Declarations, Manifestos and Political Essays

Persuasive or proclamatory political texts asserting a right, doctrine, position or independence, issued by a state or authored privately, read by historians chiefly as argument and assertion rather than as governing instrument or interstate agreement. Belongs here: the United States Declaration of Independence, the Declaration of Arbroath, the Balfour Declaration, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Monroe Doctrine, the Fourteen Points, the Potsdam Declaration, The Communist Manifesto, the Ninety-five Theses, the Gettysburg Address, and The Federalist Papers as a persuasive essay series arguing for constitutional ratification. Does not belong here: a document that itself establishes governing structure, filed under Constitutions, Charters and Statutes, and a treaty settling a war or territory between named parties, filed under either treaty group.