Primary Source Archive

The Archive

27 verified primary sources. Every claim backed by documentation.

Sources Verified

All 8 primary source documents have been verified against their archived versions. The quotes cited on this website match the original documents.

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1860-1865

Secession Era

The Civil War and the documents that started it

1860 documents

Republican Platform 1860

Lincoln-era platform [archive] (UCSB): "The normal condition of all territory of the United States is that of freedom."
1861 documents

Confederate Constitution

Avalon Project [archive] (Yale Law School): Explicitly protected slavery in Article I, Section 9.
1858-1861 speeches

Jefferson Davis speeches

Rice University archive [archive]: Confederate president's papers including 1858 Senate speech calling slavery "a moral, a social, and a political blessing."
1860 government

1860 U.S. Census

Census Bureau: Enslaved population data showing nearly 4 million people held in bondage.
1865-1954

Reconstruction & Jim Crow

From emancipation through legal segregation

1869 court cases

Texas v. White

Supreme Court ruling [archive] that secession was unconstitutional: "The Constitution... looks to an indestructible Union composed of indestructible States."
1898 events

Wilmington Coup

National Park Service: Armed white supremacists overthrew Wilmington's elected biracial government—the only successful coup d'état in American history.
1896 court cases

Plessy v. Ferguson

Oyez: Supreme Court upheld "separate but equal" doctrine, legalizing segregation for 58 years.
1948-1968

Civil Rights Era

The fight for legal equality

1954 court cases

Brown v. Board of Education

Oyez: Supreme Court unanimously ruled segregated schools unconstitutional, overturning Plessy.
1964 legislation

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Senate vote record [archive]: Landmark legislation outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
1965 legislation

Voting Rights Act of 1965

National Archives [archive]: Prohibited racial discrimination in voting, enabling federal oversight of elections.
1968-2005

Southern Strategy

The realignment of American politics

1970 speeches

Kevin Phillips interview

New York Times: Nixon strategist explains the plan to win the South by appealing to white racial resentment.
1981 speeches

Lee Atwater interview

The Nation [archive]: GOP strategist explains how racial appeals became "abstract" through coded language.
2005 speeches

Ken Mehlman RNC apology

NPR [archive]: RNC Chairman apologizes to NAACP: "Some Republicans... trying to benefit politically from racial polarization... we were wrong."
2013-Present

Modern Era

Post-Shelby voting landscape

2013 court cases

Shelby County v. Holder

Oyez [archive]: Supreme Court gutted Voting Rights Act preclearance requirements, enabling new voting restrictions.
2016 court cases

NC NAACP v. McCrory

4th Circuit ruling [archive]: Struck down NC voting restrictions that targeted Black voters "with almost surgical precision."
2022 research

Felony disenfranchisement

Sentencing Project [archive]: Research on voting rights denied to citizens with felony convictions.
2024 elections

2024 election results

Associated Press state results; 270toWin national map; supplemental cross-check via state election boards.
Various

Reference Works

Scholarship and archives

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Secession Era 1860-1865 Reconstruction & Jim Crow 1865-1954 Civil Rights Era 1948-1968 Southern Strategy 1968-2005 Modern Era 2013-Present Reference Works Various
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