A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0
Word count
1.1M words
Chapters
108

Tags

English Originals Politics Public OratoryHistorical ArchivesState BuildingPresidential PapersPolitical DocumentsAmerican PoliticsPower GameSource StudyPolicy AnalysisDocumentary Anthology

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents by James D. Richardson. Author: , Language: English, Class: J: Political science, Release Date: Feb 1, 2004

Editor's review

This book is a compilation of the messages and papers of the Presidents of the United States, edited by James D. Richardson. A public-domain work in political science, it is released in electronic form by Project Gutenberg. Its core value lies in its primacy: it presents early American political operations and public expression through first-hand materials such as presidential proclamations, messages, and letters, allowing readers to examine policy statements, institutional workings, and the issues of the era. As a documentary compilation, it is not known for narrative and reads more like a reference work, better suited to searching by topic or figure than to reading straight through. For researchers, it is a convenient textual source; for general readers, it requires entering with specific questions to appreciate its historical significance. When using it, note the edition date and editorial conventions, and verify original sources when citing.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Begin by reviewing the table of contents and editorial notes to understand the scope and arrangement.
  2. Select and read documents on a particular president or topic in a focused way.
  3. Consult historical background materials while reading to avoid understanding documents out of context.
  4. When taking notes, record the document type and date for later citation and verification.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

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FAQ

Does this book contain complete historical archives? It is a compilation of presidential messages and papers, selected and arranged according to the editor's conventions rather than a complete facsimile of all original archives. The specific scope and selections should be determined by the book's table of contents and editorial notes, and original sources should be verified for research citations.
Is it suitable for general readers to read from cover to cover? Not very. The book consists mainly of messages, proclamations, letters, and similar materials, arranged as a documentary compilation without a continuous narrative. General readers are better off searching and reading selectively around specific figures or topics, with historical background materials at hand.
Can the electronic edition be used for research citations? It can serve as an auxiliary source for preliminary consultation and textual searching. Formal academic citations should verify against authoritative print editions or original archival documents and note the editor, edition, and page numbers, rather than relying solely on the electronic text.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Project Gutenberg Author

Project Gutenberg is not a single author but a nonprofit digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971 and one of the world's earliest free ebook platforms. It relies on volunteers to digitize, proofread, and freely distribute public-domain works and is now operated by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Its collection contains 2,692 works, mainly religious texts, epics, and story collections, including the King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims volumes, the epic Mahabharata, a literal translation of the Arabian Nights, and Danish editions of the Old and New Testaments. Public information is limited, and its nature is closer to a public-interest compiling and dissemination body; these texts are open to the public, easy to consult and circulate, and have had a profound influence on the spread of ebooks and the preservation of public-domain resources.