Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Genesis
The Exodus Story 18
"A Model of Christian Charity" (1630) John Winthrop 34
Common Sense (1776) Thomas Paine 52
The Declaration of Independence (1776) 73
The Blue-Back Speller (1783-) Noah Webster 98
Law
The Constitution (1787) 108
Brown v. Board of Education (1954) 129
Roe v. Wade (1973) 146
Chronicles
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) Harriet Beecher Stowe 162
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) Mark Twain 181
Atlas Shrugged (1957) Ayn Rand 199
Psalms
"The Star-Spangled Banner" (1814) Francis Scott Key 214
"God Bless America" (1938) Irving Berlin 226
"This Land Is Your Land" (1940) Woody Guthrie 236
Proverbs
"Remember that time is money" (1748) Benjamin Franklin 244
"God helps those who help themselves" (1758) Benjamin Franklin 246
"Give me liberty or give me death" (1775) Patrick Henry 248
"Remember the ladies" (1776) Abigail Adams 250
"Ain't I a woman?" (1851) Sojourner Truth 252
"With malice toward none, with charity for all" (1865) Abraham Lincoln 254
"I will fight no more forever" (1877) Chief Joseph 256
"The business of America is business" (1925) Calvin Coolidge 258
"I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people" (1932) Franklin Delano Roosevelt 260
"Ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country" (1961) John F Kennedy 262
"evil empire" (1983) Ronald Reagan 264
Prophets
"Civil Disobedience" (1849) Henry David Thoreau 268
Farewell Address (1961) Dwight Eisenhower 284
"I Have a Dream" (1963) Martin Luther King Jr. 294
The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965) Malcolm X 308
Lamentations
Gettysburg Address (1863) Abraham Lincoln 330
Vietnam Veterans Memorial (1982) Maya Lin 346
Gospels
First Inaugural Address (1801) Thomas Jefferson 358
First Inaugural Address (1933) Franklin Delano Roosevelt 372
"The Speech" (1964) Ronald Reagan 389
Acts
The Pledge of Allegiance (1892,1954) 408
Epistles
Farewell Address (1796) George Washington 420
"Letter to the Danbury Baptists" (1802) Thomas Jefferson 452
"Letter from Birmingham Jail" (1963) Martin Luther King Jr. 462
Epilogue 483
Acknowledgments 490
Notes 491
Credits 517
Index 519