Historic Documents

  • Archiving Early America.  Explores the world of 18th century America through its newspapers, maps, magazines, and   writings. The documents in the "Milestone Events" section present documents "in their original formats as they actually appeared in the 1700's."   Includes The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Also provides portraits and an essay on "How to Read a 200-Year-Old Document."   Contains crossword puzzles to test your knowledge of early American history.
  • The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Excellent!!!  This site is dedicated to providing access via the World Wide Web to primary source materials in the fields of law, history, economics, politics, diplomacy, and government.  The site is focused on documents related to U.S. history.  Items from the pre-18th century include The Code of Hammurabi, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and The Salic Law.
  • Chronology of the United States of America - Historical Text Archive.  Comprehensive links to documents dealing with American history from prior to 1400 to the present. 
  • A Chronology of  U. S. Historical Documents - University of Oklahoma Law Center.  An excellent site!!!   Contains documents from the pre-colonial era through the present.  Highlights include: The Declaration of Independence; the Constitution; the Federalist Papers; the Gettysburg Address; the Emancipation Proclamation; and Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.  Also provides Presidential Inaugural Addresses.   Pictures of historical flags of the United States, current state flags, and flags of  U.S. territories, districts, and possessions are also included.
  • Constitution Finder - University of Richmond.  This site "offers constitutions, charters, amendments, and other related documents."
  • Electronic Documents in History - Tennessee Technological University.  Provides page after page of links to documents on the web, including:  history textbooks and course syllabi; specific historical documents, subjects, or periods; historical images; historical sounds sites; manuscript collections; professional papers; books and journals; copyright issues.
  • Eurodocs:  Primary Historical Documents from Western Europe - Brigham Young University.  The documents in this collection "shed light on key historical happenings within the respective countries (and within the broadest sense of political, economic, social and cultural history)." 
  • Internet Archive of Texts and Documents - Hanover College. Organized by geographic area and by chronological period. Global in scope. 
  • History of Medieval & Renaissance Europe: Primary Documents - Brigham Young University.  Provides documents dealing with: Roman law; Christianity; the early church; the Crusades; St. Francis of Assisi and the Franciscan archives; chivalry; medieval Jewish life; women.   Includes links to other sites which provide medieval and renaissance texts.
  • Nineteenth Century Documents Project - Furman University.  Provides many primary texts from 19th century American history, with emphasis on sectional conflict and transformations in regional identity.  Includes secession era newspaper editorials, the 1850's Statistical Almanac, and the Democratic and Republican party platforms for the election of 1860.