Contains thirty-two full-text primary source documents that helped to shape American society from 1763 to 1823 including the Proclamation of 1763, Treaty of Fort Pitt, the Bill of Rights, the Missouri Compromise, and the Monroe Doctrine.

v. 1. 1763-1823: Editorial and production staff --- Publisher's note -- Advisers and contributors -- Reader's guide -- Introduction -- Teaching with primary source documents -- Teachers' activity guides -- Proclamation of 1763 -- Quartering Act -- Declaration of Rights of the Stamp Act Congress -- Boston non-importation agreement -- Intolerable acts -- Declaration and resolves of the First Continental Congress -- Patrick Henry's "Liberty or death" speech -- Proclamation by the King for suppressing rebellion and sedition -- Common Sense -- Virginia Declaration of Rights -- Declaration of independence -- Articles of Confederation -- Treaty of Fort Pitt -- Pennsylvania : an act for the gradual abolition of slavery -- James Madison's memorial and remonstrance against religious assessments -- Northwest Ordinance -- Constitution of the United States -- Federalist Papers 10, 14, and 51 --- George Washington's first inaugural address -- George Washington's first annual message to Congress -- Jefferson's and Hamilton's opinions on the constitutionality of the Bank of the United States -- Bill of Rights -- George Washington's farewell address -- Alien and sedition acts -- Thomas Jefferson's first inaugural address -- Thomas Jefferson's message to Congress about the Lewis and Clark Expedition -- Marbury v. Madison -- An act to prohibit the importation of slaves -- Martin v. Hunter's Lessee -- McCulloch v. Maryland -- Missouri Compromise -- Monroe Doctrine -- v. 2. 1824-1887: Gibson v. Ogden -- Andrew Jackson : on Indian removal -- William Lloyd Garrison's first Liberator editorial -- Andrew Jackson's veto message regarding the Second Bank of the United States -- South Carolina ordinance of nullification and Andrew Jackson's proclamation regarding nullification -- Joint resolution of Congress for the annexation of Texas -- Seneca Falls Convention Declaration of Sentiments -- Compromise of 1850 -- Frederick Douglass's "Fourth of July" speech -- Kansas-Nebraska Act -- Dred Scott v. Sandford -- Abraham Lincoln's "House divided" speech -- South Carolina Declaration of Causes of Secession -- Jefferson Davis's inaugural address to the Confederacy -- Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address -- Homestead Act -- Morrill Act -- Emancipation Proclamation -- War Department General Order 143 -- Gettysburg Address -- Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address -- Articles of agreement relating to the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia -- Black Code of Mississippi -- Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- Civil Rights Act of 1866 -- Articles of Impeachment of Andrew Johnson -- Treaty of Fort Laramie -- Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- Act establishing Yellowstone National Park -- Rutherford B. Hayes's inaugural address -- Thomas Edison's patent application for the incandescent light bulb -- Chinese Exclusion Act -- Pendleton Civil Service Act -- Interstate Commerce Act -- Dawes Severalty Act -- v. 3. 1888-1955: Sherman Antitrust Act -- Booker T. Washington's Atlanta Exposition address -- Plessy v. Ferguson -- William Jennings Bryan's "Cross of gold" speech -- William McKinley's message to Congress about Cuban intervention -- The insular cases : Downes v. Bidwell -- Niagara Movement Declaration of Principles -- Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine -- Muller v. Oregon -- Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- Zimmermann Telegram -- Woodrow Wilson : joint address to Congress leading to a declaration of War against Germany -- Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points -- Hammer v. Dagenhart -- Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- Franklin D. Roosevelt's first inaugural address -- Tennessee Valley Authority Act -- National Industrial Recovery Act -- National Labor Relations Act -- Social Security Act -- Franklin D. Roosevelt's campaign address at Madison Square Garden -- United States v. Curtiss-Wright -- Franklin D. Roosevelt's Four Freedoms message to Congress -- Lend-Lease Act -- Executive Order 8802 -- Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Pearl Harbor" speech -- Executive Order 9066 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower's order of the day -- Servicemen's Readjustment Act -- Truman Doctrine -- Marshall Plan -- Taft-Hartley Act -- Press release announcing U.S. recognition of Israel -- Executive Order 9981 -- Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer -- Brown v. Board of Education -- Senate Resolution 301 : censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy -- v. 4. 1956-2003: Southern Manifesto -- Federal-Aid Highway Act -- Executive Order 10730 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower's farewell address -- John F. Kennedy's inaugural address -- Executive Order 10924 -- John Glenn's official communication with the Command Center -- Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" -- John F. Kennedy's Civil Rights Address -- Martin Luther King Jr.s "I have a dream" speech -- Civil Rights Act of 1964 -- Gulf of Tonkin Resolution -- Voting Rights Act of 1965 -- Miranda v. Arizona -- Kerner Commission Report summary -- Equal Rights Amendment -- Richard Nixon's smoking gun tape -- Roe v. Wade -- Regents of the University of California v. Blake -- Ronald Reagan's "Evil Empire" speech -- César Chávez's Commonwealth address -- George H.W. Bush's address to Congress on the Persian Gulf Crisis -- Bill Clinton's radio address on the Welfare Reform Act -- Articles of Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton -- Bush v. Gore -- George W. Bush's address to the nation on September 11, 2001 -- Bybee torture memo -- Lawrence v. Texas -- List of documents by category --- Subject index.