A Plea for Captain John Brown
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56 minutes, 45 seconds
Unabridged Essay/Speech
1859
Against the then-popular condemnation of the radical abolitionist who seized a federal armory, attempting to arm slaves and create a violent rebelion against the South, Thoreau delivered this spirited speech justifying Brown's character and actions to those who would have rather resolved (or failed to resolve) the issue of slavery using discussions and diplomacy. Read by Alex Wilson.
Continue reading "A Plea for Captain John Brown"
Posted by alex at 5:01 PM
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2 minutes, 22 seconds
Unabridged Speech
1863
"Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the propisition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great Civil War..." Given by US President Abraham Lincoln on the battlefield November 19, 1863, after the hard-fought, casualty-ridden, and turning-point Civil War battle near Gettysburg, PA.
This speech is inscribed, along with Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Read by Alex Wilson.
Continue reading "The Gettysburg Address"
Posted by alex at 11:17 AM
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6 minutes, 51 seconds
Unabridged Speech
1775
Patrick Henry's address to the second Virginia Convention in March 23, 1775, where he offered a resolution that put the colony in a state of defense leading up to the American Revolution.
A bestselling Telltale recording (and one of the first), now available free with a Creative Commons License. Read by Alex Wilson.
Continue reading "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death"
Posted by alex at 3:17 PM
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27 minutes, 29 seconds
Unabridged Historical Document
1787
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America..."
Read by John Jennens.
Also available: The Bill of Rights (free) and The Declaration of Independence (50 cents).
Continue reading "The Constitution"
Posted by alex at 10:01 AM
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4 minutes, 27 seconds
Unabridged Reading of a Historical Document
1789 / 1791
The ten original amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America--passed by Congress September 25,1789 and ratified December 15, 1791. This recording may be freely shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license.
Read by Alex Wilson.
Continue reading "The Bill of Rights"
Posted by alex at 5:27 PM
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1 hour, 20 minutes
Unabridged Essay
1849
Originally entitled "Resistance to Civil Government," the classic libertarian essay on self-reliance advocating the active refusal to disobey unjust laws. Read by Alex Wilson.
Continue reading "Civil Disobedience"
Posted by alex at 12:00 AM
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15 minutes, 4 seconds
Unabridged Formal Poetry
1961
On January 20, 1961, Kennedy called on Americans to be active in their citizenship. This recording is in the public domain.
Continue reading "Inaugural Address 1961"
Posted by alex at 9:45 AM
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32 minutes, 53 seconds
Unabridged Speech
1861, 1865
1861
President Lincoln's thoughtful and passionate (but ultimately unsuccessful) plea to keep southern states from seceding from the Union and to avoid the coming Civil War, delivered as he entered office during the most divisive time in U.S. history.
"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."Delivered March 4, 1861, just two weeks after Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as the president of the Confederacy.
1865
"With malice toward none, with charity for all..." The end of the Civil War in sight, Lincoln took the oath of office a second time and gave one of the most America's most famous speeches, and the shortest inaugural address in U.S. history.
This speech is inscribed, along with the The Gettysburg Address, in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. In many ways, Lincoln's second inaugural address was a sequel to the address at Gettysburg, honoring the fallen and reflecting on the guilt and loss of a nation.
Delivered March 4, 1865, a month and 10 days before his assassination.
Read by Alex Wilson.
Continue reading "Inaugural Addresses 1861 & 1865"
Posted by alex at 9:35 PM
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12 minutes, 35 seconds
Unabridged Historical Document
1776
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation..." The United States Declaration of Independence. Read by Alex Wilson.
Continue reading "The Declaration of Independence"
Posted by alex at 9:18 PM
