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The History of America's Historical Documents
United States Historical Documents
In April of 1775, Paul Revere made his famous ride to warn that King George had sent troops to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams. Armed colonists met the British soldiers, and the American Revolution began.
A committee of five men were appointed to draft the Declaration of Independence: Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and Robert R. Livingston of New York. Thomas Jefferson did most of the actual writing. He worked on the declaration during the last two weeks of June in 1776. Benjamin Franklin made a few minor changes to the document.
On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress took a vote and accepted the resolution that the "United Colonies are, and right ought to be, free and independent States." Two days later, the Declaration of Independence was formally adopted. The next year, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation. This document called for a loose group of separate states without any central government. The Articles of Confederation worked fine during the war with England. But when the war came to an end, the various states began to fight among themselves. The Founding Fathers --George Washington, Ben Franklin, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and others--decided to draw up a new document that would be stronger and more effective than the Articles of Confederation. This new document was the --a big collection of rules. It was written during the Constitutional Convention in 1787 but it didn't go into effect until 1789. The first ten Amendments to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, was added in 1791.
The wonder of the internet provides us with quick easy access to many primary source historical documents. Not only can you read the full text, but you can also see images of the original documents.
An American Heritage
Introduction Nations come into being in many ways. Military rebellion, civil strife, acts of heroism, acts of treachery, a thousand greater and lesser clashes between defenders of the old order and supporters of the new--all these occurrences and more have marked the emergences of new nations, large and small. The birth of our own nation included them all. That birth was unique, not only in the immensity of its later impact on the course of world history and the growth of democracy, but also because so many of the threads in our national history run back through time to come together in one place, in one time, and in one document: the Declaration of Independence. Original content from http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/declaration/dechist.html
Introduction
Moving Toward Independence
The Committee of Five
The Engrossed Declaration
Parchment and Ink
Early Travels, 1776-1814
Washington, 1814-1876
The Centennial and the Debate Over Preservation, 1876-1921
The Library of Congress . . . and Fort Knox, 1921-1952
The National Archives, 1952 to the Present
Appendix A
Appendix B
For Further Reading:
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Document Timeline
