Independence Day Books

These books are recommended by our members. Books may be available at Amazon, other online booksellers, brick and mortar bookstores, used bookstores, and your local library. If you have ideas, let us know. This is by no means an exhaustive list!

Documents and Papers

The Federalist Papers, by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, et al., many copies available, we suggest the unabridged version

Declaration of Rights and Grievances 1765

Declaration of Rights and Grievances 1774

Declaration of Independence 

Articles of Confederation 

US Constitution and Amendments

Most of the above can be found online with the Library of Congress or published with commentary by various authors. The above are not under copyright, so may be found elsewhere online as well.

Books

(in no particular order; most of the books below are recent enough they are still under copyright; some may be available as audiobooks)

1776 by David McCullough

Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution (The American Revolution Series Book 1) by Nathaniel Philbrick

Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution (The American Revolution Series Book 2)
by Nathaniel Philbrick

American Slavery, American Freedom by Edmund S. Morgan

John Adams: 2 Volume Set by Page Smith

Miracle At Philadelphia: The Story of the Constitutional Convention
May – September 1787 by Catherine Drinker Bowen

Founding Myths: Stories That Hide Our Patriotic Past by Ray Raphael

Revolutionary Spies: Intelligence and Espionage in America’s First War
by Tim McNeese

Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence
by Joseph J. Ellis

Signing Their Rights Away: The Fame and Misfortune of the Men Who Signed the United States Constitution by Denise Kiernan and Joseph D’Agnese

Democracy in America, Volume I and II by Alexis De Tocqueville