The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Editorial Board
• Alphabetical List of Authors
• Illustrations
• Introduction
• Organization of the Work
• Note On the Texts
• Part One: the Civil War
• The Crittenden Compromise
• South Carolina Ordinance of Secession
• South Carolina Declaration of Causes of Secession
• Mississippi Ordinance of Secession
• Mississippi Declaration of Causes of Secession
• Virginia Ordinance to Repeal the Ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America
• Missouri Act Declaring the Political Ties Heretofore Existing Between the State of Missouri and the United States of America Dissolved
• Ordinance of the Kentucky Convention
• Constitution of the Confederate States of America
• Farewell Speech to the United States Congress
• Inaugural Address
• First Inaugural Address
• Proclamation Calling the Militia and Convening Congress
• Proclamation of Blockade Against Southern Ports
• Message to Congress In Special Session
• Proclamation Suspending Writ of Habeas Corpus
• Message to Congress On Gradual Abolishment of Slavery
• Proclamation Revoking General Hunter’s Emancipation Order
• Emancipation Proclamation
• Emancipation Proclamation
• The Gettysburg Address
• Message to the Congress of Confederate States
• Act to Increase the Military Force of the Confederate States
• Last Order
• Part Two: Reconstruction
• Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction
• Veto Message With Wade-davis Proclamation and Bill
• Wade-davis Manifesto
• Special Field Order No. 15
• Second Inaugural Address
• Last Public Address
• Constitution of Indiana, Article Xiii
• Black Code of Mississippi
• U.s. Constitution, Thirteenth Amendment
• Freedmen’s Bureau Bill
• Second Freedmen’s Bureau Bill
• Veto of the Second Freedmen’s Bureau Bill
• Civil Rights Act
• First Reconstruction Act of 1867
• Veto of the First Reconstruction Act
• First Supplement to the First Reconstruction Act of 1867
• Second Supplement to the First Reconstruction Act of 1867
• Articles of Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
• Debate On Proposed Fourteenth Amendment
• U.s. Constitution, Fifteenth Amendment
• Enforcement Act of 1870
• Enforcement Act of 1871
• Enforcement Act of 1875
• The Constitution of the State of Mississippi, As Adopted In Convention
• Inaugural Address
• Civil Rights Cases
• Constitution of the State of Mississippi
• Part Three: Consolidating Markets
• The Homestead Act
• The Pacific Railway Act
• The Morrill Act
• The Gospel of Wealth
• Cross of Gold Speech
• First Inaugural Address
• First Annual Message
• Lochner V. New York
• Part Four: Consolidating Culture?
• Twelfth Annual Report of the Massachusetts State School Board
• Address On Colonization to a Deputation of Negroes
• Address of Booker T. Washington, Principal Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, Tuskegee, Ala., At the Opening of the Exposition
• Plessy V. Ferguson
• The Talented Tenth
• Treaty Between the United States of America and the Navajo Tribe of Indians; Concluded June 1, 1868; Ratification Advised July 25, 1868; Proclaimed August 12, 1868.
• Dawes Act
• Proposed Constitutional Amendment
• Massachusetts Constitutional Provision
• Reynolds V. United States
• The Late Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Et Al. V. United States
• Immigration Policy
• The Principles of Scientific Management
• Carrie Buck, By R. G. Shelton, Her Guardian and Next Friend, Plff. In Err., V. J. H. Bell, Superintendent of the State Colony For Epileptics and Feeble Minded
• Introduction to I’ll Take My Stand
• Part Five: Reform Movements
• National People’s Party Platform, Adopted At Omaha, Neb., July 4, 1892
• Coin’s Financial School
• Lecture II: What Pragmatism Means
• The Socialist Party and the Working Class
• Preamble
• The Subjective Necessity For Social Settlements
• Why the Ward Boss Rules
• Declaration of Principles of the Progressive Party
• The Income Tax
• Speech On Constitutionality of an Income Tax
• U.s. Constitution, Sixteenth Amendment
• Direct Election of U.s. Senators
• Resolution Opposing Direct Election of Senators
• U.s. Constitution, Seventeenth Amendment
• First Annual Meeting of the Woman’s State Temperance Society
• Prohibition Debate
• U.s. Constitution, Eighteenth Amendment
• U.s. Constitution, Twenty-first Amendment
• Women’s Suffrage
• The Fundamental Principle of a Republic
• Debate On Women’s Suffrage
• U.s. Constitution, Nineteenth Amendment
• Part Six: Consolidating Government
• The Pendleton Act
• Interstate Commerce Act
• Veto Message—distribution of Seeds
• Sherman Antitrust Act
• President’s Message to the Senate and House of Representatives
• Federal Trade Commission Act
• The Place of the Independent Commission
• Radio Address On Unemployment Relief
• Commonwealth Club Address
• Inaugural Address
• Federal Emergency Relief Act
• National Industrial Recovery Act
• Redistribution of Wealth
• A. L. A. Schechter Poultry Corp. Et Al. V. United States
• Fireside Chat On the Reorganization of the Judiciary
• National Labor Relations Board V. Jones & Laughlin Steel
• Part Seven: America In the World
• Monroe Doctrine—seventh Annual Message
• Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine
• The Fallacy of Territorial Extension
• The Star of Empire
• Open Door Note
• Woodrow Wilson On Neutrality and War
• Statement On American Neutrality
• Address to the Senate
• Dissent In Wartime
• Espionage Act
• Free Speech In Wartime
• Sedition Act
• Schenck V. United States
• Fourteen Points Speech
• Covenant of the League of Nations
• Speech Against the League of Nations
• Kellogg-briand Pact
• Note On Chinchow
• Neutrality and War
• The Atlantic Charter
• The Four Freedoms
• Pearl Harbor Speech
• Sources

Organization of the Work

This work is in seven parts. As in the previous volume, each part is composed of selections of public writings intended to illustrate the major philosophical, cultural, and policy positions at issue during crucial eras of American political and cultural development.

The first part, “The Civil War,” provides documentary evidence of the positions of both sides as to the causes of that war, as well as the intentions behind eventual emancipation of African Americans and the impact of the war itself on American public life. The second part, “Reconstruction,” provides materials illustrating the nature and purpose of the programs initiated by the victorious states at the end of the Civil War, as well as reactions to that program in the Southern states that were these programs’ target. The third part, “Consolidating Markets,” includes materials showing the contested nature of the government’s role in American economic expansion and the growth of national markets for goods and services. The fourth part, “Consolidating Culture?” includes materials illustrating the various cultural conflicts—regarding race, religion, ethnicity, ideology, and culture—that characterized the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. The fifth part, “Reform Movements,” provides materials on the various reform movements that influenced public life and policy during this era, focusing on the constitutional changes they sought and achieved. The sixth part, “Consolidating Government,” traces the development of the federal administrative and welfare state through various legal, constitutional, and intellectual crises and developments. The seventh part, “America in the World,” provides materials tracing developments in America’s public position regarding the role it can and should take in international affairs.

This volume ends with the opening of the Second World War. While it would, perhaps, be helpful to include documents from beyond this era, it was judged prudent to stop there. Reasons for this decision include the need to keep the volume to some kind of manageable length, the existence of many courses in contemporary American history that begin at or immediately following World War II, and the general recognition that America’s participation in that war significantly altered its role in the world and the nature of debates regarding the nature of its people and the proper role of its government.

As with the previous volume, the placement of specific selections within this work is intended to answer two pedagogical needs: that of chronological consistency and that of issue focus, so that readers may see particular topics of importance in sufficient depth to give them serious examination. Given the increased complexity and prevalence of public debates, particularly concerning the role of government, during the era covered in this second volume, it proved more difficult to maintain chronological consistency than in the first. Consequently, in this work there is somewhat greater overlap of eras among the documents. Moreover, in a very few cases it was necessary to present documents from eras before that which is the focus of this volume. For example, it would be confusing to readers to avoid presentation of the original statement of the Monroe Doctrine in “America in the World,” despite its dating from well before the Civil War, because that doctrine has been central to debates concerning America’s proper attitude toward international affairs and conflicts. In addition, Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s “Address to the Woman’s State Temperance Society” is presented, despite its having been delivered before the Civil War. This is because Stanton and that speech had influence beyond the Civil War era, because they presented arguably the most lucid and powerful statement of prohibition assumptions and ideology, and because Stanton herself embodied an important element in reform movements—the ties between abolitionism, prohibition, and the struggle for women’s rights.

Thanks are owed to the members of this volume’s editorial board, especially to Dr. Danton Kostandarithes, whose assistance went well beyond the call of duty. I also wish to thank the following for their assistance: Amy Ruark, Raymond McAuliffe, and Michael Thiefels. As always, my greatest thanks and my greatest debts belong to my wife, Gloria Antonia Frohnen, for reasons that include but go far beyond the many ways in which she made possible the completion of this work.