2511.Resource, 50 Core American Documents: Required Reading for Teachers, Students, and Citizens

This is a digital copy of 50 American documents that have played a significant role in American history.

In 1825, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson discussed by letter the kinds of texts that should be required reading at the recently founded university in Virginia. “It is certainly very material that the true doctrines of liberty, as exemplified in our Political System, should be inculcated on those who are to sustain and may administer it,” Madison wrote. “It is, at the same time,” he continued, “not easy to find standard books that will be both guides & guards for the purpose.” Madison proceeded to recommend certain fundamental documents as essential reading for future citizens and statesmen, including the Declaration of Independence, The Federalist, and George Washington’s Farewell Address. Ashbrook’s 50 Core American Documents is meant to fulfill those same purposes by affirming the value and usefulness of reading original documents, and by inviting readers to consider and discuss the principles of liberty and self-government as they unfolded from the American Founding into the Twentieth Century. Original documents do this in a way that textbook summaries of major issues cannot. Primary documents give us direct access to what was really going through the minds of people who were pivotal figures in history.