Founding Documents of American Democracy

FOUNDING DOCUMENTS OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

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Books by and about American presidents:

The Life of George Washington by Marshall

Works of Thomas Jefferson

The Writings of Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln's Yarns and Stories

The Winning of the West by Theodore Roosevelt

Works of Theodore Roosevelt, 13 books

A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents from Washington to Theodore Roosevelt

The Federalist Papers

Founding Documents of American Democracy

Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents from Washington to Obama

The Mayflower Compact, 1620

Fundamental Orders of 1639

Colonial Records of Virginia

Burke's Speech on Conciliation with America, 1775

Charlotte Town Resolves, 1775

Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, 1775

Declaration of Independence, 1776

Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776

Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress, 1777

Paris Peace Treaty, 1783

Annapolis Convention, 1786

Articles of Confederation

Northwest Ordinance, 1787

Constitution, 1787

BILL OF RIGHTS = Amendments 1-10

OTHER AMENDMENTS (11 - 26)

Letter Transmitting the Constitution, 1787

Washington's Farewell Address, 1796

The Monroe Doctrine, 1823

Emancipation Proclamation, 1862

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, 1863

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THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT:

 "In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the  Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the  Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender  of the Faith, e&.

Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement  of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and  Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern  parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and  mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant  and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick,  for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance  of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact,  constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances,  Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as  shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General  good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due  submission and obedience.

In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names  at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our  Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland,  the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth.  Anno Domini, 1620."

There followed the signatures of 41 of the 102 passengers,  37 of whom were members of the Separatists who were fleeing  religious persecution in Europe. This compact established the  first basis in the new world for written laws. Half the colony  failed to survive the first winter, but the remainder lived on  and prospered.

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THE FUNDAMENTAL ORDERS OF 1639

 January 14, 1639

 For as much as it hath pleased Almighty God by the wise  disposition of his divine providence so to order and dispose of  things that we the Inhabitants and Residents of Windsor,  Hartford and Wethersfield are now cohabiting and dwelling in  and upon the River of Connectecotte and the lands thereunto  adjoining; and well knowing where a people are gathered  together the word of God requires that to maintain the peace  and union of such a people there should be an orderly and  decent Government established according to God, to order and  dispose of the affairs of the people at all seasons as occasion  shall require; do therefore associate and conjoin ourselves to  be as one Public State or Commonwealth; and do for ourselves  and our successors and such as shall be adjoined to us at any  time hereafter, enter into Combination and Confederation  together, to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of  the Gospel of our Lord Jesus which we now profess, as also, the  discipline of the Churches, which according to the truth of the  said Gospel is now practiced amongst us; as also in our civil  affairs to be guided and governed accordinbg to such Laws,  Rules, Orders and Decrees as shall be made, ordered, and  decreed as followeth:

1.

It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that there shall  be yearly two General Assemblies or Courts, the one the second  Thursday in April, the other the second Thursday in September  following; the first shall be called the Court of Election,  wherein shall be yearly chosen from time to time, so many  Magistrates and other public Officers as shall be found  requisite:  Whereof one to be chosen Governor for the year  ensuing and until another be chosen, and no other Magistrate  to be chosen for more than one year: provided always there be  six chosen besides the Governor, which being chosen and sworn  according to an Oath recorded for that purpose, shall have  the power to administer justice according to the Laws here  established, and for want thereof, according to the Rule of  the Word of God; which choice shall be made by all that are  admitted freemen and have taken the Oath of Fidelity, and do  cohabit within this Jurisdiction having been admitted  Inhabitants by the major part of the Town wherein they live  or the major part of such as shall be then present.

2.

It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the election  of the aforesaid Magistrates shall be in this manner:  every  person present and qualified for choice shall bring in (to the  person deputed to receive them) one single paper with the name  of him written in it whom he desires to have Governor, and that  he that hath the greatest number of papers shall be Governor  for that year.  And the rest of the Magistrates or public  officers to be chosen in this manner: the Secretary for the  time being shall first read the names of all that are to be put  to choice and then shall severally nominate them distinctly,  and every one that would have the person nominated to be chosen  shall bring in one single paper written upon, and he that would  not have him chosen shall bring in a blank; and every one that  hath more written papers than blanks shall be a Magistrate for  that year; which papers shall be received and told by one or  more that shall be then chosen by the court and sworn to be  faithful therein; but in case there should not be six chosen  as aforesaid, besides the Governor, out of those which are  nominated, than he or they which have the most writen papers  shall be a Magistrate or Magistrates for the ensuing year, to  make up the aforesaid number.

3.

It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the Secretary  shall not nominate any person, nor shall any person be chosen  newly into the Magistracy which was not propounded in some  General Court before, to be nominated the next election; and to  that end it shall be lawful for each of the Towns aforesaid by  their deputies to nominate any two whom they conceive fit to be  put to election; and the Court may add so many more as they  judge requisite.

4.

It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that no person be  chosen Governor above once in two years, and that the Governor  be always a member of some approved Congregation, and formerly  of the Magistracy within this Jurisdiction; and that all the  Magistrates, Freemen of this Commonwealth; and that no  Magistrate or other public officer shall execute any part of  his or their office before they are severally sworn, which  shall be done in the face of the court if they be present,  and in case of absence by some deputed for that purpose.

5.

It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that to the  aforesaid Court of Election the several Towns shall send their  deputies, and when the Elections are ended they may proceed in  any public service as at other Courts.  Also the other General  Court in September shall be for making of laws, and any other  public occasion, which concerns the good of the Commonwealth.

6.

It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the Governor  shall, either by himself or by the Secretary, send out summons  to the Constables of every Town for the calling of these two  standing Courts one month at least before their several times:  And also if the Governor and the greatest part of the  Magistrates see cause upon any special occasion to call a  General Court, they may give order to the Secretary so to do  within fourteen days' warning:  And if urgent necessity so  required, upon a shorter notice, giving sufficient grounds for  it to the deputies when they meet, or else be questioned for  the same;  And if the Governor and major part of Magistrates  shall either neglect or refuse to call the two General standing  Courts or either of them, as also at other times when the  occasions of the Commonwealth require, the Freemen thereof, or  the major part of them, shall petition to them so to do; if  then it be either denied or neglected, the said Freemen, or the  major part of them, shall have the power to give order to the  Constables of the several Towns to do the same, and so may meet  together, and choose to themselves a Moderator, and may proceed  to do any act of power which any other General Courts may.

7.

It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that after there  are warrants given out for any of the said General Courts, the  Constable or Constables of each Town, shall forthwith give  notice distinctly to the inhabitants of the same, in some  public assembly or by going or sending from house to house,  that at a place and time by him or them limited and set, they  meet and assemble themselves together to elect and choose  certain deputies to be at the General Court then following to  agitate the affairs of the Commonwealth; which said deputies  shall be chosen by all that are admitted Inhabitants in the  several Towns and have taken the oath of fidelity; provided  that none be chosen a Deputy for any General Court which is  not a Freeman of this Commonwealth.

The aforesaid deputies shall be chosen in manner  following:  every person that is present and qualified as  before expressed, shall bring the names of such, written in  several papers, as they desire to have chosen for that  employment, and these three or four, more or less, being the  number agreed on to be chosen for that time, that have the  greatest number of papers written for them shall be deputies  for that Court; whose names shall be endorsed on the back side  of the warrant and returned into the Court, with the Constable  or Constables' hand unto the same.

8.

It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that Windsor,  Hartford, and Wethersfield shall have power, each Town, to send  four of their Freemen as their deputies to every General Court;  and Whatsoever other Town shall be hereafter added to this  Jurisdiction, they shall send so many deputies as the Court  shall judge meet, a reasonable proportion to the number of  Freemen that are in the said Towns being to be attended  therein; which deputies shall have the power of the whole Town  to give their votes and allowance to all such laws and orders  as may be for the public good, and unto which the said Towns  are to be bound.

9.

It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the  deputies thus chosen shall have power and liberty to appoint  a time and a place of meeting together before any General  Court, to advise and consult of all such things as may concern  the good of the public, as also to examine their own Elections,  whether according to the order, and if they or the greatest  part of them find any election to be illegal they may seclude  such for present from their meeting, and return the same and  their reasons to the Court; and if it be proved true, the  Court may fine the party or parties so intruding, and the Town,  if they see cause, and give out a warrant to go to a new  election in a legal way, either in part or in whole.  Also the  said deputies shall have power to fine any that shall be  disorderly at their meetings, or for not coming in due time or  place according to appointment; and they may return the said  fines into the Court if it be refused to be paid, and the  Treasurer to take notice of it, and to escheat or levy the  same as he does other fines.

10.

It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that every General  Court, except such as through neglect of the Governor and the  greatest part of the Magistrates the Freemen themselves do  call, shall consist of the Governor, or some one chosen to  moderate the Court, and four other Magistrates at least, with  the major part of the deputies of the several Towns legally  chosen; and in case the Freemen, or major part of them,  through neglect or refusal of the Governor and major part of  the Magistrates, shall call a Court, it shall consist of the  major part of Freemen that are present or their deputiues,  with a Moderator chosen by them:  In which said General Courts  shall consist the supreme power of the Commonwealth, and they  only shall have power to make laws or repeal them, to grant  levies, to admit of Freemen, dispose of lands undisposed of,  to several Towns or persons, and also shall have power to call  either Court or Magistrate or any other person whatsoever into  question for any misdemeanor, and may for just causes displace  or deal otherwise according to the nature of the offense; and  also may deal in any other matter that concerns the good of  this Commonwealth, except election of Magistrates, which shall  be done by the whole body of Freemen.

In which Court the Governor or Moderator shall have power  to order the Court, to give liberty of speech, and silence  unseasonable and disorderly speakings, to put all things to  vote, and in case the vote be equal to have the casting voice.

But none of these Courts shall be adjourned or dissolved  without the consent of the major part of the Court.

11.

It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that when any  General Court upon the occasions of the Commonwealth have  agreed upon any sum, or sums of money to be levied upon the  several Towns within this Jurisdiction, that a committee be  chosen to set out and appoint what shall be the proportion of  every Town to pay of the said levy, provided the committee be  made up of an equal number out of each Town.

  14th January 1639 the 11 Orders above said are voted.

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COLONIAL RECORDS OF VIRGINIA.

 Richmond, Va: R.F. Walker, Superintendent Public Printing. 1874.

I. The First Assembly of Virginia, held July 30, 1619

II. List of the livinge and the dead in Virginia, Feb'y 16, 1623

III. A briefe declaration of the plantation of Virginia, during the first twelve years, when Sir Thomas Smith was Governor of the Company,

IV. A list of the number of men, women and children, inhabitants in the several Counties within the Collony of Virginia, in 1634

V. A letter from Charles II., acknowledging the receipt of a present of Virginia Silk, 1668

VI. A list of the Parishes in Virginia, 1680

VII. Addenda

THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIRST ASSEMBLY OF VIRGINIA, Held July 30th, 1619.

 INTRODUCTION.

 The documents herewith presented are printed from copies obtained from the Public Record Office of Great Britain. When the question of the boundary line between Maryland and Virginia was before the Legislature of the latter State, in 1860, Colonel Angus W. McDonald was sent to England to obtain the papers necessary to protect the interests of Virginia. He brought back nine volumes of manuscripts and one book containing forty-eight maps (see his report, Virginia Legislative Documents, No. 39, 1861,). The volumes of manuscripts contained, upon an average, 425 pages each, and were filled with valuable historical documents, of many of which no copies had ever been seen on this continent since the originals were sent from the Colony of Virginia. In a conversation with the writer, held soon after his return from England, in March, 1861, Colonel McDonald stated that having obtained copies of all the documents relating to the question of the boundary line which could be found, and having more money left of the appropriation made than was needed to pay the expenses of his return home, he decided to devote the surplus to obtaining copies of papers relating to the early history of the State, without reference to the question of the boundary line. This statement will, we presume, satisfactorily account for the presence in his collection of such papers as do not relate to the subject upon which he was engaged. That he was well qualified to select such papers is evident from an examination of the list which he made out.

During the occupation of the State capital building by the Federal troops and officials, after the surrender of the Confederate authorities in April, 1865, a very large quantity of the official documents filed in the archives of the State were removed from that building, and at the same time four of the nine volumes and the portfolio of maps above mentioned. Nothing has been heard from any of them since. In 1870, the question of the boundary line being again before the Legislature of Virginia, the Governor sent the Hon. D.C. De Jarnette upon the same errand that Colonel McDonald had so well performed, and the result was the obtaining of such papers as he could find relating to the subject under consideration, including duplicates of some of those which though useful in this connection, are included in the five volumes remaining of those collected by Col. McDonald; also, charters of great length, but which are to be found in print in the histories and statutes of the State, and many of the miscellaneous papers which Colonel McDonald had copied under the circumstances above named. Among the latter is the account of the first meeting of the Assembly at Jamestown in 1619. When Colonel McDonald visited the State Paper Office (as it was then called) in 1860, this great repository of historical materials had not been thrown open to the public, and he tells us in his report that it was twenty days after his arrival in London before he could obtain permission to examine the archives of the State Paper Office. A year or two afterwards all of the restrictions which had existed were removed, the papers arranged chronologically, and an index made by which they could be referred to. Farther, W. Noel Sainsbury, Esq., one of the officers of what is now called the Public Record Office, had published a calendar of all the papers relating to the British colonies in North America and the West Indies, from the first discoveries to 1660 (soon be followed by another coming down to the period of the independence of the United States), which contains a brief abstract of every paper included in the above named period, so that enquirers upon subjects embraced in this calendar can by reference see what the office has on file relating to it, and obtain copies of the documents required, at a much less cost than a voyage to England. Acting upon this knowledge, the Library Committee of the Virginia Legislature has made a contract with Mr. Sainsbury for copies of the titles and copious abstracts of every paper in the Public Record Office, and other repositories, which relates to the history of Virginia while a Colony. All of which he proposes to furnish for about L250, being less than one-half the cost of either of the missions sent, which have obtained only a small fraction of the papers which we are to receive. He is performing his work in a most satisfactory manner; so much is he interested in the task that he has greatly exceeded his agreement by furnishing gratuitously full and complete copies of many documents of more than ordinary interest. Yet notwithstanding the known facilities afforded by the British Government and its officials, Mr. De Jarnette complains that he was refused permission to examine the Rolls Office and the State Paper Office (see his report, Senate Documents Session 1871-'2, p. 12); and further, on page 15, he informs us that the papers which he obtained had to be dug from a mountain of Colonial records with care and labor. His troubles were further increased by the fact that the Colonial papers are not arranged under heads of respective Colonies, but thrown promiscuously together and constitute an immense mass of ill kept and badly written records, ib. p. 22.

The reader will infer from the preceding remarks that the State has two complete copies of the record of the proceedings of the first Assembly which met at Jamestown, viz: the McDonald and the De Jarnette copies, and also an abstract furnished by Mr. Sainsbury. Bancroft, the historian, obtained a copy of this paper, which was printed in the collections of the New York Historical Society for 1857. We have therefore been enabled to compare three different versions, and in a measure, a fourth. The De Jarnette copy being in loose sheets, written on one side only, was selected as the most convenient for the printer, and the text is printed from it. Where this differs from either of the others the foot notes show the differences, and, when no reference is made it is because all of them correspond.

When these papers were submitted as a part of the report of the Commissioners on the Boundary Line a joint resolution was adopted by both houses of the Legislature authorizing the Committee on the Library to print such of the papers as might be selected, provided the consent of the Commission could be obtained. Application was made to allow the first and second papers in this pamphlet to be printed but it was refused. The Commission having been dissolved the Committee on the Library have assumed the responsibility and herewith submit this instalment of these interesting documents, which were written before the Colony of Maryland was known, and all of which, save the first, were never before printed.

The Report of the proceedings of the first Assembly is prefaced with the introductory note published with Mr. Bancroft's copy, to which a few notes explanatory have been added.

Trusting that this instalment of these historical records of the Ancient Dominion will be acceptable to the students of our early history, and sufficiently impress the members of the Legislature with their value to move them to make an appropriation sufficient to print all that has been obtained, this is

Respectfully submitted, by your obedient servants,

THOS. H. WYNNE,

  } Chm. Senate Com. on Library,

 }

  } Sub Committee in W.S. GILMAN, Charge of Library.  } Charge of Library. Chm. House Com. on Library.

  }

 INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

 Virginia, for twelve years after its settlement, languished under the government of Sir Thomas Smith, Treasurer of the Virginia Company in England. The Colony was ruled during that period by laws written in blood; and its history shows how the narrow selfishness of despotic power could counteract the best efforts of benevolence. The colonists suffered an extremity of distress too horrible to be described. In April, 1619, Sir George Yeardley arrived. Of the emigrants who had been sent over at great cost, not one in twenty then remained alive. In James Citty were only those houses that Sir Thomas Gates built in the tyme of his government, with one wherein the Governor allwayes dwelt, and a church, built wholly at the charge of the inhabitants of that citye, of timber, being fifty foote in length and twenty foot in breadth. At Henrico, now Richmond, there were no more than three old houses, a poor ruinated Church, with some few poore buildings in the Islande.[1] For ministers to instruct the people, he founde only three authorized, two others who never received their orders. The natives he founde uppon doubtfull termes; so that when the twelve years of Sir Thomas Smith's government expired, Virginia, according to the judgements of those who were then members of the Colony, was in a poore estate.[A]

From the moment of Yeardley's arrival dates the real life of Virginia. He brought with him Commissions and instructions from the Company for the better establishinge of a Commonwealth heere.[B] He made proclamation, that those cruell lawes by which we (I use the words of the Ancient Planters themselves) had soe longe been governed, were now abrogated, and that we were to be governed by those free lawes which his Majesties subjectes live under in Englande. Nor were these considerations made dependent on the good will of administrative officers.

And that they might have a hande in the governinge of themselves, such are the words of the Planters, yt was graunted that a generall Assemblie shoulde be helde yearly once, whereat were to be present the Gov^r and Counsell w^{th} two Burgesses from each Plantation, freely to be elected by the Inhabitants thereof, this Assemblie to have power to make and ordaine whatsoever lawes and orders should by them be thought good and proffitable for our subsistance.[C]

In conformity with these instructions, Sir George Yeardley sente his summons all over the country, as well to invite those of the Counsell of Estate that were absente, as also for the election of Burgesses;[D] and on Friday, the 30th day of July, 1619, the first elective legislative body of this continent assembled at James City.

In the relation of Master John Rolfe, inserted by Captain John Smith in his History of Virginia,[E] there is this meagre notice of the Assembly: The 25 of June came in the Triall with Corne and Cattell in all safety, which tooke from vs cleerely all feare of famine; then our gouernor and councell caused Burgesses to be chosen in all places and met at a generall Assembly, where all matters were debated thought expedient for the good of the Colony. This account did not attract the attention of Beverley, the early historian of Virginia, who denies that there was any Assembly held there before May, 1620.[F]

The careful Stith, whose work is not to be corrected without a hearty recognition of his superior diligence and exemplary fidelity, gives an account[G] of this first legislative body, though he errs a little in the date by an inference from Rolfe's narrative, which the words do not warrant.

The prosperity of Virginia begins with the day when it received, as a commonwealth, the freedom to make laws for itself. In a solemn address to King James, which was made during the government of Sir Francis Wyatt, and bears the signature of the Governor, Council, and apparently every member of the Assembly, a contrast is drawn between the former miserable bondage, and this just and gentle authoritye which hath cherished us of late by more worthy magistrates. And we, our wives and poor children shall ever pray to God, as our bounden duty is, to give you in this worlde all increase of happines, and to crowne you in the worlde to come w^{th} immortall glorye.[H]

A desire has long existed to recover the record of the proceedings of the Assembly which inaugurated so happy a revolution. Stith was unable to find it; no traces of it were met by Jefferson; and Hening,[I] and those who followed Hening, believed it no longer extant. Indeed, it was given up as hopelessly lost.

Having, during a long period of years, instituted a very thorough research among the papers relating to America in the British State Paper Office, partly in person and partly with the assistance of able