Milestone Documents of the United States
To help us think, talk and teach about the rights and responsibilities of citizens in our democracy, we invite you to explore 100 milestone documents of American history. These documents reflect our diversity and our unity, our past and our future, and mostly our commitment as a nation to continue to strive to "form a more perfect union."
Document Year Lee Resolution 1776 Declaration of Independence 1776 Articles of Confederation 1777 Treaty of Alliance with France 1778 Original Design of the Great Seal of the United States 1782 Treaty of Paris 1783 Virginia Plan 1787 Northwest Ordinance 1787 Constitution of the United States 1787 Federalist Papers, No. 10 & No. 51 1787-1788 Federal Judiciary Act 1789 President George Washington's First Inaugural Speech 1789 Bill of Rights 1791 Patent for Cotton Gin 1794 President George Washington's Farewell Address 1796 Alien and Sedition Acts 1798 Louisiana Purchase Treaty 1803 Marbury v. Madison 1803 Jefferson's Secret Message to Congress Regarding the Lewis & Clark Expedition 1803 Treaty of Ghent 1814 McCulloch v. Maryland 1819 Missouri Compromise 1820 Monroe Doctrine 1823 Gibbons v. Ogden 1824 President Andrew Jackson's Message to Congress 'On Indian Removal' 1830 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848 Compromise of 1850 1850 Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854 Dred Scott v. Sanford 1857 Telegram Announcing the Surrender of Fort Sumter 1861 Homestead Act 1862 Morrill Act 1862 Pacific Railway Act 1862 War Department General Order 143: Creation of the U.S. Colored Troops 1863 Emancipation Proclamation 1863 Gettysburg Address 1863 Wade-Davis Bill 1864 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Abolition of Slavery 1865 President Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address 1865 Articles of Agreement Relating to the Surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia 1865 Treaty of Fort Laramie 1868 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Civil Rights 1868 Check for the Purchase of Alaska 1868 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Voting Rights 1870 Act Establishing Yellowstone National Park 1872 Thomas Edison's Patent Application for the Light Bulb 1880 Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 Pendleton Act 1883 Interstate Commerce Act 1887 Dawes Act 1887 Sherman Anti-Trust Act 1890 Plessy v. Ferguson 1896 De Lôme Letter 1898 Joint Resolution to Provide for Annexing the Hawaiian Islands to the United States 1898 Platt Amendment 1903 Theodore Roosevelt's Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine 1905 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Federal Income Tax 1913 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Direct Election of U.S. Senators 1913 Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916 1916 Joint Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War Against Germany 1917 Zimmermann Telegram 1917 President Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points 1918 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Women's Right to Vote 1920 Boulder Canyon Project Act 1928 National Industrial Recovery Act 1933 Tennessee Valley Authority Act 1933 National Labor Relations Act 1935 Social Security Act 1935 President Franklin Roosevelt's Radio Address unveiling the second half of the New Deal 1936 President Franklin Roosevelt's Annual Message (Four Freedoms) to Congress 1941 Lend-Lease Act 1941 Executive Order 8802: Prohibition of Discrimination in the Defense Industry 1941 Joint Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War Against Japan 1941 Executive Order 9066: Resulting in the Relocation of Japanese 1942 General Dwight D. Eisenhower's Order of the Day 1944 Servicemen's Readjustment Act 1944 United Nations Charter 1945 Manhattan Project Notebook 1945 Surrender of Japan 1945 Surrender of Germany 1945 Truman Doctrine 1947 Marshall Plan 1948 Press Release Announcing U.S. Recognition of Israel 1948 Executive Order 9981: Desegregation of the Armed Forces 1948 Armistice Agreement for the Restoration of the South Korean State 1953 Senate Resolution 301: Censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy 1954 Brown v. Board of Education 1954 National Interstate and Defense Highways Act 1956 Executive Order 10730: Desegregation of Central High School 1957 Executive Order 10924: Establishment of the Peace Corps. 1961 President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Farewell Address 1961 President John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address 1961 Aerial Photograph of Missiles in Cuba 1962 Transcript of John Glenn's Official Communication with the Command Center 1962 Official Program for the March on Washington 1963 Test Ban Treaty 1963 Civil Rights Act 1964 Tonkin Gulf Resolution 1964 Social Security Act Amendments 1965 Voting Rights Act 1965