Doc of the Day
Doc of the Day: Gettysburg Address
On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln gave a short speech (lasting no more than two minutes) at the commemoration of a cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where more than fifty-one thousand Union and Confederate soldiers had died in a battle lasting three days, from July 1 to 3, 1863. This historic battle ended General Robert [...]
19Nov2008 | mdblogger | 1 comment | Continued
Doc of the Day: Articles of Confederation
On November 15, 1777, the Second Continental Congress accepted the Articles of Confederation. The document was then sent to the states for ratification.
The Articles of Confederation, sometimes called the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was the first constitution of the United States and the American colonies’ first successful attempt to form a unified government. [...]
Doc of the Day: FDR's 1936 campaign address at Madison Square Garden
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s October 31, 1936, campaign speech to a cheering audience in New York City’s Madison Square Garden culminated an aggressive campaign in which the Democratic incumbent drew enormous enthusiastic crowds. The substantive issue in the campaign was whether to continue to go forward with the New Deal reforms, particularly those adopted as [...]
31Oct2008 | mdblogger | 0 comments | Continued
Doc of the Day: Declaration of Rights of the Stamp Act Congress
On October 19, 1765, the Stamp Act Congress approved a Declaration of Rights (including fourteen resolutions) and several petitions denying Parliament’s authority to tax the thirteen colonies. The Stamp Act Congress and its resolutions helped lead to the act’s repeal in March 1766. They also led the colonists to focus on the idea of constitutional [...]
19Oct2008 | mdblogger | 0 comments | Continued
Doc of the Day: Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress
The Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress, adopted on October 14, 1774, is the Continental Congress’s most important proclamation of principles and demonstrates the widening gap between the American colonists and their English motherland. Issued roughly six months before fighting broke out between the colonists and the British at Lexington and Concord, the [...]
14Oct2008 | mdblogger | 0 comments | Continued
Doc of the Day: Proclamation of 1763
On October 7, 1763, Great Britain’s Board of Trade under King George III issued the Proclamation of 1763. The proclamation represented an attempt to control settlement and trade on the western frontier of Britain’s North American colonies. The proclamation essentially closed the Ohio Valley to settlement by colonists by defining the area west of [...]
7Oct2008 | mdblogger | 0 comments | Continued
Doc of the Day: Executive Order 10730
On September 24, 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10730, thereby sending federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, where unruly crowds had prevented the desegregation of all-white Central High School. Not since the period of Reconstruction after the Civil War had federal troops gone to the South to maintain law and order. Many [...]
24Sep2008 | mdblogger | 0 comments | Continued
Doc of the Day: George Washington's Farewell Address
On September 19, 1796, George Washington’s Farewell Address was printed in Philadelphia. A key element of Washington’s legacy to his country, his Farewell Address is one of the most memorable speeches in American history. In the first of two parts, Washington expresses his thanks for the opportunity to serve his country. In the second part, [...]
19Sep2008 | mdblogger | 0 comments | Continued
Doc of the Day: Booker T. Washington's Atlanta Exposition address
On September 18, 1895, Booker T. Washington delivered his Atlanta Exposition address during the opening ceremonies of the Cotton States and International Exposition. The address, which ran a little over ten minutes, propelled the previously unknown principal of Tuskegee Institute, a small black college in rural Alabama, into the national spotlight. By almost any measure, [...]
18Sep2008 | mdblogger | 0 comments | Continued
Doc of the Day: U.S. Constitution
On September 17, 1787, the Constitutional Convention signed the newly created Constitution of the United States and sent it to Congress for consideration. The U.S. Constitution was in fact the second national constitution; the Articles of Confederation, enacted in 1781 as the first national constitution, provided for a weak central government that was little more [...]
17Sep2008 | mdblogger | 1 comment | Continued