U.S. Historical Documents

The Mayflower Compact

Agreement for the system of governance to be adopted by the Mayflower pilgrims upon landing in the New World.

Some Fruits of Solitude

by William Penn (HTML at Virginia)

The Declaration of Independence (via the US Congress)

Adopted by the Continental Congress, July 4, 1776. Written by Thomas Jefferson.

The Articles of Confederation (via E-Text)

Precursor to the US Constitution.

Thomas Paine, The American Crisis (via the University of Kansas)

More colonial rabble-rousing by the author of Common Sense

The Constitution of the United States of America (via Cornell University Law School)

Far from a dusty historical text, the constitution is a vital, living document which serves as the highest reference for current U.S. laws.
The musical Preamble to the Constitution from ABC's School House Rock.

Notes on the State of Virginia (via Virginia Tech)

by Thomas Jefferson

See also Documents Regarding Slavery

A guide to historical documents regarding slaveholding in the United States.

The Emancipation Proclamation (via the Library of Congress)

Issued by Abraham Lincoln, made slavery a principal focus of the Civil War.

See also Documents Regarding Slavery

A guide to historical documents regarding slaveholding in the United States.

The Souls of Black Folk (from Project Gutenberg)

by William E. B. Du Bois)

An Address to the Negroes in the State of New-York (from theUniversity ofVirginia)

by Jupiter Hammon

START - STrategic Arms Reduction Treaty (US-USSR, 1994-present)

destruction of nuclear weapons, conditions for verification, force levels

SALT II - Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II (US-USSR 1979-1982)

limitation on types and numbers of nuclear weapons

SALT I - Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (US-USSR 1973-present)

limitation on types and numbers of nuclear weapons

NAFTA - North American Free Trade Agreement

(US-CANADA-MEXICO 1993-present)
reduction of tarrifs and import restrictions for products exchanged between the three signatories

GATT - General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

Principal international treaty regarding global trade issues

The U.S. House of Representatives Internet Law Library
(Treaties and International Law Section)

Large collection of links to treaty texts and related documents.

The Charter of the United Nations

Enabling document which created the United Nations, signed May 1945 in San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House.

NATO Charter

Charter of the principal US-Western European military alliance

Warsaw Pact

Now defunct USSR-Eastern European military alliance

US Historical Documents

The University of Oklahoma Law Center

A Chronology of United States Historical Documents, including all the Presidential inaugural addresses.

Mississippi State University Historical Archives (US Section)

US Collections of Mississippi State's substantial archive of historical documents.

International Historical Documents

Indiana University Law School Archives

indexof international treaties

Mississippi State University Historical Archives

A substantial archive of historical documents from around the world.