Free Printable Declaration of Independence, American History Lesson Plans

September 17 is American Constitution Day, also called Citizenship Day. To promote understanding of core U.S. documents and key American principles, a National Constitutional Literacy Campaign was established, reported the Washington Times on September 10. Its goal is to educate Americans of all ages on the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights and other core documents. Here are free printable American history documents for U.S. Constitution Day and citizenship activities. Teachers and homeschool parents can use these for civics, government and social studies lesson plans.

Students Handouts is an educational website. It offers free printable American history documents (in chronological order). Documents include the Magna Carta of 1215, Christopher Columbus' Letter to Luis de Sant Angel announcing his discovery of the New World (1493), First Virginia Charter (1606), Second Virginia Charter (1609), the Mayflower Compact (1620), the Pennsylvania Charter of Privileges (1701) and Patrick's Henry's "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech of 1775.

You can print the Declaration of Independence of 1776, the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union of 1777. the United States Constitution (1787) Benjamin Franklin's Petition from the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery (1790), Bill of Rights and Later Amendments (1791), President George Washington's Farewell Address of 1796, original score for The Star Spangled Banner (a.k.a. "The Defence of Fort McHenry") by Francis Scott Key (1814), the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address (1861), the
Emancipation Proclamation (1863) and the Gettysburg Address (1863).

Other documents include the Irish Proclamation of Independence (1916), the American's Creed by William Tyler Page (1917), President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Date Which Will Live in Infamy" speech of December 8, 1941 (after bombing of Pearl Harbor in WWII) and the Pledge of Allegiance which was written in 1954. The National Museum of American History has free printable Civil War documents. These and other free printable U.S. history documents are available at Our Documents.This government archive includes 100 key documents including acts, letters, hymns, charters and more. Teaching American History has 50 free printable U.S. documents. Some are overlapping and some are different.