American Legacy: The United States Constitution and Other Essential Documents of American Democracy

About American Legacy

American Legacy: The United States Constitution and Other Essential Documents of American Democracy is much more than a pocket Constitution. This portable resource for any student of American government contains a selection of documents important for understanding the core and evolving principles of American democracy that undergird the United States of America.

The documents illuminate who we are, what we believe, what rights we have, and how we govern ourselves. New to this edition is “I Have a Story” by Maya Angelou, an essay written by the author in 2012 especially for the Center for Civic Education.

Some of the documents you will find in American Legacy:

• The U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights
• The Declaration of Independence
• Federalist 10
• The Seneca Falls Declaration
• "What, to a Slave, Is the Fourth of July?" by Frederick Douglass
• Preamble, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" and "I've Been to the Mountaintop" (excerpts) by Martin Luther King Jr.
• Proposed Equal Rights Amendment
• “I Have a Story” by Maya Angelou
• Excerpts from numerous landmark Supreme Court Decisions
• And much more