Primary Documents
- 01. Declaration of Independence
- 02. Constitution of the United States
- 03. Dred Scott Decision (Abridged)
- 04. Dred Scott Decision (Full Text)
- 05. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
- 06. William Jennings Bryan's "Cross of Gold" Speech
- 07. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" Speech
- 08. Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society Speech"
- 09. Barack Obama's "We the People" Speech
- 10. Declaration of the Rights of Man (France,1789)
- 11. Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Category Archives: Human Rights
IT CAN HAPPEN HERE U.S. politics today are not democratic politics. Economic power is political power, and in the United States many of the holders of economic power have ceased to engage in democratic politics. Raw economic power has transformed … Continue reading
Gerald Horne’s “The Counter-Revolution of 1776”
Gerald Horne’s basic thesis is implicit in his title: the real revolution of the 1770s was the British turn against slavery represented by the Somerset case of 1772, and the rebellion in the North American colonies was a counter-revolutionary reaction … Continue reading
The Declaration, the Constitution, and Equality
“With respect to equality one should not understand the word to mean that the degrees of power and wealth are absolutely identical . . . but that no citizen should be rich enough to buy another and none so poor … Continue reading
CHARLES L. BLACK: A NEW BIRTH OF FREEDOM: HUMAN RIGHTS, NAMED AND UNNAMED.
A friend just brought this 1997 book to my attention. Charles Black was a professor of constitutional law at Yale for much of the last half of the twentieth century. This small book presents for general readers his arguments for … Continue reading
Posted in Declaration of Independence, Human Rights, U.S. Constitution
Tagged Hugo Black
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Human Rights vs. Civil Rights
The expansion of civil rights in the 1960s did not fundamentally change the dynamics of American life. It did not—it could not—eliminate the exclusion at the heart of American life. Exclusion is not a mere by-product of our social order … Continue reading
Posted in Civil Rights, Human Rights, Individualism, Meritocracy
Tagged American Myths, Civil Rights Movement
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Perfecting Our Union 