Law and Politics Documents

What the law requires (or allows) is not always fair or just or honorable. Politics is often polarizing. Stories in this collection help us to examine the highs and lows of "the law" over the centuries.

Image of Virginia Governor John Floyd's letter to John Hamilton - page 2. Click on the image for a better view.

Frederick Douglass writes to then-Secretary of State, James G. Blaine, responding to the President's invitation that Douglass serve as the U.S. Ambass...

This text is an excerpt from the first chapter ("Anarchism and War") of Richard Polenberg's book Fighting Faiths: The Abrams Case, the Supreme Court a...

Long before Americans fought a Civil War - beginning in 1861 - slaves were running away.  This document, from the U.S. National Archives, depicts...

  On the 20th of February, 1962, Brigadier General Edward G. Lansdale prepared a memo addressing how the United States government could "help th...

This is the second page of George Mason's objections to the U.S. Constitution which he would not sign because it lacked a Bill of Rights. He set-fort...

This is the third page of George Mason's objections to the U.S. Constitution which he would not sign because it lacked a Bill of Rights. He set-forth...

Click on the image for a larger view. On the 14th of April, 1789, Charles Thomson - the secretary of Congress - had a very important trip to make.&nb...

Nine days after the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush addresses a joint session of the 107th Congress. He pledges to defend America's fre...

Image of the "Grand Inquest" court minutes and proceedings for the District Court of Eastern Pennsylvania - 1860. Click on the image for a better vie...

Image of the "Grand Inquest" court minutes and proceedings for the District Court of Eastern Pennsylvania - 1860. Click on the image for a better vie...

Image of the "Grand Inquest" court minutes and proceedings for the District Court of Eastern Pennsylvania - 1860. Click on the image for a better vie...

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