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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.)

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