James Madison wrote several articles support- A republic, by which I mean a government
ing ratification of the Constitution for a New in which the scheme of representation takes
York newspaper. In the excerpt below, Madison place . . . promises the cure for which we
argues for the idea of a federal republic. are seeking. . . .
The two great points of difference between
By a faction, I understand a number of
a democracy and a republic are: first, the dele-
citizens . . . who are united and actuated by
gation of the government, in the latter, to a
some common impulse . . . adverse to
small number of citizens elected by the rest;
the rights of other citizens. . . .
secondly, the greater number of citizens, and
The inference to
greater sphere of country, over which the latter
which we are brought
may be extended.
is that the causes of fac-
The effect of the first difference is . . . to refine
tion cannot be removed
and enlarge the public views, by passing them
and that relief is only
through the medium of a chosen body of citi-
to be sought in the
zens, whose wisdom may best discern the true
means of controlling
interest of their country, and whose patriotism
its effects. . . .
and love of justice will be least likely to sacrifice
it to temporary or partial considerations. . . .
James Madison
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The great rule of con-
belongs to you in your national capacity, must George Washington
duct for us in regard to for-
always exalt the just pride of patriotism more
eign nations is, in extending our commercial
than any appellation derived from local dis-
relations to have with them as little political
criminations. With slight shades of difference,
connection as possible. . . .
you have the same religion, manners, habits,
. . . I anticipate with pleasing expectation
and political principles. You have in a common
that retreat in which I promise myself to
cause fought and triumphed together. . . .
realize . . . the sweet enjoyment of partak-
In contemplating the causes which may dis-
ing in the midst of my fellow citizens the
turb our union it occurs as matter of serious
benign influence of good laws under a free
concern that any ground should have been fur-
government—the ever-favorite object of my
nished for characterizing parties by geographi-
heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of
cal discriminations. . . .
our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.
During the British bombardment of Fort Whose broad stripes and bright stars
McHenry during the War of 1812, a young Balti- through the perilous fight,
more lawyer named Francis Scott Key was inspired O’er the ramparts we watch’d, were so
to write the words to “The Star-Spangled Banner.” gallantly streaming?
Although it became popular immediately, it was not And the Rockets’ red glare, the Bombs
until 1931 that Congress officially declared “The bursting in air,
Star-Spangled Banner” as our national anthem. Gave proof through the night that our
Flag was still there;
O! say can you see by the dawn’s
O! say does that star-spangled Banner
early light,
yet wave,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s
O’er the Land of the free, and the home
last gleaming,
of the brave!
Governments who have declared their inde- is, not to interfere in the internal concerns of
pendence and maintained it, and whose inde- any of its powers; to consider the government
pendence we have, on great consideration and de facto as the legitimate government for us;
on just principles, acknowledged, we could not to cultivate friendly relations with it, and to
view any interposition for the purpose of preserve those relations by a frank, firm, and
oppressing them, or controlling in any other manly policy, meeting in all instances the just
manner their destiny, by any European power claims of every power, submitting to injuries
in any other light than as the manifestation from none. . . .
The Indian Removal Act our residence and our privileges, and secure us
of 1830 called for the relocation against intruders. Our only request is, that
of Native Americans to territory these treaties may be fulfilled, and these laws
west of the Mississippi River. executed. . . .
Cherokee leaders protested
. . . We have been called a poor, ignorant,
the policy.
Beaded shoulder and degraded people. We certainly are not
bag, Cherokee rich; nor have we ever boasted of our knowl-
We are aware that some
people edge, or our moral or intellectual elevation.
persons suppose it will be for
our advantage to remove beyond the Missis- But there is not a man within our limits so
sippi. We think otherwise. Our people univer- ignorant as not to know that he has a right to
sally think otherwise. . . . live on the land of his fathers, in the possession
We wish to remain on the land of our of his immemorial privileges, and that this
fathers. We have a perfect and original right to right has been acknowledged by the United
remain without interruption or molestation. States; nor is there a man so degraded as not to
The treaties with us, and laws of the United feel a keen sense of injury, on being deprived
States made in pursuance of treaties, guaranty of his right and driven into exile. . . .
Documents
The history of mankind is a history of
for woman suffrage and opportunities for women
in employment and education. Excerpts from the repeated injuries and usurpations on the part
Declaration follow. of man toward woman, having in direct
object the establishment of an absolute
When, in the course of human events, it tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be
becomes necessary for one portion of the fam- submitted to a candid world. . . .
ily of man to assume among the people of the Now, in view of the entire disfranchise-
earth a position different from that which ment of one-half the people of this country,
they have hitherto occupied, but one to which their social and religious degradation—in
the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle view of the unjust laws above mentioned,
them, a decent respect to the opinions of and because women do feel themselves
mankind requires that they should declare aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently
the causes that impel them to such a course. deprived of their most sacred rights, we
We hold these truths to be self-evident: insist that they have immediate admission to
that all men and women are created equal; all the rights and privileges which belong to
that they are endowed by their Creator with them as citizens of these United States. . . .
certain inalienable rights; that among these
are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;
that to secure these rights governments are
instituted, deriving their just powers from
the consent of the governed. Whenever any
form of government becomes destructive of
these ends, it is the right of those who suffer
from it to refuse allegiance to it, and to insist
upon the institution of a new government,
laying its foundation on such principles, and
organizing its powers in such form as to
them shall seem most likely to effect their
safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will
dictate that governments long established
should not be changed for light and transient
causes; . . . But when a long train of abuses
Abraham Lincoln
Members of the
4th Infantry
Documents
here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedi-
Four score and seven years ago our fathers
cated here to the unfinished work which they
brought forth on this continent a new nation,
who fought here have thus far so nobly
conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the
advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedi-
proposition that all men are created equal.
cated to the great task remaining before us—
Now we are engaged in a great civil war,
that from these honored dead we take
testing whether that nation, or any nation so
increased devotion to that cause for which
conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.
they gave the last full measure of devotion;
We are met on a great battlefield of that war.
that we here highly resolve that these dead
We have come to dedicate a portion of that
shall not have died in vain; that this nation,
field as a final resting place for those who
under God, shall have a new birth of free-
here gave their lives that that nation might
dom; and that government of the people, by
live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we
the people, for the people, shall not perish
should do this.
from the earth.
But, in a larger sense, we can not
dedicate—we can not consecrate—
we can not hallow—this ground.
Gettysburg Memorial
Joseph realized that resist- blankets, no food; no one knows where they
ance was hopeless and are—perhaps freezing to death. I want to have
Shield made advised his people to time to look for my children and see how
of buffalo hide surrender. many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find
them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs.
Tell General Howard I know his heart. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From
What he told me before I have in my heart. where the sun now stands I will fight no
I am tired of fighting. . . . The old men are all more forever.
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a Government of the people, by the people, Country to love it; to support its Constitution;
for the people; whose just powers are derived to obey its laws; to respect its flag, and to
from the consent of the governed; a democ- defend it against all enemies.
On January 8, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson our own part we see very clearly that unless
went before Congress to offer a statement of aims justice be done to others it will not be done to
called the Fourteen Points. Wilson’s plan called for us. The program of the world’s peace, there-
freedom of the seas in peace and war, an end to secret fore, is our program; and that program, the
alliances, and equal trading rights for all countries.
only possible program, as we see it, is this:
The excerpt that follows is taken from the President’s
message. I. Open covenants of peace, openly arrived
at, after which there shall be no private inter-
. . . We entered this war because violations national understandings of any kind but
of right had occurred which touched us to the diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and
quick and made the life of our own people in the public view.
impossible unless they were corrected and the
II. Absolute freedom of navigation upon
world secured once for all against their recur-
the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in
rence. What we demand in this war, therefore,
peace and in war, except as the seas may be
is nothing peculiar to ourselves. It is that the
closed in whole or in part by international
world be made fit and safe to live in; and par-
action for the enforcement of international
ticularly that it be made safe for every peace-
covenants.
loving nation which, like our own, wishes to
live its own life, determine its own institutions, XIV. A general association of nations must
be assured of justice and fair dealing by the be formed under specific covenants for the
other peoples of the world as against force and purpose of affording mutual guarantees of
selfish aggression. All the peoples of the world political independence and territorial integrity
are in effect partners in this interest, and for to great and small states alike. . . .
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We observe today not a victory of party but
To those old allies whose cultural and spir-
a celebration of freedom—symbolizing an end
itual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty
as well as a beginning—signifying renewal as
of faithful friends. United, there is little we
well as change. For I have sworn before you
cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures.
and Almighty God the same solemn oath our
Divided, there is little we can do. . . .
forebears prescribed nearly a century and
Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let
three-quarters ago.
us never fear to negotiate.
The world is very different now. For man
Let both sides explore what problems unite
holds in his mortal hands the power to abol-
us instead of belaboring those problems
ish all forms of human poverty and all forms
which divide us. . . .
of human life. And yet the same revolution-
Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders
ary beliefs for which our forebears fought are
of science instead of its terrors. Together let
still at issue around the globe—the belief that
us explore the stars, conquer the deserts,
the rights of man come not from the generos-
eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and
ity of the state but from the hand of God.
encourage the arts and commerce. . . .
We dare not forget today that we are the
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not
heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go
what your country can do for you—ask what
forth from this time and place, to friend and
you can do for your country.
foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not
new generation of Americans—born in this
what America will do for you, but what
century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
together we can do for the freedom of man. . . .
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient
heritage—and unwilling to witness or permit
the slow undoing of those human
rights to which this nation has
always been committed, and to
which we are committed today at
home and around the world.
truths to be
Americans and for the United States. Excerpts of
the speech follow. self-evident,
that all men
. . . There are those who are asking the are created
devotees of civil rights, “When will you equal.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
be satisfied?” I have a dream that one day on the red hills
We can never be satisfied as long as the of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the
Negro is the victim of the unspeakable hor- sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit
rors of police brutality. . . . down together at the table of brotherhood.
We cannot be satisfied as long as the I have a dream that one day even the state
Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller of Mississippi, a desert state sweltering with
ghetto to a larger one. the heat of injustice and oppression, will
We can never be satisfied as long as be transformed into an oasis of freedom
a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and and justice.
a Negro in New York believes he has I have a dream that my four little children
nothing for which to vote. . . . will one day live in a nation where they will
I say to you today, my friends, that in not be judged by the color of their skin but by
spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the the content of their character. . . .
moment I still have a dream. It is a dream . . . When we let freedom ring, when we
deeply rooted in the American dream. I have let it ring from every village and every ham-
let, from every state and every
city, we will be able to speed up
that day when all of God’s chil-
dren, black men and white men,
Jews and Gentiles, Protestants
and Catholics, will be able to
join hands and sing in the words
of the old Negro spiritual: “Free
at last! Free at last! Thank God
Almighty, we are free at last!”
The March
on Washington