Government Documents as Primary Sources: All Dates
A guide to government documents and publications useful for primary source research.
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General Sources
- American Presidency ProjectIncludes messages, public papers, state of the union addresses, news conferences, proclamations, signing statements, executive orders, presidential debates, administrative policy and more.
- Avalon Project – Documents in Law, History and DiplomacyIncludes the American Constitution, Bilateral Treaties, 1778-1999, a chronology of American history from 1492 to present, Confederate States of America, Congressional Resolutions, the Federalist Papers, Journals of the Continental Congress, Presidential Papers and Inaugural Addresses, US Statutes concerning Native Americans and slavery, and diplomacy documents on relations with many foreign countries.
- FDSysGPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) provides public access to Government information submitted by Congress and Federal agencies and preserved as technology changes.
- Foreign Relations of the United States, 1861-currentThis series is the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions that have been declassified and edited for publication. The series is produced by the State Department's Office of the Historian. Online(1861-1960); Paper(1861-1868); Paper (1870-1931).
- HathiTrustHathiTrust makes the digitized collections of some of the nation’s great research libraries available for all. HathiTrust preserves and provides access to more than 6 million volumes, over 1 million of which are in the public domain. HathiTrust offers full-text search across all items in the repository (including public domain and in copyright works).
- Internet ArchiveThe internet archive contains archived versions of web sites and a wide range of items, from books to videos and audio. Many government documents have been included in this archive. It is recommended that you select "Text - American Libraries" from the drop down box. Once a search is complete, you can limit the results by choosing "USGovernmentDocuments" as the collection.
- Ourdocuments.gov – 100 Milestone DocumentsExamples include: Original Design of the Great Seal of the United States (1782); Treaty of Paris (1783); Virginia Plan (1787); Northwest Ordinance (1787); Constitution of the United States (1787); Federalist Papers, No. 10 & No. 51 (1787-1788); President George Washington's First Inaugural Speech (1789); Federal Judiciary Act (1789).
- Patent and Trademark OfficeThe patent and trademark office provide search capability for United States and international patents.
- Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-currentThe Library of Congress has extensive resources for the study of the United States presidents and first ladies. The selected images include at least one likeness of each of the first forty-two presidents and most of the first ladies, and contain both formal and informal pictures.
- Presidential Inaugurations, Library of CongressThis collection contains approximately 400 items or 2,000 digital files relating to inaugurations from George Washington's in 1789 to Barack Obama's inauguration of 2009. This presentation includes diaries and letters of presidents and of those who witnessed inaugurations, handwritten drafts of inaugural addresses, broadsides, inaugural tickets and programs, prints, photographs, and sheet music.
- Presidential Vetoes, 1789-currentThese publications provide histories for presidential vetoes, including whether Congress overrode the veto.
- ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new windowProquest Congressional indexes to congressional publications (1789-date), an extensive bill tracking service (1989-date), legislative histories (1969-date), floor votes (1989-date), public laws (1989-date), treaties with Indian tribes (1778-1874), treaties with foreign countries (1776-1949). In addition, full-text is available for the Congressional Record (1985-present), the Federal Register (1980-present), the Statutes at Large (1789-present), Congressional Research Service reports (1916-present) and Committee Prints (1830-present). This database also includes biographical, financial and voting information on current members of Congress.
- Public Debt, 1791-currentHistorical debt outstanding by year.
- ThomasTHOMAS contains federal legislative information including: Bills, Resolutions, Activity in Congress, Congressional Record, Schedules, Calendars, Committee Information, Presidential Nominations, Treaties.
- U.S. Supreme Court Nominations, 1789-presentSenate.gov contains information on nominees, who they were to replace, when they were nominated, the vote and the result.
