The American political tradition, grounded in the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, teaches that nation-states based on individual freedom, equality under law, and the consent of the governed are the best means for securing the rights that inhere in all persons. To make the documents that help form that tradition more widely available to the peoples of the world, we present here translations into a variety of languages.
- Virginia Declaration of Rights, June 12, 1776
- The Declaration of Independence (1776) [Arabic [347 KB] | Chinese [160 KB] | Farsi [274 KB] | French [120 KB] | Russian [202 KB] | Spanish [15 KB]]
- James Madison “Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments” June 20, 1785
- The Constitution of the United States (1787) [Arabic [319 KB] | Chinese [296 KB] | French [142 KB] | Spanish [469 KB]]
- James Madison, Federalist no. 10, November 22, 1787, “The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection”
- James Madison, Federalist no. 51, February 8, 1788, “The Structure of the Government Must Furnish the Proper Checks and Balances Between the Difference Departments”
- Alexander Hamilton, Federalist no. 84, May 28, 1788, “Certain General and Miscellaneous Objections to the Constitution Considered and Answered”
- The Bill of Rights (1789) [Arabic [591 KB] | Chinese [675 KB] | Farsi [688 KB] | French [440 KB] | Russian [580 KB] | Spanish [343 KB]]
- George Washington, Letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, 18 August 1790
- Declaration of Sentiments, July 1848
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Seneca Falls Keynote Address, July 19, 1848
- Frederick Douglass, “What is to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” July 5, 1852
- Abraham Lincoln, Letter to Henry L. Pierce and others, April 6, 1859
- Abraham Lincoln, “The Gettysburg Address,” November 19, 1863 [Arabic [65 KB] | Chinese [98 KB] | French [62 KB] | Russian [94 KB] | Spanish [13 KB]]
- Susan B. Anthony, Statement Before the U.S. Circuit Court for the Northern District of New York, 1873
- President Franklin Roosevelt’s Annual Message (Four Freedoms) to Congress (1941) [French [220 KB]]
- The Atlantic Charter, August 14, 1941
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, State of the Union Address, January 11, 1944
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Second Bill of Rights” (1944)
- UNESCO, Human Rights: Comments and Interpretations, a Symposium edited by UNESCO, July 25, 1948
- Eleanor Roosevelt, United Nations General Assembly speech, December 9, 1948
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) [Arabic [391 KB] | Chinese [462 KB] | Farsi [857 KB] | French [116 KB] | Russian [214 KB] | Spanish [108 KB]]
- Brown v. Board of Education, decided May 17, 1954
- Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, April 16, 1963
- President John K. Kennedy, “Remarks at the Rudolph Wilde Platz, Berlin,” June 26, 1963
- Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream” Address, August 28, 1963
- Malcolm X, “The Ballot or the Bullet” Speech, April 13, 1964
- 1964 Civil Rights Act, July 2, 1964
- 1965 Voting Rights Act, August 6, 1965
- Helsinki Accords, August 1, 1975
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified on 16 December 1966 and entered into force 23 March 1976
- International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, ratified on 16 December 1966 and entered into force 2 January 1976
- President Jimmy Carter, Speech on the 30th Anniversary of the Human Rights Declaration, December 7, 1978
- President Ronald Reagan, “Remarks on East-West Relations at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin,” June 12, 1987
- Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted on 25 June 1993
- Inter-American Democratic Charter, 2001