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The Archive · Primary Sources

The Documents Library

Founding documents, statutes, proclamations, speeches, court opinions and party platforms. Each is catalogued with its date and the institution that holds the original, and each links to an authoritative transcription.

Documents
66
Span
1620–2025
Institutions
18

66 documents in the library

PM·DOC·1620·001Primary Source

Founding document ·

The Mayflower Compact

Before going ashore at Cape Cod, 41 male passengers of the Mayflower signed a brief covenant binding themselves together into a “civil Body Politick” and promising obedience to the “just and equal Laws” they would frame for the general good of the colony. It is dated November 11, 1620, under the Old Style calendar then used in England. The original document is lost; its text survives through Mourt’s Relation (1622) and William Bradford’s manuscript history Of Plymouth Plantation.

Held by The Avalon Project (Yale Law School)Open archive
PM·DOC·1776·002Primary Source

Founding document ·

Virginia Declaration of Rights

Adopted by the Fifth Virginia Convention at Williamsburg three weeks before the Declaration of Independence, the declaration held that all men are by nature equally free and independent, that all power is derived from the people, and that government is instituted for the common benefit. Drafted chiefly by George Mason and amended in convention, it protected trial by jury and freedom of the press and, at James Madison’s urging, guaranteed the free exercise of religion rather than mere toleration.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1776·003Primary Source

Founding document ·

The Declaration of Independence

Adopted by the Second Continental Congress two days after it voted for independence, the Declaration announced the separation of the thirteen colonies from Great Britain. Drafted chiefly by Thomas Jefferson for a committee that included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston, it grounded that separation in natural rights and government by consent, then set out a long list of grievances against King George III.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1777·004Primary Source

Founding document ·

Articles of Confederation

Adopted by the Continental Congress on November 15, 1777, and in force from March 1, 1781, the Articles served as the first constitution of the United States, joining the states in a “firm league of friendship” while each retained its “sovereignty, freedom and independence.” The Confederation Congress could not levy taxes or regulate commerce, and amending the Articles required the consent of every state.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1785·005Primary Source

Founding document ·

Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments

Written anonymously by James Madison and circulated as a petition to the Virginia General Assembly, the Memorial opposed a bill backed by Patrick Henry to levy a general assessment — a tax to support teachers of the Christian religion. In fifteen numbered arguments, Madison held that religion “can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence,” that duty to the Creator comes before the claims of civil society, and that legal establishments had harmed both religion and government.

Held by Library of CongressOpen archive
PM·DOC·1786·006Primary Source

Legislation ·

Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom

Drafted by Thomas Jefferson in 1777 and first introduced in 1779, the bill was guided to passage by James Madison while Jefferson served as minister to France. Its preamble declared that “Almighty God hath created the mind free,” and its enacting clause provided that no one could be compelled to attend or support any religious worship or suffer for religious opinions, and that such opinions would not diminish or enlarge anyone’s civil capacities.

Held by Library of VirginiaOpen archive
PM·DOC·1787·007Primary Source

Legislation ·

Northwest Ordinance

Adopted by the Confederation Congress while the Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia, the ordinance created a government for the territory northwest of the Ohio River and a path by which three to five new states would join the Union on an equal footing with the original states. It guaranteed settlers religious freedom, habeas corpus and trial by jury, encouraged schools, and prohibited slavery in the territory, while providing for the return of people who escaped from bondage.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1787·008Primary Source

Constitutional text ·

The Constitution of the United States

Signed by 39 delegates at the close of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, the Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation with a federal government of enumerated powers divided among a bicameral Congress, a President and a federal judiciary, with authority shared between the nation and the states. It took effect after New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify on June 21, 1788, and the new government began operating in 1789.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1787·009Primary Source

Founding document ·

The Federalist No. 10

Writing as “Publius” in the New York press to urge ratification of the Constitution, Madison argued that factions are inevitable in a free society because their latent causes are “sown in the nature of man.” Since destroying liberty to cure faction would be worse than the disease, he contended that a large republic governed through elected representatives would best control faction’s effects by taking in a greater variety of parties and interests.

Held by Founders Online (National Archives)Open archive
PM·DOC·1788·010Primary Source

Founding document ·

The Federalist No. 51

Explaining how the Constitution would keep each branch within its proper limits, the essay argued that “ambition must be made to counteract ambition,” giving each department the constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachment by the others. Combined with the division of power between the national and state governments — a “double security” for the rights of the people — this structure was meant to guard against both tyranny and oppression by a majority faction.

Held by Founders Online (National Archives)Open archive
PM·DOC·1789·011Primary Source

Proclamation ·

Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789

At the request of both houses of Congress, President Washington recommended that Americans devote Thursday, November 26, 1789, to public thanksgiving and prayer. He gave thanks for the peaceable establishment of constitutional government, “particularly the national One now lately instituted,” and for civil and religious liberty, and asked Americans to pray that the national government would be one of “wise, just, and constitutional laws.”

Held by Library of CongressOpen archive
PM·DOC·1790·012Primary Source

Letter ·

Letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport

During his August 1790 visit to Newport, Rhode Island, President Washington answered an address from Moses Seixas, warden of the town’s Jewish congregation, Yeshuat Israel. Echoing Seixas’s own words, he wrote that the government of the United States “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance,” and that religious liberty was no longer a matter of toleration granted by one class of people to another but the exercise of inherent natural rights.

Held by Founders Online (National Archives)Open archive
PM·DOC·1791·013Primary Source

Constitutional text ·

The Bill of Rights

Proposed by the First Congress on September 25, 1789, largely from drafts by James Madison, the first ten amendments guarantee freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition, the right to keep and bear arms, protections for the accused, trial by jury, and the reservation of undelegated powers to the states or the people. Congress sent twelve amendments to the states; ten were ratified by December 15, 1791, and another became the Twenty-seventh Amendment in 1992.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1796·014Primary Source

Letter ·

Washington’s Farewell Address

Announcing that he would not accept a third term, Washington addressed the American people in a letter first published in Philadelphia in Claypoole’s American Daily Advertiser; it was never delivered as a speech. Drawing on a draft James Madison had prepared in 1792 and on revisions by Alexander Hamilton, he urged Americans to cherish the Union, warned against sectional division and “the baneful effects of the Spirit of Party,” called religion and morality indispensable supports of political prosperity, and counseled the nation to steer clear of permanent alliances.

Held by New York Public LibraryOpen archive
PM·DOC·1802·015Primary Source

Letter ·

Letter to the Danbury Baptist Association

Replying to Baptists in Connecticut, a religious minority in a state with a tax-supported Congregationalist establishment, President Jefferson wrote that religion “lies solely between Man & his God” and that the legitimate powers of government “reach actions only, & not opinions.” He described the First Amendment’s religion clauses as “building a wall of separation between Church & State.”

Held by Library of CongressOpen archive
PM·DOC·1820·016Primary Source

Legislation ·

Missouri Compromise

To settle a bitter sectional dispute over Missouri’s bid for statehood, Congress paired the admission of Missouri as a slave state with that of Maine as a free state, preserving the balance between free and slave states in the Senate. The act of March 6, 1820, also prohibited slavery in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase north of latitude 36°30′, outside Missouri itself.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1854·017Primary Source

Legislation ·

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Sponsored by Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and signed by President Franklin Pierce, the act organized the Kansas and Nebraska territories and left the question of slavery there to their settlers under the principle of “popular sovereignty.” It declared the Missouri Compromise’s prohibition of slavery north of 36°30′ “inoperative and void.”

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1856·018Official GOP Position1856 Republican Platform

Party platform ·

Republican Party Platform of 1856

Presented at the party’s first national convention in Philadelphia, which nominated John C. Frémont for president, the platform declared it both the right and the duty of Congress to prohibit in the territories “those twin relics of barbarism — Polygamy, and Slavery.” It condemned the violence and fraud in Kansas and called for its immediate admission as a free state, supported federal aid for a Pacific railroad and river and harbor improvements, and opposed legislation impairing liberty of conscience and equality of rights among citizens.

Held by The American Presidency Project (UCSB)Open archive
PM·DOC·1857·019Primary Source

Court opinion ·

Dred Scott v. Sandford

In a 7–2 decision, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney held that Black Americans descended from enslaved Africans, whether enslaved or free, were not and could not become citizens of the United States and so could not sue in federal court. The Court further held that Congress lacked power to prohibit slavery in the federal territories and that the Missouri Compromise’s restriction was unconstitutional; Justices John McLean and Benjamin R. Curtis dissented.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1858·020Primary Source

Speech ·

“House Divided” Speech

Speaking to the Illinois Republican State Convention in Springfield, which had named him its choice for the U.S. Senate, Lincoln warned that “a house divided against itself cannot stand” and that the government could not endure permanently half slave and half free. He argued that the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Dred Scott decision pointed toward making slavery lawful in all the states, old as well as new, North as well as South.

Held by National Park Service (Lincoln Home National Historic Site)Open archive
PM·DOC·1860·021Primary Source

Speech ·

Cooper Union Address

Speaking at the Cooper Institute in New York City, Lincoln showed through detailed research that at least 21 of the 39 men who signed the Constitution — a clear majority — had acted on the understanding that the federal government could control slavery in the federal territories. He denied that Republicans were sectional radicals, rejected any link between the party and John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, and urged Republicans to stand firm against the expansion of slavery.

Held by Miller Center (University of Virginia)Open archive
PM·DOC·1860·022Official GOP Position1860 Republican Platform

Party platform ·

Republican Party Platform of 1860

Adopted at the Chicago convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln, the platform declared that the normal condition of all U.S. territory is freedom, denied that Congress, a territorial legislature or any individuals could give slavery legal existence in a territory, and denounced threats of disunion, while affirming each state’s right to control its own domestic institutions. It also called for tariffs that would encourage American industry, a homestead law, a Pacific railroad and river and harbor improvements, and opposed any change to naturalization laws that would abridge the rights of immigrants.

Held by The American Presidency Project (UCSB)Open archive
PM·DOC·1861·023Primary Source

Speech ·

First Inaugural Address

Delivered after seven Southern states had declared secession, Lincoln’s address held that “the Union of these States is perpetual” and that no state “upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union,” while repeating that he had no purpose to interfere with slavery in the states where it existed. He promised to hold federal property and collect duties without using force against the people anywhere, and told the South that “the momentous issue of civil war” lay in its hands, not his.

Held by Library of CongressOpen archive
PM·DOC·1862·024Primary Source

Legislation ·

Homestead Act

Signed by President Lincoln, the act offered 160 acres of surveyed public land to any citizen or intending citizen who was the head of a family or at least 21 years old and had never borne arms against the United States. Claimants paid a small filing fee and received title after living on and cultivating the land for five years, or could buy it after six months’ residence at $1.25 an acre.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1862·025Primary Source

Legislation ·

Pacific Railway Act

Signed by President Lincoln, the act chartered the Union Pacific Railroad and, with the Central Pacific Railroad of California, authorized construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific, supported by federal land grants and government loans. The Union Pacific built west from Omaha, while the Central Pacific, whose workforce included more than 10,000 Chinese laborers, built east from Sacramento.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1862·026Primary Source

Legislation ·

Morrill Act

Sponsored by Representative Justin Smith Morrill of Vermont and signed by President Lincoln after President James Buchanan had vetoed an earlier version in 1859, the act granted each state 30,000 acres of federal land for each of its senators and representatives. States were to use the proceeds to endow colleges teaching agriculture and the mechanic arts, “without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics.”

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1863·027Primary Source

Proclamation ·

Emancipation Proclamation

Issued as “a fit and necessary war measure” one hundred days after Lincoln’s preliminary proclamation of September 22, 1862, the proclamation declared that all persons held as slaves in the states and parts of states then in rebellion “are, and henceforward shall be free.” It did not apply to the loyal border slave states or to several Union-occupied areas of the South, and it announced that freed men would be received into the armed service of the United States.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1863·028Primary Source

Proclamation ·

Proclamation of Thanksgiving, 1863

In the midst of civil war, Lincoln invited Americans at home, at sea and abroad to observe the last Thursday of November as a day of thanksgiving and praise, citing a year of “fruitful fields and healthful skies,” preserved peace with foreign nations and continued national growth. He asked citizens to commend to God’s care all who had been widowed, orphaned or left mourning by the war, and to pray for the healing of the nation.

Held by The American Presidency Project (UCSB)Open archive
PM·DOC·1863·029Primary Source

Speech ·

Gettysburg Address

At the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Lincoln followed a two-hour oration by Edward Everett with remarks of fewer than 300 words. He described the war as a test of whether a nation “dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” could endure, and called on the living to resolve that the nation would have “a new birth of freedom.” Five manuscript copies in Lincoln’s hand survive, two of them at the Library of Congress; the Bliss copy, the only one he signed and dated, is the standard text and is engraved in the Lincoln Memorial.

Held by Library of CongressOpen archive
PM·DOC·1865·030Primary Source

Speech ·

Second Inaugural Address

With Union victory in sight, Lincoln used a brief address of about 700 words to reflect on the meaning of the war. Observing that both sides “read the same Bible and pray to the same God,” he suggested that the war might be divine judgment on the offense of American slavery, borne by North and South alike, and closed by calling for a peace made “with malice toward none, with charity for all.”

Held by Library of CongressOpen archive
PM·DOC·1865·031Primary Source

Constitutional text ·

Thirteenth Amendment

The amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude throughout the United States, except as punishment for a crime, and empowered Congress to enforce the ban by appropriate legislation. The Senate approved it in April 1864, and the House, after an intense campaign by President Lincoln, followed on January 31, 1865; ratification was completed on December 6, 1865.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1866·032Primary Source

Legislation ·

Civil Rights Act of 1866

Introduced by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, the act declared all persons born in the United States, except Indians not taxed, to be citizens and guaranteed citizens of every race the same rights as white citizens to make contracts, sue, hold property and enjoy the “full and equal benefit of all laws.” President Andrew Johnson vetoed it as a stride toward centralization; Congress overrode him, the House voting 122–41 on April 9, 1866.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1868·033Primary Source

Constitutional text ·

Fourteenth Amendment

Passed by Congress on June 13, 1866, and ratified on July 9, 1868, the amendment made all persons born or naturalized in the United States citizens of the nation and of their state, reversing Dred Scott. It barred states from abridging the privileges or immunities of citizens, depriving any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, or denying any person the equal protection of the laws; other sections addressed representation, officeholding by former Confederates and war debts.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1870·034Primary Source

Constitutional text ·

Fifteenth Amendment

Passed by Congress on February 26, 1869, and ratified on February 3, 1870, the amendment barred the United States and the states from denying or abridging the right of citizens to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, and empowered Congress to enforce it. To many abolitionists and Radical Republicans, it appeared to complete the promise of emancipation by securing the vote for Black men.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1883·035Primary Source

Legislation ·

Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act

Passed after President James A. Garfield was assassinated in 1881 by a disappointed office seeker, the act required that covered federal jobs be filled on the basis of merit through open, competitive examinations rather than political patronage. It created a bipartisan Civil Service Commission, barred firing or demoting covered employees for political reasons, and forbade requiring federal employees to give political service or contributions.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1890·036Primary Source

Legislation ·

Sherman Antitrust Act

Named for Republican Senator John Sherman of Ohio and signed by President Benjamin Harrison, the act declared illegal every contract, combination or conspiracy in restraint of interstate or foreign trade and made it a crime to monopolize or attempt to monopolize any part of that trade. It passed the Senate 51–1 and the House 242–0.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1906·037Primary Source

Legislation ·

Antiquities Act

Championed by Representative John F. Lacey of Iowa and signed by President Theodore Roosevelt, the act authorized presidents to proclaim historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest on federal land as national monuments, limited to the smallest area compatible with their care. It also made it a crime to excavate, injure or destroy ruins and antiquities on federal land without permission.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1910·038Primary Source

Speech ·

“The New Nationalism”

Speaking at the dedication of a memorial to John Brown in Osawatomie, Kansas, former President Roosevelt called for a “New Nationalism” that would put “the national need before sectional or personal advantage.” He urged a strong federal government acting as steward of the public welfare, with supervision of corporations, a ban on corporate funds in politics, graduated income and inheritance taxes on big fortunes, workers’ compensation, child labor laws and conservation, and declared that property is held “subject to the general right of the community to regulate its use.”

Held by Obama White House Archives (National Archives)Open archive
PM·DOC·1920·039Primary Source

Constitutional text ·

Nineteenth Amendment

First introduced in Congress in 1878 by Senator Aaron A. Sargent, a California Republican, the amendment barred the United States and the states from denying or abridging the right to vote on account of sex. The Republican-controlled Congress passed it on June 4, 1919, and ratification was completed on August 18, 1920, when Tennessee became the 36th state to approve it.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1950·040Primary Source

Speech ·

“Declaration of Conscience”

In a 15-minute Senate floor speech delivered as Senator Joseph McCarthy looked on, Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, a first-term Republican, condemned without naming him the tactics that had debased the Senate into “a forum of hate and character assassination.” She defended the rights to criticize, to hold unpopular beliefs, to protest and to think independently, warned her party against riding to victory on the “Four Horsemen of Calumny — Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear,” and presented a declaration endorsed by six other Republican senators.

Held by U.S. Senate (Congressional Record)Open archive
PM·DOC·1957·041Primary Source

Executive order ·

Executive Order 10730

After Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus used the state National Guard to keep nine Black students out of Little Rock’s Central High School and a mob later gathered at the school, President Eisenhower placed the Arkansas National Guard under federal control and sent about 1,000 paratroopers of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division to enforce federal court orders for desegregation. The next day, the “Little Rock Nine” entered Central High under military protection.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1961·042Primary Source

Speech ·

Farewell Address

In a televised address from the Oval Office three days before leaving office, Eisenhower observed that a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions, joined to an immense military establishment, was new in the American experience, and warned the nation to guard against the “military-industrial complex.” He also cautioned that public policy could become “the captive of a scientific-technological elite” and urged Americans not to mortgage the material assets of their grandchildren.

Held by Eisenhower Presidential Library (National Archives)Open archive
PM·DOC·1964·043Primary Source

Legislation ·

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the act outlawed segregation in public accommodations such as hotels, restaurants and theaters, prohibited employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin, and barred discrimination in federally funded programs. It also strengthened federal authority to enforce voting rights and school desegregation and created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1964·044Primary Source

Speech ·

Acceptance Speech at the 1964 Republican National Convention

Accepting the Republican presidential nomination at the Cow Palace near San Francisco, Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona called for a return to limited constitutional government, praised a federal system that reconciles diversity with unity, and urged a firm stand against communism abroad. His closing defense of extremism in the defense of liberty, and rejection of moderation in the pursuit of justice, thrilled his supporters and alarmed the party’s moderate wing.

Held by The American Presidency Project (UCSB)Open archive
PM·DOC·1964·045Primary Source

Speech ·

“A Time for Choosing”

In a nationally televised address on behalf of Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign, actor and former General Electric spokesman Ronald Reagan argued that the growth of federal power and spending threatened individual freedom and Americans’ capacity for self-government. He framed the election as a choice between individual liberty under law and a drift toward totalitarian control, urged firmness against Soviet communism, and closed by telling Americans they had a “rendezvous with destiny.”

Held by Ronald Reagan Presidential LibraryOpen archive
PM·DOC·1965·046Primary Source

Legislation ·

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson months after state troopers attacked peaceful voting rights marchers at Selma, Alabama, the act enforced the Fifteenth Amendment by prohibiting voting practices that denied or abridged the right to vote on account of race or color. It suspended literacy tests in jurisdictions covered by its formula, authorized federal examiners to register voters there, and required those jurisdictions to obtain federal “preclearance” before changing voting rules.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1981·047Primary Source

Speech ·

First Inaugural Address

Taking office amid high inflation, unemployment and interest rates, Reagan declared that “in this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem,” and called it time to check and reverse the growth of a government that showed signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed. Delivered at the first inauguration held on the West Front of the Capitol, the address closed by honoring American heroes, among them Martin Treptow, a soldier killed in World War I.

Held by Ronald Reagan Presidential LibraryOpen archive
PM·DOC·1983·048Primary Source

Speech ·

“Evil Empire” Speech

Addressing the annual convention of the National Association of Evangelicals in Orlando, Florida, Reagan spoke about faith and public life before turning to the Cold War, calling the Soviet regime “the focus of evil in the modern world.” He urged his audience to reject a proposed nuclear freeze, which he argued would reward the Soviet military buildup and undercut negotiations for real arms reductions, and not to label both sides equally at fault.

Held by Ronald Reagan Presidential LibraryOpen archive
PM·DOC·1987·049Primary Source

Speech ·

Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate

Speaking in West Berlin before the Brandenburg Gate and the Berlin Wall during the city’s 750th anniversary year, Reagan challenged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to prove his commitment to reform by opening the gate and tearing down the wall. He contrasted the freedom and prosperity of the West with the stagnation of the communist East and proposed steps toward cooperation, including arms reductions and closer ties between the two halves of Berlin.

Held by Ronald Reagan Presidential LibraryOpen archive
PM·DOC·1987·050Primary Source

Treaty ·

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty

Signed in Washington by President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, the treaty required both nations to eliminate all of their ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers, along with their launchers and support equipment, within three years. After the Senate gave its advice and consent, it entered into force on June 1, 1988, and by 1991 the two sides had destroyed 2,692 missiles under an unprecedented regime of on-site inspections.

Held by U.S. Department of StateOpen archive
PM·DOC·1990·051Primary Source

Legislation ·

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

Signed by President George H. W. Bush on the South Lawn of the White House, the ADA prohibited discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, state and local government services, public transportation, public accommodations and telecommunications. It required reasonable accommodations and accessibility standards so that Americans with disabilities could take part fully in economic and civic life.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1993·052Primary Source

Legislation ·

Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993

Responding to Employment Division v. Smith (1990), in which the Supreme Court held that neutral, generally applicable laws need no special justification when they burden religious practice, Congress barred the government from substantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion unless the burden furthers a compelling governmental interest by the least restrictive means. The bill passed the House without dissent and the Senate 97–3, and President Bill Clinton signed it into law.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·1994·053Official GOP Position1994 House Republicans

Party platform ·

Contract with America

Signed by 367 Republican candidates on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, the Contract promised that a Republican House majority would, on its first day, require that all laws applying to the rest of the country apply equally to Congress, cut committee staff by one-third, order an independent audit of Congress and adopt other reforms. It pledged votes within the first 100 days on ten bills, including a balanced budget amendment and line-item veto, anti-crime and welfare reform measures, tax relief, national defense, legal reform and congressional term limits.

Held by The American Presidency Project (UCSB)Open archive
PM·DOC·2001·054Primary Source

Speech ·

Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People

Nine days after the September 11 attacks, President Bush told Congress and the nation that al Qaeda was responsible, demanded that the Taliban regime in Afghanistan hand over the group’s leaders and close its terrorist camps, and declared that every nation now had a decision to make: “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” He announced a new Office of Homeland Security led by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge and urged Americans to reject bigotry, calling the teachings of Islam “good and peaceful.”

Held by George W. Bush White House Archives (National Archives)Open archive
PM·DOC·2008·055Primary Source

Court opinion ·

District of Columbia v. Heller

In a 5–4 decision, the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia and to use it for traditionally lawful purposes such as self-defense within the home. The Court struck down the District of Columbia’s ban on handgun possession in the home and its requirement that other lawful firearms be kept disassembled or trigger-locked, while stating that the right is not unlimited and that longstanding prohibitions, such as those on possession by felons, were not cast into doubt.

Held by Supreme Court of the United StatesOpen archive
PM·DOC·2010·056Primary Source

Court opinion ·

McDonald v. City of Chicago

In a 5–4 decision, the Court held that the Second Amendment right recognized in Heller applies fully to state and local governments through the Fourteenth Amendment, reversing a ruling that had upheld handgun bans in Chicago and the suburb of Oak Park. A four-justice plurality led by Justice Samuel Alito found the right incorporated through the Due Process Clause, while Justice Clarence Thomas, supplying the fifth vote, relied on the Privileges or Immunities Clause.

Held by Supreme Court of the United StatesOpen archive
PM·DOC·2016·057Official GOP Position2016 Republican Platform

Party platform ·

2016 Republican Party Platform

Adopted at the Cleveland convention that nominated Donald J. Trump, the platform affirmed that all legislation and official action must conform to the Constitution’s original meaning and called for a president who would honor constitutional limits on executive authority. It supported building a wall along the southern border and mandatory E-Verify, called for trade agreements that put America first, pledged to rebuild the military, and restated support for lower taxes, religious liberty, the Second Amendment and a human life amendment.

Held by The American Presidency Project (UCSB)Open archive
PM·DOC·2017·058Primary Source

Speech ·

Inaugural Address (2017)

In his first inaugural address, President Trump declared that power was being transferred from Washington back to the American people and made America First the guiding principle of his administration. He vowed to end the “American carnage” of shuttered factories, crime, gangs and drugs, promised to follow two simple rules — “Buy American and hire American” — and called for national unity rooted in “a total allegiance to the United States of America.”

Held by The American Presidency Project (UCSB)Open archive
PM·DOC·2017·059Primary Source

Legislation ·

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017

Enacted through the budget reconciliation process as Public Law 115–97 and signed by President Trump after passing both houses without a single Democratic vote, the law permanently cut the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent and moved the taxation of foreign earnings toward a territorial system. For individuals it temporarily lowered most income tax rates, nearly doubled the standard deduction, doubled the child tax credit to $2,000 and created a 20 percent deduction for certain pass-through business income. It also capped the deduction for state and local taxes at $10,000 and reduced the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate penalty to zero.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·2018·060Primary Source

Legislation ·

First Step Act of 2018

A bipartisan criminal justice reform signed by President Trump, the law made the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010’s reduction of the crack-versus-powder cocaine sentencing disparity retroactive, reduced certain mandatory minimum sentences, broadened the “safety valve” for low-level drug offenders and ended the “stacking” of certain firearm sentence enhancements. It also created a risk and needs assessment system with earned time credits for completing recidivism-reduction programs, recalculated good-conduct credit, and prohibited restraining pregnant federal prisoners except in limited circumstances.

Held by National ArchivesOpen archive
PM·DOC·2022·061Primary Source

Court opinion ·

New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen

In a 6–3 decision, the Court held that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home and struck down New York’s requirement that applicants for an unrestricted concealed-carry license show “proper cause.” Rejecting the two-step test used by lower courts, the Court held that a firearm regulation is constitutional only if the government shows it is consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.

Held by Supreme Court of the United StatesOpen archive
PM·DOC·2022·062Primary Source

Court opinion ·

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization

Upholding a Mississippi law that barred most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, the Court held that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion and overruled Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), returning the authority to regulate abortion to the states, their people and their elected representatives. Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion was joined by four other justices; Chief Justice John Roberts agreed only that the Mississippi law should be upheld, and Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented.

Held by Supreme Court of the United StatesOpen archive
PM·DOC·2022·063Primary Source

Court opinion ·

Kennedy v. Bremerton School District

In a 6–3 decision, the Court held that the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses protected Joseph Kennedy, a public high school football coach who lost his job after kneeling at midfield after games to offer a quiet personal prayer. The Court also held that the Establishment Clause must be interpreted by reference to historical practices and understandings, stating that it had long ago abandoned the Lemon test and its endorsement-test offshoot.

Held by Supreme Court of the United StatesOpen archive
PM·DOC·2024·064Primary Source

Court opinion ·

United States v. Rahimi

In an 8–1 decision, the Court upheld the federal law barring people subject to certain domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms, as applied to a man a court had found to pose a credible threat to the physical safety of his intimate partner. Applying Bruen, the Court held that the nation’s tradition of firearm regulation allows the government to disarm individuals who present a credible threat to the physical safety of others; Justice Clarence Thomas dissented.

Held by Supreme Court of the United StatesOpen archive
PM·DOC·2024·065Official GOP Position2024 Republican Platform

Party platform ·

The 2024 Republican Platform: Make America Great Again!

Approved by the platform committee on July 8, 2024, and formally adopted on July 15 at the Milwaukee convention that nominated Donald J. Trump and J. D. Vance, the platform, whose preamble is headed “America First: A Return to Common Sense,” was far shorter than its recent predecessors and opened with twenty promises. These included sealing the border and carrying out the largest deportation operation in American history, ending inflation, making America the dominant energy producer, large tax cuts for workers including no tax on tips, protecting Social Security and Medicare with no cuts, defending free speech, religious liberty and the right to keep and bear arms, and preventing a third world war.

Held by Republican National CommitteeOpen archive
PM·DOC·2025·066Primary Source

Speech ·

Inaugural Address (2025)

Delivered in the Capitol Rotunda after extreme cold moved the ceremony indoors, Trump’s second inaugural address announced national emergencies at the southern border and on energy, an External Revenue Service to collect tariffs, duties and revenues, and an executive order to end government censorship and bring back free speech. He pledged to end what he called the weaponization of the Justice Department and said his proudest legacy would be as “a peacemaker and unifier.”

Held by The White HouseOpen archive