← Back to the Codex
Source Documents & Research

Source Documents

Go read it yourself. Bills, statutes, regulations, rulings — primary sources, no interpreter.

Search the Federal Record

Full text, straight from GovInfo, the Federal Register, and the eCFR. Federal only — no state, no commentary.

Type a query and hit search. Try “emergency powers”, “asset forfeiture”, “qualified immunity”.

The Founding Documents

The charters themselves, the arguments that produced them, and the law as it stands today. Every link goes to an official or archival full-text source.

The Charters

The founding instruments, as ratified, from the National Archives.

1776Declaration of Independence Full transcript. The original argument for why a government forfeits its claim to obedience. 1787The Constitution All seven articles, verbatim transcript of the signed document. 1791The Bill of Rights Amendments I–X, plus the two proposed articles that were not ratified. 1795–1992Amendments XI–XXVII Everything added since, with ratification dates. LIVINGConstitution Annotated Clause by clause, annotated with every Supreme Court case interpreting it. Maintained by the Library of Congress. 1777Articles of Confederation The first attempt. Worth reading to understand what the Constitution was reacting against. 1787Northwest Ordinance Governance of the territories, and the first federal prohibition of slavery in them. NARAAmerica’s Founding Documents The National Archives hub — high-resolution images of the originals.

Antecedents & the Argument

What the framers were reading, and the fight over ratification.

1215Magna Carta The original at the British Library, with full translation. Where “no free man shall be seized…” comes from. 1297Magna Carta — U.S. Copy The 1297 exemplar held by the National Archives, with translation and history. 1689English Bill of Rights Direct ancestor of the American one — arms, petition, cruel and unusual punishment. 1776Virginia Declaration of Rights George Mason’s draft. Madison borrowed from it heavily fifteen years later. 1787–88The Federalist Papers All 85 essays, full text, indexed by number and by constitutional clause. Library of Congress. ANTI-FEDThe Founders’ Constitution University of Chicago. Both sides of every clause — Federalist and Anti-Federalist — sourced document by document. 185,000+Founders Online Every surviving paper of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton and Franklin. Searchable. National Archives. YALEThe Avalon Project Yale Law School’s archive of law, history and diplomacy documents from antiquity forward.

The Law As It Stands Today

What is actually binding right now. Check the site’s claims against these.

STATUTEUnited States Code All 54 titles of permanent federal law, current through the last enacted public law. REGULATIONCode of Federal Regulations The eCFR — every agency rule with the force of law, updated daily. DAILYFederal Register Proposed rules, final rules, notices and executive orders — the day they publish. CONGRESSCongress.gov Bill text, sponsors, amendments, roll-call votes, committee action. Official legislative record. SCOTUSSupreme Court Opinions Slip opinions as released, by term, direct from the Court. GPOGovInfo The Government Publishing Office archive — authenticated PDFs of nearly every federal document. NARANational Archives Catalog Scanned federal records, hundreds of millions of pages. Searchable. EXECUTIVEPresidential Actions Executive orders, proclamations and memoranda as issued.

Primary sources only. If a claim on this site can’t be traced back to a document here, treat it as unverified.