Exploration and Colonial America:
    Letter from Columbus to the King and Queen of Spain, 1490s
    Pedro de Castenada, 1542
    Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, 1542
    Juan de Onate, 1599
    Samuel De Champlain, 1604
    Powhatan, 1609
    John Smith's Letter to Queen Anne of Great Britain, 1616
    The Mayflower Compact, 1620
    John Winthrop, A Modell of Christian Charity, 1630
    Gabriel Sagard, 1632
    Descriptions Of The Fortified Town of Plymouth, 1620-1628
    Plymouth  early  descriptions, 1620-1628
    Laws of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, 1623 to 1636
    Sexual Misconduct in Plymouth Colony, Appendices I and II, 1636
    William  Apes, 1636
    The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, 1639
    Native Americans in Criminal Cases of Plymouth Colony, 1630-1675
    Excerpts from the Journal of John Winthrop, 1640-1648
    The Maryland  Act of Toleration, 1649
    Last Will & Testament of Myles Standish, 1655/1656
    Adriaen Van der Donck, 1655
    Dr. Henry Woodwar, 1674
    Edmund Randolph, 1675
    Bacon’s Declaration in the name of the people, 1676
    Governor William Berkely  on Bacon's Rebellion, 1676
    Pedro Naranjo, 1680 (Pueblo Revolt)
    William Penn, A Letter from William Penn, 1683
    A Relation of the Invasion and Conquest of Florida by the Spanish, 1686
    Last Will & Testament of Elizabeth (Tilley) Howland, 1686
    Chrestien Le Clercq, 1691
    Excerpts from the Salem Witch Trials, 1692
    Last Will & Testament of Peregrine White, 1704
    Benjamin Wadsworth, A Well-Ordered Family, Boston, 1712
    The Curriculum of the Boston Latin Grammar School, 1712
    The Iroquois Constitution, 1720s
    Ben Franklin, Journal of a Voyage from England to Philadelphia, 1726
    Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1757
    James Oglethorpe, Founding Vision for Georgia, 1733
    The Trial of John Peter Zenger, 1735
    Jonathan Edwards, From Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God, 1741
    The Albany Plan for Union, 1754
    Martha Ballard wrote in her diary nearly every day from January 1, 1785 to May 12, 1812  (27 years) for a total of almost 10,000 entries. Her diary is an unparalleled document in early American history.
    
The Road toward Independence:
    Cato’s Letters, Gordon and Trenchard, No. 33., June 17, 1721
    Royal Proclamation Concerning America- October 7, 1763 (writs of assistance)
    Proclamation  of 1763
    Sugar Act, April 5, 1764
    The Quartering Act, 1765
    The Stamp Act, 1765
    Resolutions on the Stamp Act, 1765
    Benjamin Wilson, Political cartoon on the repeal of the Stamp Act, 1766
    The Repeal, Or The Funeral Of Miss Ame-Stamp, 1766 (image)
    The Declaratory Act, 1766
    William Pitt's speech against the Stamp Act, 1766
    The Townshend Acts, 1767
    Massachusetts Circular Letter, February 11, 1768
    The Boston Massacre, Boston Gazette and Country Journal, 3/12, 1770
    Paul Revere’s engraving of the Boston Massacre, 1770
    The Tea Act, 1773
    Boston Tea Party, Eyewitness Account by a Participant, 1773
    Boston Port Act- 1774
    First Continental Congress, 1774
    Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress, October 1774
    Phyllis Wheatley to Samson Occam, 1774
    The Administration of Justice Act, 1774                                                        
    Philip Dawe, political cartoon of Bostonians in Distress, 1774
    Philip Dawe, political cartoon of Williamsburg, February 16, 1775
    Joseph Galloway, A Plan for the Union of Great Britain and the Colonies, 1774
    Daniel Leonard, Letters to the Inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay, 1775
    John Adams, Novanglus, February 6, 1775 (answer to Leonard)
    Patrick Henry, Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death, March 1775
    Second Continental Congress, Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of taking up Arms, July 6, 1775
    Edmund Burke, Speech on conciliation with America, March 22, 1775
    Yankee Doodle, song (date?)
    Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776
    James Chalmers, Plain Truth, a Loyalist Answers Thomas Paine, 1776
    Jefferson’s original rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, 1776
    Washington to Gen. McDougall, Head Quarters, Newtown, Dec. 28th 1776
    Diary of Albigence Waldo, Surgeon at Valley Forge, 1777
    Spy letters from the American Revolution
    The Articles of Confederation, 1781
    James Milan (engraver), after Trumbull (painter), The Battle of Bunker's Hill, 1786
    
Creating a National Government:
    Population of North American Ports to 1775
    Jefferson’s Bill for establishing religious  freedom in Virginia, 1785
    The Annapolis Convention, 1786
    James Madison, The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787
    The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 (Max Farrand, ed.)
    The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 (The Avalon Project)    
    The Federalist Papers, site for the complete set of papers
    Madison’s speech proposing the Bill of Rights, 1789
    Jefferson and republicanism, 1790s-1823 (many quotations)
    John Adams on republicansim, 1776
    Alexander Hamilton’s opinion on the constitutionality of the Bank, 1791
    Jefferson’s opinion of the constitutionality of the Bank, 1791
    Washinton’s Proclamation of Neutrality, 1793
    The Fugitive Slave Law of 1793
    M. G. J. de Crèvecouer, Letters from an American Farmer 1793
    Washington on the Whiskey Rebellion, 1794
    Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796  (full text)
    The Sedition Act, 1798
    The Kentucky Resolutions of 1798
    The Virginia Resolutions of 1798
    Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address, 1801
    Jefferson’s instructions to Lewis and Clark, 1803