WHEREAS, on the twenty-second day. of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:. 
"That on the first day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever, free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. 
"That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the states and parts of states, if any, in which the people thereof,. respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any state, or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States, by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such states shall have participated, shall in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such state, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States." 
Now, therefore,  I,  ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and Government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the states and parts of states wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:  

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, incIuding the city of New Orleans.) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth,) and which excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued. 
And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated states and parts of states are, and henceforward shall be, free; and that the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons. 
And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages. 
And I further declare and make known that such persons, of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States {o garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. 
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity. I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God. 

1492: Privileges of Columbus

1493: Bull of Pope Alexander

1496: Letters Patent to John Cabot

1578: Letters Patent to Humfrey Gylberte

1584: Charter to Walter Raleigh

1606: First Charter of Virginia

1609: Second Charter of Virginia

1612: Third Charter of Virginia

1620: Mayflower Compact

1621: Ordinance for Virginia

1639: Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

1643: Articles of the New England Confederation

1691: Charter of Massachusetts Bay

1701: Pennsylvania Charter of Privileges

1754: The Albany Plan

1765: Resolution of the Stamp Act Congress

1773: Tea Act

1774: The Associations

1776: Constitution of New Hampshire

1776: Constitution of South Carolina

1776: Virginia Bill of Rights

1776: Constitution of Virginia

1776: Constitution of New Jersey

1776: Declaration of Independence

1776: Constitution of Delaware

1776: Constitution of Pennsylvania

1776: Constitution of Maryland

1776: Constitution of North Carolina

1777: Constitution of Georgia

1777: Constitution of New York

1781: Articles of Confederation

1787: Northwest Ordinance

1787: Federal Constitution

1788: Federalist Papers 

1789: Federal Bill of Rights

1796: Washington's Farewell Address

1803: Marbury vs. Madison

1823: Monroe Doctrine

1863: Emancipation Proclamation

1863: Gettysburg Address

1917: The American's Creed

1918: Wilson's Address

1941: The Four Freedoms

1941: The Atlantic Charter