Primary Sources

Key documents from all important world cultures are included, from the ancient Near East and ancient Egypt to the Greek and Roman Empires, medieval Islam, Renaissance Europe, and modern Africa and Asia. Constitutions, speeches, letters, acts, treaties, and legal cases are all covered. Among the documents included in the set are iconic legal and constitutional documents such as the Code of Hammurabi, Magna Carta, Meiji Constitution, and the Constitutive Act of the African Union; famous treatises such as the Plato’s "Allegory of the Cave," the Communist Manifesto, and Osama bin Laden’s Declaration of Jihad against America; important legislative acts from the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo to the Treaty of Nanjing to the Treaty of Versailles; and cultural and political declarations such as Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, Gandhi’s "Quit India" Speech, and Nelson Mandela’s Inaugural Address.--From publisher description.

Among the documents included in the set are important legislative documents such as the Reconstruction era amendments; critical Supreme Court decisions from Dred Scott v. Sandford to Plessy v. Ferguson to Brown v. Board of Education; and iconic speeches and writings by leaders such as Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary McLeod Bethune, Martin Luther King Jr., Shirley Chisholm, and Barack Obama. Key congressional reports, executive orders, and letters help round out our coverage, providing an invaluable collection of primary documents that is paired with extensive original commentary that helps students understand the documents.

Among the documents included in the set are Revolutionary era standards such as Patrick Henry's "Liberty or Death" speech, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. Important presidential sources include Thomas Jefferson's first inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Franklin Roosevelt's speech following the attack on Pearl Harbor, John F. Kennedy's 1963 address on integration, and George W. Bush's address on September 11, 2001. Influential decisions of the Supreme Court are also included, from Marbury v. Madison to Brown v. Board of Education to Bush v. Gore. Critical documents related to minority rights are also present: Andrew Jackson's message "On Indian Removal," the Seneca Falls Declaration, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, and the Equal Rights Amendment.

Among the documents included in the set are Abraham Lincoln: Gettysburg Address, Emancipation Proclamation, second inaugural address; Sandra Day O’Connor: Bush v. Gore, United States v. Lopez, McConnell v. FEC; Martin Luther King Jr.: “I Have a Dream”, “A Time to Break the Silence” speeches, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail;” Abigail Adams: Letters to John and John Quincy Adams; Ronald Reagan: “A Time for Choosing” speech and “Evil Empire” speech; Thomas Jefferson: Declaration of Independence, Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, first inaugural address.