It has the basics that every American needs to know. It has the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, plus speeches form Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, and the Gettysburg Address. You get a good feel for the movers and shakers at this nations founding.
Ignorance is an unpardonable sin. We need to understand the past to understand the present. We need to get back to these ancient and sacred writings to understand our country. They are a trustworthy and reliable source of information about who we are.
There are several omissions. I would have like to have the Mayflower Compact included. The Monroe Doctrine was also missing-terrible shame! I would have also to have the Northwest Ordinance. Furthermore, it would be helpful to have the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution only makes sense in context of the mistakes of the Articles of Confederation. Lastly, I would have included more from the Federalist Papers, such as 1, 2,13, 14, 55 and 84. But this would have bloated the book, thus loosing it's slim effectiveness.
Maybe they could put all of this in a Volume II.
I will not list off all the documents in his book, the Amazon review and several reader reviews do list them. But I would note, that Grafton's commentary on Lincoln's composition of the Gettysburgh Address is in accord with the superb work of Gary Wills in his book, "Lincoln At Gettysburgh" where Wills thoroughly debunks the myth that Lincoln wrote the Address on the back of an envelope on his way up on the train.
Anyone who has frequent need to reference some of the greatest and enduring documents in American History will find this book an invaluable reference tool.
