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WAYPOINTS OF HISTORY

Welcome to the Library

Waves

We began with a simple question: Which pivotal historical documents should well-educated high school students know by the time they graduate?

Our answer is the curated collection below: 138 primary-source documents organized into four categories:

• Early American History
• Later American History
• Philosophy in Their Own Words
• Economics & Citizenship

Every item in the Waypoints Library is presented in full, unabridged and unaltered. These documents appear as their authors wrote them, including language that may be unfamiliar or even challenging for modern readers. To study history honestly, we must encounter the past as it was, not as some today might wish to revise it.

Each document has been beautifully published. Important texts should be easy on the eyes and a pleasure to read.

Note: The Waypoints Library is being completed. Many titles are already published and available for study. The remaining titles marked “Coming Soon” are being prepared and published weekly.

All Waypoints plans include Educator and Student accounts.

Educators may use the primary-source documents in the Waypoints Library, along with Teacher Tutorials and Instructional Resources.

Student accounts are limited to the Library’s primary-source documents.

Free Trial users: your Waypoints account still exists even if your trial has expired. Sign in first to upgrade to a Home Plan.
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Home Plan

For individual learners and homeschooling families.

Up to 2 Educator and 4 Student accounts.

Purchase online today.

Purchase a Home Plan
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ACADEMY PLAN

For schools and districts.

Priced by student enrollment.

Contact us to learn more.
Inquire About Academy Plan
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CUSTOM PLAN

For needs between Home and Academy.

Choose the account mix that fits you.

Built around your goals.
Design A Custom Plan

Teachers

Waypoints offers graduate-level tutorials that deepen subject-matter expertise.

Students

Creates direct engagement with pivotal texts and enduring ideas.

Individual learners and homeschooling families

Flexible way to enrich study and instruction.

Schools and Organizations

Scalable budget-friendly resource that strengthens existing curricula and programs.

Documents For Free Trial Access

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Early American History

Colonial Period

Revolution and Independence

Religious Liberty in the American Founding

The Special Problem of Slavery in the American Founding

The Meaning of Property in the American Founding

A More Perfect Union

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

The Indispensable Man: Washington

Ballots Not Bullets

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Later American History

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

Abolitionism, Emancipation, and Constitutional Self-Government

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

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

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

The 1860 Election, Lincoln’s Inauguration, and Secession

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

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

World War I

FDR’s New Deal

World War II

The Cold War

Civil Rights Movement

America After the 1960s

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Philosophy in Their Words

Philosophy in Their Words

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Economics & Citizenship

Economics & Citizenship

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”

Abolitionism, Emancipation, and Constitutional Self-Government

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

Early American History

Early American History

Early American History
Early American History
Early American History
Later American History

Later American History

Later American History
Later American History
Later American History
Later American History
Later American History
Later American History
Later American History
Later American History
Later American History
Philosophy in Their Words

Philosophy in Their Words

Philosophy in Their Words
Economics & Citizenship

Economics & Citizenship

Economics & Citizenship

FAQ

Waves

No. Waypoints is not a lesson-plan warehouse. It is a curated library of primary sources paired with tutorials that deepen content knowledge and strengthen instruction. There are no student-facing lesson-plans; there are tutorials for teachers. For teachers, Waypoints is more like graduate school than a set of prepared lesson plans.

The Home Plan is ideal for individual learners and homeschooling families.

Organizer and Educator accounts can access the tutorials. Student accounts cannot.

Waypoints is a digital platform for learning and teaching built around beautifully published Primary Source Documents and Teacher Tutorials that reinforce selected Key Ideas of Liberty.

The Home Plan is $199 per year and includes an Organizer account, up to two Educator accounts, and up to four Student accounts.

Yes. Many people use the Home Plan simply for their own access to the Library and Tutorials. If you are a lifelong learner, the Home Plan is for you.

No. The purchase process automatically creates your Organizer account, which includes full access to all Waypoints content.

A Custom Plan is for schools, organizations, or other users whose needs are not fully met by a Home Plan or an Academy Plan. It can include a tailored combination of Educator and Student accounts. Please contact us for a Custom Plan proposal.

Student accounts can access the Library of primary source documents.

Yes, please do! We encourage teachers to use Tutorial content, written or video, any way they find helpful.

The Academy Plan is designed for schools, school districts, and other educational organizations.

For schools and districts, pricing is based on student enrollment. For non-school organizations and businesses, pricing is based on membership or staff size.

Please use the Contact Us page to discuss pricing, onboarding, and implementation.

Educators receive tutorials that illuminate the documents, deepen subject-matter knowledge, and support stronger classroom instruction.

You can go to the Waypoints Library and see the list of titles we have curated stretching across subjects such as American history, political thought, philosophy, economics, and citizenship.

Not yet. Additional titles are being prepared and published on a rolling basis. We will let members know as more documents are published and uploaded to the Library.

Yes. Waypoints is designed to enrich and elevate existing instruction, especially in history, civics, government, and related courses. A teacher does not need to abandon the textbooks, lesson plans, or other curricula materials that have been used for past instruction. Waypoints is designed as an add-on to the materials teachers have been using and assigning to students.