The U.S.

Constitution A Reader

Edited by the Hillsdale College Politics Department

 The U.S. Constitution: A Reader
E dited by the H illsdale C ollege P olitics D epartment

Table of Contents

I. The Apple of Gold and the Frame of Silver

• The Declaration of Independence
• Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Henry Lee
• Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
• Aristotle, The Politics
• Cicero, On the Commonwealth
• John Locke, Second Treatise on Government
• Algernon Sidney, Discourses Concerning Government
• The Constitution of the United States of America
• Abraham Lincoln, Fragment on the Constitution and Union

II. Natural Rights and the American Revolution

• James Otis, “Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved”
• Thomas Jefferson, “A Summary View of the Rights of British America”
• Gad Hitchcock, “An Election Sermon”
• Alexander Hamilton, “The Farmer Refuted”
• Thomas Paine, “Common Sense”
• Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Roger Weightman

III. The Founders on Religion, Morality, and Property

• Virginia Declaration of Rights
• Fast Day Proclamation of the Continental Congress
• The Northwest Ordinance
• James Madison, “Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments”
• Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
• George Washington, Letter to the Hebrew Congregation
in Newport, Rhode Island
• George Washington, “Farewell Address”
• Thomas Jefferson, Letter to the Danbury Baptist Association
• James Madison, “On Property”

IV. Government under the Articles of Confederation:

The Problem of Legislative/Majority Tyranny
• The Articles of Confederation
• George Washington, Circular Letter to the States
 • George Washington, Letter to John Jay
• George Washington, Letter to James Madison
• Thomas Jefferson, “Query XIII: Constitution,” from Notes on the
State of Virginia
• James Madison, “Vices of the Political System of the United States”

V. Rethinking the Nature of Union and the Structure of Government

• George Washington, Letter Transmitting the New Constitution
• Federalist 1
• Federalist 9
• Brutus, “Essay I”
• Federalist 10
• Federalist 15
• Federalist 23
• Federalist 39
• Federalist 40
• Federal Farmer, “Letter I and II”
• Federalist 47
• Federalist 48
• Federalist 49
• Federalist 51
• Federalist 84

VI. The Three Branches of Government

• Federalist 52
• Federalist 53
• Federalist 55
• Federalist 57
• Federalist 62
• Federalist 63
• Federalist 70
• Federalist 71
• Federalist 72
• Federalist 73
• Federalist 74
• Brutus, “Essay XI”
• Federalist 78
• Marbury v. Madison

VII. The Founders on Slavery, the Rise of the Positive Good School,
and the Roots of the Secession Crisis
• Thomas Jefferson, Draft of the Declaration of Independence
• Northwest Ordinance
• George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton,
and James Madison on slavery
• Thomas Jefferson, “Query XVIII: Manners,” from Notes on the State of Virginia
• Alexander Hamilton, Letter to John Jay
• Federalist 54
• John Jay, Letter to the President of the English Society
for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves
• Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Henri Gregoire
• John C. Calhoun, “Speech on Reception of Abolition Petitions”
• John C. Calhoun, “Speech on the Oregon Bill”
• Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Holmes
 • James Madison, Letter to Edward Everett
• The Missouri Compromise
• The Wilmot Proviso
• Daniel Webster, “Speech on the Compromise of 1850”
• Alabama Slave Code

VIII. Crisis of Constitutional Government

• Abraham Lincoln, “Speech on the Kansas-Nebraska Act”
• Republican Party Platform of 1856
• Dred Scott v. Sandford
• Abraham Lincoln, “Speech on the Dred Scott Decision”
• Abraham Lincoln, “House Divided Speech”
• Stephen Douglas, “Speech at Chicago”
• Seventh Lincoln-Douglas Debate
• Stephen Douglas, “The Dividing Line Between Federal and Local Authority:
Popular Sovereignty and the Territories”
• Abraham Lincoln, “Address at Cooper Institute”

IX. Secession and Civil War

• Jefferson Davis, “Reply in the Senate to William Seward”
• Jefferson Davis, “Reply in the Senate to Stephen Douglas”
• South Carolina Secession Declaration
• Alexander Stephens, “Cornerstone Speech”
• Jefferson Davis, “Farewell Address to the Senate”
• Abraham Lincoln, “First Inaugural Address”
• Abraham Lincoln, “Message to Congress in Special Session”
• The Emancipation Proclamation
• Abraham Lincoln, “Gettysburg Address”
• Abraham Lincoln, “Second Inaugural Address”

X. The Progressive Rejection of the Founding

• John Dewey, Liberalism and Social Action
• Frank Goodnow, “The American Conception of Liberty”
• Woodrow Wilson, “What is Progress?”
• Woodrow Wilson, “Socialism and Democracy”
• Woodrow Wilson, “The Presidency of the United States,”
from Constitutional Government of the United States
• Theodore Roosevelt, “The Presidency,” from The Rough Riders, An Autobiography
• Woodrow Wilson, “The Study of Administration”
• Theodore Roosevelt, “The Right of the People to Rule”
• Herbert Croly, Progressive Democracy
• Calvin Coolidge, “The Inspiration of the Declaration”

XI. Institutionalizing Progressivism: The New Deal and the Great Society
• Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Commonwealth Club Address”
• Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Democratic Convention Address,” 1936
• Winston Churchill, “What Good’s a Constitution?”
• Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Annual Message to Congress,” 1944
• John F. Kennedy, “Commencement Address,” Yale University
• Lyndon B. Johnson, “Remarks,” University of Michigan
• Lyndon B. Johnson, “Commencement Address,” Howard University
• Ronald Reagan, “A Time for Choosing”
• Ronald Reagan, “First Inaugural Address”