Research Guides: U.S. History: Primary Source Collections Online: Politics & Law

Politics and Law: Primary Source Collections Online

African Americans in the Law Collection: "Campaign Materials from the Larry Gibson Collection"
(Thurgood Marshall Law Library, Univ. of Maryland)
Alcohol, Temperance, and Prohibition Over 1,600 pieces of ephemera, such as broadsides and pamphlets, that document the quest to make prohibition a reality during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in America. (Brown Univ. Library Center for Digital Scholarship)
American Presidency Project
(Univ. of California, Santa Barbara)
American Radicalism Books, pamphlets, periodicals, posters, and ephemera on political, social, economic, and cultural issues and movements in the United States and throughout the world. Covers topics such as the Rosenberg Case, Hollywood Ten, Black Panthers, Ku Klux Klan, Sacco-Vanzetti, Students for a Democratic Society, and more. (Michigan State Univ.)
Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy
(Yale Univ. Law School)
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation Digitized documents spanning from the Continental Congress in 1774 to the 43rd Congress in 1875. Arranged in four categories: Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention; Journals of Congress; Debates of Congress; and Statutes and Documents.
CIA CREST Database: 25-Year Program Archive Digital access to declassified CIA records, 25 years old and older. (Central Intelligence Agency)
Congressional Directory, 1869-present The official directory of the U.S. Congress, for the 41st (1869-1871) -104th (1995-96) Congresses forward, as well all Interim editions (online-only revisions) for the 105th Congress forward
Congressional Documents and Debates, 1775-1875
(Library of Congress)
Congressional Globe Contains the congressional debates of the 23rd through 42nd Congresses (1833-73). (Library of Congress)
Congressional Hearings, 1997-present Digitized U.S. House and Senate hearings, 1997-present. Also includes a few selected documents from 1985-1996. (U.S. Government Printing Office)
Congressional Hearings: Census, Privacy, Immigration Digitized samples from the Library of Congress' collection of House and Senate hearings. Documents focus on the U.S. Census, Freedom of Information/Privacy, and Immigration. (Library of Congress)
Congressional Record, 1873-2009 The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873 and is still published today. For info BEFORE the Record's start, see Congressional Documents and Debates 1774-1875
Congressional Record, 1994-2018 The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873 and is still published today.
Congressional Record Index, 1983-2018 Serves as the index to the Congressional Record, listing individuals, organizations, and topics mentioned in the Congressional Record. Each CRI entry refers to a page number in the Congressional Record and the date of the daily issue in the format "S1234 [19JA]" (page 1234 in the Senate section from the January 19 issue for that year).
Famous Trials in History (Douglas O. Linder, Univ. of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law)
FBI: The Vault More than 2,000 scanned FBI documents, encompassing all time periods of Bureau history. (Note: Dates in the list of topcis/files indicate when documents were put online, not when the content was originally created.) (Federal Bureau of Investigation)
Federal Judicial Center (FJC) Integrated Database, 1970-present "The FJC, under a working arrangement with the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC), provides through this site public access to its Integrated Data Base (IDB). The IDB contains data on civil case and criminal defendant filings and terminations in the district courts, along with bankruptcy court and appellate court case information."
Federal Register, 1936-1993 The Federal Register, begun in 1936, is the official daily publication for Presidential Documents, Executive Orders, proposed, interim, and final rules and regulations, and notices by Federal Agencies, as well as notices of hearings, decisions, investigations, and committee meetings. (Library of Congress)
Federal Register, 1994-2015 The Federal Register is published every business day and contains executive orders and proclamations as well as federal agency public notices, proposed rules, and regulations. The final rules are codified in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), which is published annually. (FederalRegister.gov)
The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute
HarpWeek.com: Political Prints and More
(Harper's Weekly and Library of Congress)
History and Politics Out Loud
(Michigan State Univ.)
Legislative Histories from the U.S. Department of Justice Legislative histories produced by the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) library staff, originally only for DOJ employees but now freely available. Topics include two dozen well-known public laws, including the Captive Wildlife Safety Act, the Anti Car Theft Act of 1992, and the Dent Act of 1919. (U.S. Department of Justice)
National Security Archive - Electronic Briefing Books Provide online access to a sample of critical declassified records in the NSA collections at GWU, on issues including U.S. national security, foreign policy, diplomatic and military history, intelligence policy, and much more. (George Washington Univ.)
A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns, 1787-1825 Searchable collection of election returns from the earliest years of American democracy. (American Antiquarian Society and Tufts Univ.)
Presidential Elections and the Electoral College Documents from America's first century of political history. (Library of Congress)
Public Papers of the Presidents of the U.S. Currently includes Presidents Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr., and Obama. (more planned). (National Archives and Records Administration, and Government Printing Office)
THOMAS Legislative Information Resource
(Library of Congress)
U.S. House History
(U.S. House of Representatives)
U.S. House Interactive Timeline
(U.S. House of Representatives)
U.S. House Oral Histories
(U.S. House of Representatives)
Women in Congress
(U.S. House of Representatives)

Watergate

Woodward and Bernstein Watergate Papers
(Harry Ransom Center, Univ. of Texas at Austin)
Materials from U.S. v Liddy, et. al. (the Watergate break-in case)
(National Archives)

The Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, Constitution, and Related Conventions and Confederations

The Texts of the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and Constitution
(Google Books)
The Texts of the Federalist Papers
(Univ. of Groningen)
The Texts of the Anti-Federalist Papers
(Univ. of Groningen)
Roll Calls of the Continental Congress and the Congresses of the Confederation, 1777-1789
In the ICPSR database - SHSU users only
Documents from the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention
(Library of Congress)
Letters of the Members of the Continental Congress
(Google Books)
Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789
(Library of Congress)
Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789
(Library of Congress) Also available in the Library, at JK1033 .L47 vol. 1-26.
Notes on the Debates in the Federal Convention, as Reported by James Madison
(Avalon Project, Yale Law School)
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation Digitized documents spanning from the Continental Congress in 1774 to the 43rd Congress in 1875. Arranged in four categories: Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention; Journals of Congress; Debates of Congress; and Statutes and Documents.
A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns, 1787-1825 Searchable collection of election returns from the earliest years of American democracy. (American Antiquarian Society and Tufts Univ.)

Presidents & Founders

Writings of the U.S. Presidents and Founders Find writings by the U.S. presidents and founders, both in the Newton Gresham Library and online.

Papers of Thomas Jefferson This link opens in a new window Search & view 37 volumes of Jefferson's papers, 1743 to his death in 1826. Includes all illustrations and bibliographical content of print edition, plus linked cross-references and indexes.
Presidential Recordings Digital Edition: The Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon White House Tapes This link opens in a new window Hundreds of hours of presidential audio recordings (and full text transcripts) from the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations. Covers many major issues, from the Kennedy Assassination and the Civil Rights Movement to the Vietnam War, the War on Poverty, and much more. Also includes photo and video galleries and a linked timeline.

Foreign Relations

Interested in foreign relations, foreign policy, diplomacy, and related topics? Check out the tab for "Foreign Relations & Cross-Cultural Encounters" for more possible sources!

Jump to Sources on "Foreign Relations & Cross-Cultural Encounters"