Section #4 - Source Documents
Source Documents Overview
The third factor in understanding the Causes of the war lies in locating and reading the text of various Source Documents that accompany major events. For example, perusing the Declaration of Independence lays out the rationale for the colonist’s breaking with Britain, while the 1787 Constitution describes the structure of the new U.S. government along with several of the divisive issues it will face.
In the table below are 19 landmark Source Documents covering America’s history between the Colonial period and the Civil War. To read the verbatim texts, simply click on the document you want.
In writing the Prelude book, the author relied on verbatim quotes from many of these key Source Documents to capture the events from 1607 to 1861. Following is a roadmap of what’s included.
To see our Source Documents in their entirety please visit here: Source Documents Collection
