A wise old owl sat on an oak. The more he saw the less he spoke. The less he spoke the more he heard. Why aren't we like that wise old bird? – Unknown
The following audio excerpts are recorded and provided by Librovox.com volunteers and are all in the public domain. Text descriptions are from Wikipedia.com Click the triangle start button...and enjoy!
The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were now independent states, and thus no longer a part of the British Empire. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration is a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. The birthday of the United States of America—Independence Day—is celebrated on July 4, the day the wording of the Declaration was approved by Congress. Click the play button to hear the recording. (9:46 min)
The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States. The Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787, by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and ratified by conventions in each U.S. state in the name of "The People". The Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times; the first ten amendments are known as the Bill of Rights. Click the play button to hear the recording. (12:36 min)
The Bill of Rights is the name by which the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution are known. They were introduced by James Madison to the First United States Congress in 1789 as a series of legislative articles, and came into effect as Constitutional Amendments on December 15, 1791, through the process of ratification by three-fourths of the States.
The Bill of Rights plays a key role in American law and government, and remains a vital symbol of the freedoms and culture of the nation. One of the first fourteen copies of the Bill of Rights is on public display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
The following Bill of Rights and Amendments 11 - 27 were recorded in our class using a computer voice and text-to-speech software. Click the play button to hear the recording.
Bill of Rights Intro (1:36 min)
The Bill of Rights (3:19 min)
Amendments to the Constitution - The framers of the Constitution were aware that changes would be necessary if the Constitution was to endure as the nation grew. However, they were also conscious that such change should not be easy, lest it permit ill-conceived and hastily passed amendments. On the other hand, they also wanted to ensure that a rigid requirement of unanimity would not block action desired by the vast majority of the population. Their solution was a two-step process for proposing and ratifying new amendments. Amendments can be proposed one of two ways. To date, all amendments, whether ratified or not, have been proposed by a two-thirds vote in each house of Congress. Over 10,000 constitutional amendments have been introduced in Congress since 1789. Most of these ideas never leave Congress, and far fewer get proposed by the Congress for ratification. Click the play button to hear the various recordings.
Amendments 11 - 13 (3:33 min)
Amendments 14 - 16 (3:59 min)
Amendments 17 - 19 (2:29 min)
Amendments 20 - 21 (3:08 min)
Amendments 22 - 24 (2:52 min)
Amendments 25 - 27 (3:34 min)
The Cooper Union Speech, or Address was delivered by Abraham Lincoln on February 27, 1860, at Cooper Union, in New York City. Lincoln was not yet the Republican nominee for the presidency, as the convention was scheduled for May. It is considered one of his most important yet little known speeches. Some have argued it was responsible for making him President. In the speech, Lincoln elaborated his views on slavery, claiming that the Founding Fathers would agree. The New York Tribune hailed it as "one of the most happiest and most convincing political arguments ever made in this city. No man ever made such an impression on his first appeal to a New York audience."
This audio excerpt was recorded and provided by Librovox.com volunteers and is in the public domain. Text description is from Wikipedia.com Enjoy! Click each play button to hear the entire address. Five sections, totalling 51 minutes.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."
Despite this expansive wording, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied only to states that had seceded from the Union, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy that had already come under Northern control. Most important, the freedom it promised depended upon Union military victory.
The following reading of the Emancipation Proclamation was created in our class using a USB microphone and recorded directly into our computer and edited using audio software.
Click the play button to hear the recording. (4:33 min)
The Gettysburg Address is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and is one of the best-known speeches in United States history. It was delivered by Lincoln on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania - four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the decisive Battle of Gettysburg. Lincoln's carefully crafted address, secondary to other presentations that day, came to be regarded as one of the greatest speeches in American history. In just over two minutes, Lincoln invoked the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and redefined the Civil War as a struggle not merely for the Union, but as "a new birth of freedom".
This audio excerpt was recorded and provided by Librovox.com volunteers and is in the public domain. Text description is from Wikipedia.com Enjoy!
Click the play button to hear the recording. (1:22 min)
