-Thought on the Present State of American Affairs
• Contract Between the King and the Thirteen United States of America (1782)
• Federal Judiciary Act
• General Orders
• George III’s Letter on the Loss of America
• Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death!
• Letter From The Federal Convention President to the President of Congress, Transmitting the Constitution
• Memorial and Remonstrance
• Northwest Ordinance
• On The Adoption Of The Constitution
• Proclamation Declaring The Cessation of Arms
• Resolutions of the Stamp Act
• Samuel Adams Advocates American Independence
• Speech In Defense of the Ratification of the Constitution
• The Annapolis Convention
• The Commerce Between Master and Slave
• The Lee Resolution
• The Religious Freedom Statute
• Treaty of Alliance with France
• Virginia Declaration of Rights
• Washington’s First Inaugural Address
• Yankee Doodle

Individual Responsibility: Conventional and Heroic?

• From Nichomachean Ethics: Book 1

Making Tradition Rational?

• Bourgeois and Proletarians From The Communist Manifesto
• From Meno
• Principal Rules of  The Method- From Discourse On The Method
• The Allegory Of The Cave

Making Tradition Scientific?

• Posterior Analytics From Organon
• Preface To The Novum Organum
• Proletarians and Communists From The Communist Manifesto

Reconstruction and Westward Expansion (1865-1914)

• Act Establishing Yellowstone National Park
• Address To The Atlanta Exposition
• Against Imperialism
• Appeal To Congress For Impartial Suffrage
• Chinese Exclusion Act
• Cross Of Gold
• Dawes Act
• De Lome Letter
• Ex Parte Milligan
• Interstate Commerce Act
• Joint Resolution on the Annexation of the Hawaiian Islands
• Lynching: A National Crime
• Memorial Day Address
• Mueller v. Oregon
• Not Yours To Give
• On American Motherhood
• Pendleton Act
• Platt Amendment
• Plessy v. Ferguson
• Reasons for Being a Republican
• Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address
• Sherman Anti-Trust Act
• Speech at Harper’s Ferry: The Niagara Movement
• Surrender Speech to the US Army At Bears Paw Battle
• The Great Chicago Fire
• The New Colossus
• The New Nationalism
• The People’s (Populist) Party Platform
• The San Francisco Earthquake
• The Strenuous Life
• Theodore Roosevelt’s Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
• Women’s Rights To The Suffrage

Religious Tolerance

• The Candlemakers’ Petition

Secession and War (1860-1865)

• A Declaration Of The Causes Which Impel The State of Texas To Secede From the Federal Union
• Articles of Agreement Relating To The Surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia
• Constitution of the Confederate States of America
• Declaration of Causes of Seceding States
• Farewell Speech to the United States Congress
• Georgia Secession
• Jefferson Davis, 1st Inaugural Address
• Jefferson Davis, 2nd Inaugural Address
• Lincoln’s Farewell Address to Springfield
• Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address
• Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
• South Carolina’s Declaration of Secession
• Telegram Announcing the Surrender of Fort Sumter
• The Battle Hymn of the Republic
• The Emancipation Proclamation
• The Gettysburg Address
• The Homestead Act
• The Morrill Act
• The Pacific Railway Act
• The Wade-Davis Bill
• Treaty of Fort Laramie
• War Department General Order 143: Creation of the U.S. Colored Troops

The Modern State and Foreign Engagement (1914-1945)

• “We Have Only Just Begun To Fight”
• “We Shall Fight on the Beaches”
• Address To The Jury
• Boulder Canyon Project Act
• Executive Order 8802: Prohibition Of Discrimination in the Defense Industry
• Executive Order 9066: Resulting In the Relocation of Japanese 
• Franklin D. Roosevelt-1st Inaugural Address
• Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Call To Prayer
• Free Speech in Wartime
• General Eisenhower’s Order Of The Day
• International Organizations Immunity Act
• Joint Address To Congress Leading To A Declaration of War Against Germany
• Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916
• Korematsu v. United States
• Land-Lease Act
• Letter From FDR To President Of National Federation of Federal Employees
• National Industrial Recovery Act
• National Labor Relations Act
• Roosevelt’s Fourth Inaugural Address
• Roosevelt’s Infamy Speech
• Senate Speech Against The League of Nations
• Serviceman’s Readjustment Act (G.I. Bill)
• Social Security Act
• Statement On the Bombing of Hiroshima
• Surrender of Germany
• Surrender of Japan
• Tennessee Valley Authority Act
• The American’s Creed
• The Atlantic Charter
• The Balfour Declaration
• The Espionage Act
• The Four Freedoms
• The Fundamental Principle of a Republic
• United Nations Participation Act
• Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points
• Zimmermann Telegram

The Western Dualistic Vision

• Voltaire: On Commerce, Letter X From the Philosophical Letters