Documents of Freedom
For centuries, humans have attempted to codify the rights, privileges, responsibilities, and freedoms each person has in a society. This Reading Set is a collection of some of the most important documents in this ongoing quest to form “a more perfect union.”
The Second Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. This is the first part of the document. The spelling and grammar is the same as in the original. ———————- In Congress, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States…
The Mayflower Compact was a document written and signed by the Pilgrims as they arrived in the New World in 1620. The group had originally planned to go to the Hudson River area, which was part of the Virginia Colony. Bad weather, however, put them farther north, near the coast of Massachusetts. Since they…
By the President of the United States of America: A Proclamation. WHEREAS, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit: “That…
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, written in 1789, is the core document of the French Revolution, establishing the values and principles of the French democracy. It was influenced by the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, including the Bill of Rights. In fact, key…
Amendment I Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Amendment II A…