Waypoints Library

Welcome to the Waypoints Library

Some education platforms boast about providing tens or even hundreds of thousands of primary sources. It’s too much.

We asked a simple question: What are the pivotal historical documents with which well-educated high school students should be familiar by the time they graduate?

Our answer: The 138 primary source documents below that stretch from the books of Greek, Renaissance, and Enlightenment philosophy to the key speeches, essays, and public papers of American history.

All documents within the Waypoints Library are presented in full and unabridged—making the Library a useful academic research tool. Select documents are also presented in abridged versions for teachers who want the convenience of keeping reading assignments shorter.

Each Waypoints primary source document has been beautifully formatted and published so that it is easy on the eyes of both students and teachers. Assembling this unique collection of historic materials has been a labor of love; we hope you enjoy studying these documents with care as much as we do.

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Academy Plan

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Early American History

Colonial Period

1. Mayflower Compact 2. Salem Compact

Revolution and Independence

3. Thomas Jefferson, "A Summary View of the Rights of British America" 4. Patrick Henry, Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death Speech 5. Thomas Paine, Common Sense 6. Samuel West, "On the Right to Rebel Against Governors" 7. Henry Lee's Resolution for Independence 8. Declaration of Independence 9. Articles of Confederation

Religious Liberty in the American Founding

10. James Madison, "A Memorial & Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments" 11. Thomas Jefferson, A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom

The Special Problem of Slavery in the American Founding

12. Thomas Jefferson's Rough Draft of the Declaration of Independence 13. George Washington, Letter to Morris (April 12, 1786) 14. John Adams, Letter to Evans (June 8, 1819) 15. Alexander Hamilton, Philo Camillus no. 2 (1795) 16. James Madison, Speech at Constitutional Convention (June 6, 1787) 17. James Madison, Speech at Constitutional Convention (August 25, 1787) 18. Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (Query 14) 19. Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (Query 18) 20. Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Henri Gregoire (February 25, 1809) 21. United States Constitution (slavery-related clauses I:2, I:9, IV:2) 22. The Federalist Papers (#54) 23. Northwest Ordinance

The Meaning of Property in the American Founding

24. James Madison, "On Property"

A More Perfect Union

The United States Constitution 25. Thomas Jefferson, Letter to James Madison (February 1, 1825) 26. James Madison, Letter to Thomas Jefferson (February 8, 1825)

“Best Commentary on the Principles of Government Which Ever Was Written”

The Federalist Papers (#54)

The Indispensable Man: Washington

27. George Washington, Rules of Civility 28. George Washington, First Inaugural Address 29. George Washington, Letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport 30. George Washington, Farewell Address

Ballots Not Bullets

31. Thomas Jefferson, Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 32. Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address 33. Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1803)

Later American History

Prelude to Secession: Missouri Compromise and Nullification Crisis of 1828-1833

34. 1820 Missouri Compromise 35. Congressional Globe, Speech Re: theTallmadge Amendment 36. Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Holmes 37. South Carolina's 1832 Ordinance of Nullification 38. President Andrew Jackson's 1832 Proclamation Re: South Carolina 39. Force Bill of 1833 40. John C. Calhoun, 1816 Tariff Speech 41. John C. Calhoun, "Exposition & Protest"

Abolitionism, Emancipation, and Constitutional Self-Government

42. William Lloyd Garrison, "To the Public" 43. Frederick Douglass, "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" 44. Abraham Lincoln, 1836 Announcement of Political Views 45. Abraham Lincoln, Protest on the Slavery Question 46. Abraham Lincoln, Lyceum Address 47. Abraham Lincoln, Temperance Address

1850 Compromise, Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, and Dred Scott

48. 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act 49. Abraham Lincoln, Speech on the Kansas-Nebraska Act (Speech at Peoria) 50. Abraham Lincoln, Fragments on Slavery 51. Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857) 52. Defense speech in the Gruber case 53. 1856 Presidential Election results 54. Abraham Lincoln, Speech on Dred Scott 55. Abraham Lincoln, 1859 Letter to Henry Lee

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

56. Abraham Lincoln's House Divided Speech 57. Abraham Lincoln's 1858 Chicago speech responding to Douglas 58. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

John C. Calhoun and the New Science of Race and Politics

59. John C. Calhoun, Speech on Reception of Abolition Petitions, 60. John C. Calhoun, Speech on the Oregon Bill 61. John C. Calhoun, "Disquisition on Government" 62. Alexander Stephens, Cornerstone Speech 63. James Henley Thornwell, "Southern Christian View of Slavery" 64. Rev. Fred A. Ross, D.D., Slavery Ordained of God 65. Abraham Lincoln, Fragment on Ross and Pro-slavery Theology

The 1860 Election, Lincoln’s Inauguration, and Secession

66. Four 1860 Party Platforms 67. Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union 68. A Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union 69. Georgia Secession Statement 70. Abraham Lincoln, 1860 Address at the Cooper Institute 71. Abraham Lincoln, Fragment on Constitution and Union 72. Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address 73. Abraham Lincoln, Message to Congress in Special Session

Lincoln, The Politics of Emancipation, and the 13th Amendment

United States Constitution (13th Amendment) 74. Abraham Lincoln, Letter to Horace Greeley 75. Abraham Lincoln, Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation 76. Abraham Lincoln, Emancipation Proclamation 77. Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address 78. Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address

From the Ashes of the Civil War: The Rise of Progressivism

79. Frank Goodnow, "The American Conception of Liberty" 80. Woodrow Wilson, Constitutional Government 81. Woodrow Wilson, "Leaders of Men" 82. Walter Rauschenbusch, Christianizing the Social Order 83. Charles Merriam, A History of American Political Theories 84. Calvin Coolidge, Address on the 150ᵗʰ Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence

World War I

85. Frederick Jackson Turner, "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" 86. Pledge of Allegiance 87. NAACP, "What Will The Negro Get Out of the War?" 88. Woodrow Wilson, 14 Points Speech 89. Calvin Coolidge, Speech at Tremont Temple

FDR’s New Deal

90. Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932 Commonwealth Club Address 91. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Renomination Acceptance Speech 92. Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 (1942) 93. Franklin Roosevelt, 1944 State of the Union Address

World War II

94. Winston Churchill, Blood, Toil, Sweat, & Tears Speech 95. Winston Churchill, We Shall Fight on the Beaches Speech 96. Charles Lindbergh, America First 97. The Atlantic Charter 98. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Day of Infamy Speech 99. Harry Truman, The Truman Doctrine Speech

The Cold War

100. Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech 101. NSC 68: United States Objectives and Programs for National Security 102. Dwight Eisenhower, Farewell Address (Military-Industrial Complex Speech) 103. Ronald Reagan, "Tear Down the Wall" Speech

Civil Rights Movement

104. Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) 105. MLK Jr., I Have a Dream Speech 106. MLK Jr., Letter from Birmingham City Jail 107. Port Huron Statement 108. 1964 Civil Rights Act 109. Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States, 379 U.S. 241 (1964) 110. Lyndon Johnson, Remarks at the University of Michigan

America After the 1960s

111. Ronald Reagan, A Time for Choosing Speech 112. Ronald Reagan, First Inaugural Address 113. George W. Bush, Address to the Nation on September 11, 2001 114. George W. Bush, Address to Joint Session of Congress and the American People on September 20, 2001 115. Angelo Codevilla, "Victory: What It Will Take To Win?"

Philosophy in Their Words

116. Plato, The Republic 117. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 118. Aristotle, Politics 119. Machiavelli, The Prince 120. Francis Bacon, The Great Instauration 121. Francis Bacon, Novum Organum 122. John Locke, First Treatise on Government 123. John Locke, Second Treatise on Government 124. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, First Discourse 125. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Second Discourse 126. Immanuel Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals 127. Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto 128. Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals 129. C.S. Lewis, Abolition of Man

Economics & Citizenship

James Madison, "On Property" 130. Frédéric Bastiat, The Law 131. Adam Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations 132. Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson 133. Friedrich Hayek, The Road to Serfdom 134. Friedrich Hayek, "The Use of Knowledge in Society" 135. Leonard Read, "I, Pencil" 136. Waypoints Wealth Creation Videos 137. Thomas Krannawitter, Save the Swamp 138. Thomas Krannawitter, Introduction to United States Citizenship