GREAT DOCUMENTS IN AMERICAN HISTORY

“Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” Speech - Known as the “Orator of the Revolution,” Patrick Henry is most famous for his speech during the American Revolution.  Leading the patriots throughout the late 18^th century, Henry’s many speeches concerned the concept of liberty, which is may be seen from his address, “Give Me Liberty of Give Me Death” given during the Virginia Convention in 1788.

Common Sense - In 1776, Thomas Paine released the pamphlet titled “Common Sense,” which argued for American independence and for a republican form of government as superior to monarchy.  As quoted, “the cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind,” Paine avidly fought for the independence from Great Britain, thus escaping the oppressive and economically draining English.

The Declaration of Independence - Adopted on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence creates a series of principles and codes that establishes a foundation to be applied to all people, in all places, in all times within the nation.  Drawing on documents, such as the Virginia Declaration of Rights, state and local calls for independence, and Jefferson’s own draft of the Virginia constitution, Jefferson along with several other men set up a premise that all men are created equal and have the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Articles of Confederation - First constitution of the United States and was in force from Mach 1, 1781 through June 21 1788. Articles were written during the revolution by the Second Continental Congress. Weaknesses- Due to the fact that colonials feared a strong central government the government was not given the power to levy taxes under the articles. Thus the government could not pay of war debts and failed. 

Constitution - Adopted in 1789 after the Great Compromise which gave each state two representatives in the Senate and population based representation in the House. Please consult the link for synopsis of Articles and Amendments.

The Federalist & Federalist No. 10 - The Federalist Papers establishes a model on free government in peace and security.  The work of primarily James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay may be divided into two focal points; the first discusses the flaws of the current government during the late 18^th century, such as the Articles of Confederation, and the second discusses the new constitutions, the legislature, executive, and judicial branches.

The Federalist was published to help secure the ratification of the constitution, which opted for a more perfect union.  The Union and the “safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed” are inseparably presented, as the Union appears to be vital in achieving the security of its parts. The five basic themes argued among Hamilton, Madison, and Jay include federalism, checks and balances, separated powers, and representation.

Among one of the more famous essays is Federalist No. 10.  Responding to the complaints against a newly formed government’s instability, Madison suggests two different resolutions: 1) delete the concept of liberty or 2) make all people equal.  Madison defers both, believing that the only acceptable government be a democracy.  Thus, he contends that the rights of an individual may not be infringed upon by another individual.

1st Inaugural Address by George Washington - First Address given under the new Constitution. Washington was unanimously elected the new president by the electoral college with John Adams as Vice President.

Farewell Address by George Washington - After two terms as President George Washington stepped down and delivered this speech. He warned the American people and the government to stay away from permanent  alliances with foreign nations.

Alien and Sedition Acts - Enacted by Federalists to combat traitors. Federalists passed these acts based more upon a political threat from the Republicans than a threat to national security.

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions - A reaction by Republicans to the Alien and Sedition Acts. They declared that an could be deemed null and void if the act was determined to be unconstitutional by a state. 

1st Inaugural Address by Thomas Jefferson - Jefferson's assumption of the presidency marked the first peaceful transfer of power. In his address Jefferson outlines the sum of good government. He said " a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvements..." which advocates a lazzies faire style of governments. 

The Liberator - Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison founded the first society for the immediate abolition of slavery. He published The Liberator from 1831 until the end of the Civil War in 1865. Garrison published the nation’s first temperance newspaper before starting The Liberator. His fight for equal rights for women split the abolitionist movement.

Treaty of Ghent - Treaty which ended the War of 1812. No one was a decided winner in the War of 1812 and the Treaty of Ghent decided nothing. Rather, the treaty returned the belligerents to the status quo.

Veto of the Bank Bill by Andrew Jackson - Andrew Jackson vetoed the charter of the Bank of the United States amid opposition from Nicholas Biddle, the president of the bank. Jackson eliminated the bank in an attempt to end the influence of the Northern elitists. His plan failed and the country went into the Panic of 1837 shortly after his second term ended.

 Specie Circular Act - Andrew Jackson withdrew the money that was once in the Bank of the United States from his "pet banks" and then gave the surplus to the states.

The Turner Thesis - In 1893 at the Chicago World’s Fair, historian Frederick Jackson Turner presented his “frontier thesis”.  According to Turner, American history had been largely comprised with the history surrounding the colonization of the West.  American development, as he acknowledged, was based upon the concept of the existing and vacant lands of the west and the advancing of American settlements westward.

Hartford Convention - Convention of Northern states which threatened to secede from the Union before the War of 1812.

Missouri Compromise - A temporary fix to the slavery issue masterminded by Henry Clay. Provisions included that Missouri would enter the Union as a slave state, Maine would enter as a free state, and everything above 36°30' would be free and everything below would be slave.

Monroe Doctrine - Written by J. Q. Adams. Stated that the Western Hemisphere was no longer open to colonization and that the United States would be the defender of that principle.

“One’s-Self I Sing” by Walt Whitman

from Leaves of Grass 1900 -  An American poet Walt Whitman conveys in simple language the innate beauty of democratic life.  As he examines the intimate dimensions in “Song in Myself” and "One's Self I Sing" he also examines democratic ideas “Democratic Vistas,” Whitman creates the transcendentalist foundation of meaning and myth within the psyche of every man and woman.

Walden - "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

At the age of 28 in 1845, Henry David Thoreau went to Walden Pond hoping to write his first book.  While at Walden, Thoreau did an incredible amount of reading and writing, yet he also spent much time "sauntering" in nature. Introduced to the philosophy of transcendentalism by colleague Ralph Waldo Emerson, both men discuss accounts of the simplicity in life existing through nature.  The connection to nature initiates a higher reality found through experience derived from spirituality.

Treaty of Velasco - Treaty which gave Texas its independence from Mexico.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo - Treaty which ended the Mexican American War. Awarded United States with much of what is now the Southwestern United States including gold rich California.

Compromise of 1850 - Another temporary fix to the slavery issue. Provisions included that gold rich California would become a free state, Texas would give up some of its land and the federal government would assume state's debt, Utah and New Mexico Territories were granted popular sovereignty, the selling of slaves in the nation's capitol is declared illegal, and the fugitive slave law is strengthened.

1st Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln - Lincoln addressed fact that the nation was at a turning point. He urged the South not to secede from the Union and that if they did he would fight to preserve the Union. He stated "the mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angle of our nature."

Emancipation Proclamation - This proclamation was the first step in freeing the slaves. Lincoln freed the slaves that were in the states that were still rebelling against the Union. Note: This did not free the slaves in areas of the South that were occupied by Northern forces.

Gettysburg Address - At a dedication of a cemetery on the battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Lincoln gave this important speech in which he claimed that the men who died there would not "die in vain" and that the Union "shall have a new birth of freedom."

2nd Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln - With the nation at war Lincoln gave his address in which he stated that America had committed a great sin by allowing slavery and now they must pay for it with a "terrible war."

Tenure of Office Act - Act which stated that the President cannot fire a member of his Cabinet without approval of the Senate. Violation of this act was used in the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson.

Species Resumption Act - After the Civil War this act ended the circulation of greenbacks and the government backed all of the paper money in gold.

Dawes Act - Act provided for the gradual elimination of Native American ownership of tribal lands. Native children were assimilated into the white culture through white run boarding schools.

 The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (1906) - As one of the most highly acclaimed “muckrakers,” Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle raised a public outcry against the unhealthy standards in the meatpacking industry and provoked the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.  No novel since Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1851) had made such social impact.

Federal Reserve System Act - Also known as The Banking Act of 1935. finalized the creation of deposit insurance and the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Commission), centralized power in a Board of Governors, and made all seven members presidential appointees with the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate; the president also appoints a governor to serve as Fed chairman for a four-year term.

Roosevelt Corollary - Addition to the Monroe Doctrine by President Theodore Roosevelt. The Corollary stated that the United States reserved the right to intervene in any Western Hemisphere country and make them behave in a manner that was advantageous to the United States.

Dollar Diplomacy - Policy of the Taft administration which replaced the "big stick" approach of T. Roosevelt with the "carrot" approach. Instead of military influence and pressure the Taft administration forced countries into compliance with economic influence.

Espionage and Sedition Acts of 1917 & 1918 - Laws created during the hysteria of World War I which provided for steep fines and imprisonment if American citizens were found to be talking to, supplying, or interfering with the enemies of the United States. Modified versions of these acts are still in force.

Open Door Policy - Policy which claimed that China's port should be open to any trade. In effect gave the United States free range to trade with the billion people living in China.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - F. Scott Fitzgerald was the most famous chronicler of 1920s America, an era that he dubbed "the Jazz Age." Written in 1925, The Great Gatsby is one of the greatest literary documents of this period, in which the American economy soared, bringing unprecedented levels of prosperity to the nation. Prohibition, the ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution (1919), made millionaires out of bootleggers, and an underground culture of revelry sprang up. The chaos and violence of World War I left America in a state of shock, and the generation that fought the war turned to wild and extravagant living to compensate.

Fourteen Points (8 June 1918) Abbreviated Version -

1. Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall be no private international understandings of any kind, but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view.

2. Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international action for the enforcement of international covenants.

3. The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers and the establishment of an equality of trade conditions among all the nations consenting to the peace and associating themselves for its maintenance.

4. Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety.

5. A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all, colonial claims.

6. The evacuation of all Russian territory; independent determination of her own political development and national policy and assure her of a sincere welcome into the society of free nations under institutions of her own choosing.

7. Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be evacuated and restored, without any attempt to limit the sovereignty, which she enjoys in common with all other free nations.

8. All French territory should be freed and the invaded portions restored, and the wrong done to France by Prussia in 1871 in the matter of Alsace-Lorraine, which has unsettled the peace of the world for nearly fifty years, should be righted, in order that peace may once more be made secure in the interest of all.

9. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recognizable lines of nationality.

10. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity of autonomous development.

11. Rumania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be evacuated; occupied territories restored; Serbia accorded free and secured access to the sea.

12. The Turkish portions of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees.

13. An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenant.

14. A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.

Hawley Smoot Act - Congress passed the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act, which raised agricultural duties and tariffs, or import taxes, on manufactured goods. Economists generally protested against the Hawley-Smoot tariff, warning that it would invite retaliation by European powers, but Hoover signed the tariff into law in June 1930.

Kellogg - Briand Pact - Pact which the United States was involved in that stated that war is illegal in all forms except in times of self defense. Pact had no standing due to the fact that there was not sufficient enforcement.

Dawes Plan - Program designed in 1924 to alleviate the pressure on Germany due to reparations payments. The plan set more reasonable amounts of reparations and provided for foreign loans, mainly from the United States, to help Germany meet its payment schedule.

5 Power Pact and 9 Power Pact - 5 Power Treaty reduced naval power and 9 Power Treaty agreed to respect China's independence. The 5 Power Pact said that no new war ships would be built and total tonnage of war ships would be reduced; the United States and Great Britain with both 5 thousand tons; Japan with a favorable 3 thousand tons; and Italy and France with both 1.75 thousand tons. The naval treaty did not deal with air power or land forces, which Japan was aggressively expanding. Japan was angered by American immigration limitations and White imperialism in Asia. This led to the Co-prosperity Sphere (Asia for the Asians). When the USA would not defend its interest in China, the Japanese began to move on China.

Good Neighbor Policy - Policy of the United States that removed military presence from Latin America and replace it with economic influence. This policy gave the impression that the Latin American countries were independent of United States physical influence.

3 Neutrality Acts - In 1935 and 1936, Congress passed a group of neutrality acts to keep the United States out of Europe’s troubles. The first two acts banned arms sales or loans to nations at war. The third act, a response to the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), extended the ban to nations split by civil war. President F. Roosevelt later maneuvered around the acts by instituting the Lend Lease Program in which he virtually gave away arms to Great Britain during the beginning of World War II.

Atlantic Charter - A joint declaration by the United States and Britain, issued during World War II, expressing certain common principles in their national policies to be followed in the postwar period. The declaration was made and signed on August 14, 1941, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill after a series of conferences aboard a warship in the North Atlantic off the coast of Newfoundland.

Charter of the United Nations - In 1945 delegates from 50 nations arrived in San Francisco, California and drafted this charter. The charter provided for a (1) security council with 5 permanent members: United States, China, France, Great Britain, and the then U.S.S.R. (now Russia) and 10 rotating members voted from the General Assembly , (2) the General Assembly, (3) the Secretariat, (4) the Economic and Social Council, (5) the International Court of Justice, and (6) the Trusteeship Council.

Anti - Inflation Act - This statute directed President Roosevelt on or before Nov. 1 to issue a general order stabilizing prices, wages and salaries affecting the cost of living, such stabilization so far as practicable to be on the levels existing on Sept. 15, 1942. The President was also given the power to provide for making adjustments of prices, wages and salaries to correct gross inequities or to aid in the effective prosecution of the war. There are limitations in the Act as to the maximum prices that can be fixed for farm commodities. The Act also directed that no action with respect to salaries and wages be taken for the purpose of reducing such salaries or wages below the highest amount paid between Jan. 1, 1942 and Sept. 15, 1942. Salaries paid by private employers in excess of $5,000 per annum could, however, be reduced without regard to the provisions of this statute. (Cited from Microsoft Encarta)

Yalta Conference - Meeting between President Roosevelt, Premier Stalin, and Prime Minister Churchill on February 4-11, 1945. The USSR agreed to open a front with Japan 90 days after the end of the war in Europe. Yalta is controversial because President Roosevelt died without telling whether or not he agreed to divide Europe into zones of occupation or insisted on self determination of peoples.

Truman Doctrine - Statement issued by President Harry S. Truman that the United States would use force to contain communism where it existed and prevent the spread of it to other nations.

Marshall Plan - System of economic aid offered to war devestated Europe after World War II. Plan was designed to rebuild Europe as well as continue American prosperity. Note: Aid was offered to the U.S.S.R. but they refused. Also they did not allow their satellite states to accept any aid.

M.A.D.D. - Mutually Assured Destruction Doctrine. The United States and the Soviet Union had an understood adherence to this doctrine which in effect stated that they would nuke each other if one country attacked the other.

N.A.T.O. - North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A regional defense alliance created by the North Atlantic Treaty signed on April 4, 1949, at the beginning of the Cold War. NATO has its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. The original purpose of NATO was to defend Western Europe against possible attack by Communist nations, led by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The original signatories were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Greece and Turkey were admitted to the alliance in 1952, West Germany in 1955, and Spain in 1982. In 1990 the newly unified Germany replaced West Germany as a NATO member. (Cited from Microsoft Encarta)

The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan - At the jump-start of the modern women’s movement, Betty Friedan introduced The Feminine Mystique filled with ideas and inspirations as vital to women today as when it first appeared.  The selection addresses the complex issues women face, such as the struggle for equality, to keep their hard-won gains, and to find fulfillment in careers, marriage, and family.

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson (Review from Publisher’s Weekly) - Though it's cited in nearly every book and article about the culture of the 1950s, few readers under 65 know Sloan Wilson's The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit firsthand. The story of disappointed Westport, Conn., strivers Tom and Betsy Rath anticipates the novels of suburban anomie by Franzen and his contemporaries. Dreaming of a bigger house for his wife and three kids, WWII veteran Tom leaves his job with an arts foundation to be a well-paid public relations executive at the United Broadcasting Corporation. But corporate ladder climbing and consumer rewards leave him miserable. Though his sentimental conclusion now seems dated, Wilson's portrait of the martini-soaked malcontents is sharp, memorable and still resonant today.

Checkers Speech  by V.P. Candidate Nixon - Under attack for having used a secret campaign fund for his personal expenses, Richard M. Nixon, then a California senator and vice presidential candidate, made this famous speech on national television. He stated that he received a dog as a gift on a campaign trail named Checkers and that was the only camping gift his family was going to keep.

Eisenhower's Farewell Address - An ironic speech given by General Eisenhower which warned the American people against the industrial military complex and insisted that a knowledgeable public would end the Cold War.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution - measure passed by the Congress of the United States on August 7, 1964, which gave President Lyndon Johnson the power to initiate an air war against North Vietnam and subsequently to send ground forces to South Vietnam. The resolution was passed after the United States claimed that North Vietnam had attacked two American naval vessels, the USS Maddox and the USS Turner Joy, in international waters in the Gulf of Tonkin, off the coast of North Vietnam. Not repealed until 1970, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution provided the basis for much of the United States military involvement in the Vietnam War. (Cited from Microsoft Encarta)

Pentagon Papers and Daniel Ellsberg - The Pentagon Papers were a series of papers discussing the failures of the American military in Vietnam, in brief- the military’s incompetence.  The Pentagon had hoped to keep these papers secret, but eventually leaked.  New York Times were able to obtain the papers and published them in the newspaper.  Pretty soon, millions of people were reading how incompetent the US Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, etc truly were.
The Nixon administration was facing problems.  The American public knew the truth about Vietnam, and there were leaks to the press.  How do you solve them?  Nixon decided to play dirty.  Ellsberg, the man who obtained the papers, was known to go to a psychiatrist.  So Nixon's cronies, the Plumbers, decided to break into Ellsberg's psychiatrist office and steal some records.  Nixon got the CIA and FBI involved with secret wire taps.  The IRS got pulled in by using every IRS tactic possible: audits, paperwork, etc on "The Enemies List".  In effect, Nixon became lawless--a dirty crook.  

Crisis of Confidence Speech by Jimmy Carter - In 1979 United States President Jimmy Carter addressed the nation to declare that the country was suffering from an energy crisis, as well as a deeper and more general crisis of confidence. Some of the most visible effects of the energy crisis in the United States were high gasoline prices and long waits to fill up at gas stations. Carter saw working to solve the energy crisis and decreasing the country’s dependence on imported oil as the first steps in uniting people behind a common cause and renewing their faith in the nation. This speech is unique because Carter was actually telling the American people the truth.

Salt I and II Treaties - Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties signed between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The negotiations known as SALT I began in November 1969 and ended in January 1972, with agreement on two documents: the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty) and the Interim Agreement on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. Both were signed on May 26, 1972. SALT II talks began in September 1972 and ended in January 1979.Treaties set limits on total numbers of nuclear weapons and launches that each superpower could possess.