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The Librarian's Mantra

"It is the duty of every good citizen to use all the opportunities which occur to him, for preserving documents relating to the history of our country." Thomas Jefferson

The Shelf

Here, patriots, is the most trustworthy source of the history of the American Founding Era (1760-1805): the Founding Fathers' own writings. They are listed in alphabetical order of the name of the Founding Father. If you are looking for the online writings of a Founding Father or other important historical figure, please leave your question in the "Comments" section below.

Also included in this list are several of the political thinkers and historians from which the Founding Fathers drew some of their ideas.

NOTE: Not all those listed below are to be considered "Founding Fathers," and not all those names listed here presented worthy viewpoints, nor did the Founders quote such writers positively. In this category of infamous philosophers are Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and David Hume, who helped formulate much of the ideas of contemporary humanism, which the Founding Fathers rejected. The names of these men and others are in
red.

The reader may also find it helpful that digitized versions of several of the volumes below may be viewed and searched at Google Book Search.

ADAMS, JOHN (1725-1826)

ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY (1767-1848)

ADAMS, SAMUEL (1723-1803)
AMES, FISHER (1758-1808)
BACON, FRANCIS (1561-1626)
BLACKSTONE, SIR WILLIAM (1723-1780)
BRADFORD, WILLIAM (1590-1659)

BOUDINOT, ELIAS (1740-1821)
BURKE, EDMUND (1729-1797)

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1787
DICKINSON, JOHN (1732-1808)

FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN (1706-1790)

THE FEDERALIST PAPERS


GIBBON, EDWARD (1737-1794)
GROTIUS, HUGO (1583-1645)
HAMILTON, ALEXANDER (1757?-1804)

HAMMURABI (1810-1750 B.C.)
HENRY, PATRICK (1736-1799)

HOBBES, THOMAS (1588-1679)

HOOKER, RICHARD (1554-1600)

HUME, DAVID (1711-1776)
JAY, JOHN (1745-1829)

JOURNALS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS

JEFFERSON, THOMAS (1743-1826)

LEE, RICHARD HENRY (1732-1794)

LOCKE, JOHN (1632-1704)

MADISON, JAMES (1751-1836)

MARSHALL, JOHN (1755-1835)

MASON, GEORGE (1725-1792)

MASON, REVEREND JOHN MITCHELL (1770-1829)

MILTON, JOHN (1608-1764)

MONTESQUIEU, BARON de CHARLES (1689-1755)

MORRIS, GOUVERNEUR (1752-1816)

NEW YORK MANUMISSION SOCIETY PAPERS


PAINE, THOMAS
(1737-1809)

PENN, WILLIAM (1644-1718)

PLATO (428-348 B. C.)

PLUTARCH (46-127 A. D.)
PUFENDORF, SAMUEL (1623-1694)

RAMSAY, DR. DAVID (1745-1819)

ROUSSEAU, JEAN-JACQUES (1712-1778)

RUSH, DR. BENJAMIN (1745-1813)

SMITH, ADAM (1723-1790)

STORY, CHIEF-JUSTICE JOSEPH (1779-1845)

de TOQUEVILLE, ALEXIS (1805-1859)

de VATTEL, EMERICH (1714-1767)

WARREN, MERCY OTIS (1728-1814)

WASHINGTON, GEORGE (1732-1799)

WEBSTER, NOAH (1758-1843)
WILSON, JAMES (1742-1798)
WITHERSPOON, REVEREND JOHN (1723-1794)

Miscellaneous:

If any of these links are broken are outdated, please inform me in the comments section below. Your input is greatly appreciated.

(When this page was displayed on Heritage Weekly, a blog which I deleted on 9/26/07, several visitors left comments, and it became a brief discussion. I think that these comments are worth preserving. I re-posted those comments on the "Comments" section on this post.)

3 comments:

I have always been a fan of Thomas Paine. Recently I was thinking how little modern America knows about our Founding Fathers and their writings. I decided to start a blog to expose more people to these great men and have a place to discuss what they had read. Then I found your blog that has everything I could ever want to share and more. Kudos for setting up this great library. I will be a frequent visitor. Do you get much commentary from visitors?

Andy

November 21, 2008 at 2:32 PM  

Hello Andy. Thanks so much for visiting my blog, and leaving your comment.

Actually, I don't really get much commentary from visitors, though I have gotten a little over the time that this blog has existed. So I really appreciate your comment and kind words. Thank you, and your welcome.

I am truly encouraged that you are adding another blog to the "blogosphere" that will help interest and enlighten our countrymen to the wisdom of its forefathers, and I'm honored that the material on my blog has been a help to you. That's what it is for.

Part of the ignorance many Americans have is due to the fact that 1) our culture is centered around entertainment, and provides too many outlets for distraction; and 2) the Founders' own writings (which are more fascinating than the drivel we get in school or elsewhere) have not been in wide circulation, and it has been difficult for ordinary Americans to access them.

When I set out to study America's Founding, I ran into this problem. But with the vast world of information on the internet, I was able to quickly solve this dilema. This "library blog" is the result of 5 years of "collecting" the primary resources of the Founding Era. And I still have more to add!

I'm glad you plan to come back frequently. I'll be adding more material and making improvements. Feel free to check my sidebar for things if you are doing research. I will be expanding it soon.

Thanks again for visiting and showing your appreciation. It means a lot to me.

God bless you.

Hercules Mulligan

November 21, 2008 at 3:08 PM  

A few days ago I saw a new book with a fresh perspective on the rising tensions between American colonists and the British government in the run up to the Revolution. It's an amazing book, and a lot of fun to read. You will be interested in the role some of our Founding Fathers played in the story (on both sides). Check out "Defying Empire: Trading with the Enemy in Colonial New York" by Thomas M. Truxes.

November 30, 2008 at 7:15 PM  

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