Founding Documents

Your essay should reference an American Founding document that illustrates the civic value(s) you believe are most essential to Americans.  For the purposes of the Being an American Essay Contest, a Founding document is one that was written between the years of 1760 and 1800.

The three Founding documents that first come to mind might be the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. But you don't have to limit yourself to the charters of freedom. You can also use pamphlets, speeches, or essays from the Founding generation.

As you read your document, ask yourself: What ideals do these words proclaim? What civic values do they call upon Americans to practice? How does this document help you understand ways that you can put the value(s) into practice?

*note - some links contained on this page will take you off this Website.

Some examples of Founding documents include:

The Rights of the Colonists (1772)  

Common Sense (1776)

The Declaration of Independence (1776)

The American Crisis (1776-1783)

The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1786)

The Federalist Papers (1788)

The Constitution (1789)

George Washington's First Inaugural Address (1789)

The First Amendment (1791)

The Fourth Amendment (1791)

The Ninth Amendment (1791)

The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (1798)