From the Constitution and the Gettysburg Address to the 2015 Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, the updated collection preserves the documents of the first edition and introduces the landmark statements that are impacting our nation today.

"Portions of this book were previously published as Words that built a nation: a young person's collection of historic American documents by Stonesong Press, LLC, in September 1999"--Title page verso. Includes index.

The Mayflower Compact --Poor Richard's Almanack / Benjamin Franklin -- Speech to the Second Virginia Convention / Patrick Henry -- Common Sense / Thomas Paine -- Letter to John Adams / Abigail Adams -- The Declaration of Independence -- Federalist No. 78 / Alexander Hamilton -- The Constitution and the Bill of Rights -- Farewell Address / George Washington -- The Star-Spangled Banner / Francis Scott Key -- The Monroe Doctrine / James Monroe -- Declaration of Sentiments / Seneca Falls Convention -- The Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro / Frederick Douglass -- The Emancipation Proclamation / Abraham Lincoln -- The Gettysburg Address / Abraham Lincoln -- The Fourteenth Amendment -- The Fifteenth Amendment -- I Will Fight No More Forever / Chief Joseph -- Statement on the causes of Wounded Knee / Chief Red Cloud -- Twenty Years at Hull-House / Jane Addams -- The Sixteenth Amendment -- The Fourteen Points / Woodrow Wilson -- The Nineteenth Amendment -- The Immigration Act -- War Message to Congress / Franklin Delano Roosevelt -- Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka -- Inaugural Address / John F. Kennedy -- The Declaration of Indian Purpose -- Silent Spring / Rachel Carson -- Speech at the Berlin Wall / John F. Kennedy -- The March on Washington Address / Martin Luther King, Jr. -- The Ballot or the bullet / Malcolm X -- Speech to Striking Grape Workers / César Chávez -- The Eagle Has Landed -- I'd Rather Be Black Thank Female / Shirley Chisholm -- Letter of Resignation / Richard M. NIxon -- Tear Down This Wall / Ronald W. Reagan -- Speech at the United nations Conference on Women / Hillary Rodham Clinton -- Address to the Nation on the September 11 Attacks / George W. Bush -- Speech on Race / Barak Obama -- Obergefell v. Hodges.