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The year 1833 was a watershed in the history of humankind owing to the passage of the far-reaching Slavery Abolition Act by the British parliament, a decree that abolished slavery throughout the British Empire. Great Britain was the world’s foremost superpower at that time, a nation of great international authority with a history of slave trading and keeping, and the Slavery Abolition Act was the first legal ruling by a national government to ban slavery within its colonies. It therefore set a precedent for all other imperialistic countries to follow, setting forth into law the concept that freedom is a natural right of all human beings.
Contents
- Reform Edict of Urukagina
- Code of Hammurabi
- Epic of Gilgamesh
- Rig Veda
- Hittite Laws
- Divine Birth and Coronation Inscriptions of Hatshepsut
- “Great Hymn to the Aten”
- Egyptian-Hittite Peace Treaty
- Middle Assyrian Laws
- Homer: Iliad
- Victory Stela of Piankhi
- Aristotle: Constitution of Sparta
- Confucius: Analects
- Mandate of Heaven
- Twelve Tables of Roman Law
- Funeral Oration of Pericles
- Plato: “Allegory of the Cave”
- Aristotle: Metaphysics
- Aristotle: Constitution of Carthage
- Aristotle: Athenian Constitution
- Dao De Jing
- Canon of Filial Piety
- Rock and Pillar Edicts of Asoka
- Huan Kuan: Discourses on Salt and Iron
- Cicero: On the Laws
- Law of Caesar on Municipalities
- Deeds of the Divine Augustus
- Heart Sutra
- Popol Vuh
- Laws Ending Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire
- Augustine of Hippo: The City of God
- Theodosian Code
- Emerald Tablet
- Code of Justinian
- Japanese Seventeen-Article Constitution
- Qur’an (Koran)
- New Year’s Day Taika Reform Edict
- Charlemagne: Great Capitulary
- Han Yu: “Memorial on the Buddha’s Bones”
- II Aethelstan; or, the Grately Code
- Wang Kon: Ten Injunctions
- Justice of the Rus
- Muhammad al-Mawardi: “On Qadis”
- Kai Kaus on the Purchase of Slaves
- Domesday Book
- Nizam al-Mulk: Book of Government; or, Rules for Kings
- Pope Urban II: Call to Crusade
- Abu Hamid al-Ghazali: Deliverance from Error (Confessions)
- Constitutions of Clarendon
- Usama ibn Munqidh: “A Muslim View of the Crusaders”
- Great Yasa of Genghis Khan
- Magna Carta
- Pope Boniface VIII: Clericis Laicos and Unam Sanctam
- Marco Polo: Description of Hangzhou
- Ibn Battuta: Travels in Asia and Africa (The Rihla)
- Abu Zaid ibn Khaldun: “Social Solidarity”
- Efforts to Introduce and Encourage the Use of Paper Currency and Metal Coins
- Christopher Columbus: Letter to Raphael Sanxis on the Discovery of America
- Niccolò Machiavelli: The Prince
- Requerimiento
- Martin Luther: Ninety-five Theses
- Nicolaus Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres
- Dutch Declaration of Independence
- Japanese Laws Governing Military Households
- Hayashi Razan: “Principle and Material Force”
- Japan’s Closed Country Edict
- Treaty of Westphalia
- Great Muscovite Law Code
- Habeas Corpus Act of the Restoration
- English Bill of Rights
- John Locke: Second Treatise on Civil Government
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The Social Contract
- Catherine II: The Grand Instructions to the Commissioners
- British Regulating Act
- Leeds Woolen Workers Petition
- Alexander Falconbridge: An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa
- Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
- Olympe de Gouges: Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen
- Qianlong: Letter to George III
- Constitution of Haiti
- Diplomatic Correspondence between Muhammad al-Kanami and Muhammad Bello
- Simón Bolívar: Cartagena Manifesto
- Kaiho Seiryō: “The Law of the Universe: Commodities Transactions”
- Carlsbad Decrees
- Treaty of Córdoba
- Act for the Abolition of Slavery throughout the British Colonies
- Louis Blanc: The Organization of Labor
- Lin Zexu: “Moral Advice to Queen Victoria”
- Treaty of Nanjing
- Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
- Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels: Communist Manifesto
- Queen Victoria: Proclamation concerning India
- John Stuart Mill: On Liberty
- Feng Guifen: “On the Adoption of Western Learning”
- Constitution Act of Canada
- Constitution of the Fante Confederacy
- Zongli Yamen: “Circular Letter on the Unequal Treaties”
- Treaty of Limits between Mexico and Guatemala
- Fukuzawa Yukichi: “Good-bye Asia”
- Pandita Ramabai: The High-Caste Hindu Woman
- Meiji Constitution of Japan
- Theodor Herzl: “A Solution to the Jewish Question”
- Bernhard von Bülow: Germany’s “Place in the Sun”
- Emperor Guangxu: Reform of the Examination System
- D’Arcy Concession
- Vladimir Lenin: What Is to Be Done?
- Proclamation of the Young Turks
- Emiliano Zapata: Plan of Ayala
- Articles Providing for the Favorable Treatment of the Great Ching Emperor after His Abdication
- Proclamation of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic
- Balfour Declaration
- Sun Yat-sen: “Three Stages of Revolution”
- Korean Declaration of Independence
- Covenant of the League of Nations
- Treaty of Versailles
- Resolution of the General Syrian Congress
- Government of India Act
- Resolutions of the National Congress of British West Africa
- Sun Yat-sen: “The Three Principles of the People”
- Treaty of Lausanne
- Mao Zedong: “Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan”
- José Ortega y Gasset: The Revolt of the Masses
- A. B. Xuma: “Bridging the Gap between White and Black in South Africa”
- Benito Mussolini: “The Doctrine of Fascism”
- Nuremberg Laws
- Meher Baba: Discourses
- British White Paper on Palestine
- Lahore Resolution
- Japan’s Fourteen-part Message
- Mahatma Gandhi: “Quit India” Speech
- Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
- Winston Churchill: “Iron Curtain” Speech
- Constitution of Japan
- Jawaharlal Nehru: Speeches on the Granting of Indian Independence
- Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War
- Constitution of India
- Juan Perón: “Twenty Fundamental Truths of Justicialism”
- Fidel Castro: History Will Absolve Me
- Proclamation of the Algerian National Liberation Front
- Freedom Charter of South Africa
- Gamal Abdel Nasser on the Nationalization of the Suez Canal
- Patrice Lumumba: Speech at the Proclamation of Congolese Independence
- “Mao Tse-tung’s Thought Is the Telescope and Microscope of Our Revolutionary Cause”
- Arusha Declaration
- UN Security Council Resolution 242 on the Arab-Israeli Conflict
- Palestinian National Charter
- Ayatollah Khomeini: Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist
- Biological Weapons Convention
- Helsinki Final Act
- Alexander Solzhenitsyn: “A World Split Apart”
- Wei Jingsheng: “The Fifth Modernization: Democracy”
- Constitution of the People’s Republic of China
- Nelson Mandela: “We Have Waited Too Long for Our Freedom”
- Agreement on Reconciliation, Nonaggression, and Cooperation between South and North Korea
- Treaty on European Union
- Nelson Mandela: Inaugural Address
- Osama bin Laden: Declaration of Jihad against Americans
- Northern Ireland Peace Agreement
- Constitutive Act of the African Union
- Marriage Opening Act
- Alexander Jung: “Ponzi Planet: The Danger Debt Poses to the Western World”
- Hassan Rouhani: Letter to the UN General Assembly
- Paris Climate Accord
- WHO Statement on Novel Coronavirus
- Abraham Accords
- Vladimir Putin: Victory Day Speech