Human Rights-Key Sources

Primary Sources for Human Rights
1. Vedas

Mahony, William K. (1998). The artful universe: An introduction to the Vedic religious imagination. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Holdrege, Barbara A. (1995). Veda and Torah: Transcending the textuality of scripture. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

2. The Bible


3. The Qur’an

Haleem, M.A.S. Abdel. (2004). The Qur’an: A new translation by M.A.S. Abdel Haleem. New York: Oxford University Press.

4. Analects of Confucius

Confucius. (2005). The Analects of Confucius. Stilwell, KS: Digireads.com.

5. Magna Carter (1215)

Drew, Katherine Fischer. (2004). Magna Carta. Westport, CN: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.

6. Milton’s Areopagitica

Milton, John. (2004). Areopagitica. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, LLC.

7. Locke’s Letter Concerning Tolerance and Second Treatise of Civil Government (1690)

Locke, John. (2005). Two treatises of government and a letter concerning toleration. Stilwell, KS: Digireads.com.

Locke, John. (2004). Two treatises of government. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, Inc.

Locke, John. (2004). A letter concerning toleration. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, Inc.

Locke, John. (2004). Second treatise of government. New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Locke, John. (2003). The second treatise on civil government. Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson Incorporated.

8. Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Social Contract (1761)

Rousseau, Jean Jacques, et. al. (2006). The Social Contract. New York: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated.

9. Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man (1791-92)

Paine, Thomas. (2006). The rights of man. Teddington, UK: Echo Library.

10. the Declaration of Independence (1776)

Library of Congress. (2006). Declaration of independence: Primary documents of American history (Virtual Programs & Services, Library of Congress). http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/DeclarInd.html.

11. Abigail Adams, “Remember the Ladies,” (1789)

Massachusetts Historical Society. (2006). The Massachusetts Historical Society | The Adams Family Papers. http://www.masshist.org/adams/manuscripts.cfm.

12. U.S. Bill of Rights (1791)

United States. Department of State. (n.d.). The Bill of Rights. http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/funddocs/billeng.htm.

13. French-Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789)

Yale Law School. (2005). The Avalon Project: Declaration of the Rights of Man – 1789. http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/rightsof.htm.

14. Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792)

Wollstonecraft, Mary. (2001). A vindication of the rights of women. Madison, WI: Turtleback Books.

15. Kant’s Perpetual Peace (1797)

Kant, Immanuel. (1996). Perpetual peace: A philosophic essay. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, Ltd.

16. Britain Outlaws Slave Trade (1807)



17. Robert Owen’s New View of Society (1817)

Owen, Robert. (1991). A new view of society. Oxford, England: Woodstock Books.

18. Susan B. Anthony & Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “Declaration of Sentiments at Seneca Falls” (1848)

United States. Department of State. (n.d.). Seneca Falls Declaration (1848). http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/17.htm.

19. Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau (1849)

Thoreau, Henry David. (2002). Civil Disobedience. New York: Book Surge, LLC.

20. John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (1859)

Mill, John Stuart. (2004). On Liberty. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, LLC.

21. Amsterdam Resolution Against Colonialism (1904)



22. Mahatma Gandhi’s Passive Resistance (1909)



23. Declaration of the Rights of Toiling and Exploited Peoples (1918)

Bryant, Louise. (1918). “Chapter IX: The Constituent Assembly – Declaration of the Rights of the Toiling and Exploited People.” Six Red Months in Russia. New York: George H. Doran Company. http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bryant/russia/russia-IX.html.

24. International Labor Organization Charter (1919)

International Labour Organization. (2006). About the ILO: Who we are: ILO Constitution. http://www.ilo.org/public/english/about.iloconst.htm.

25. International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children (1921)

_____. (1924). International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children. The American Journal of International Law, 18(3), Supplement: Official Documents, 130-137. [Available through JSTOR]

26. Declaration of the Rights of Children (1924), League of Nations

University of Minnesota. Human Rights Library. (n.d.). Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child of 1924, adopted Sept. 26, 1924, League of Nations O.J. Spec. Supp. 21 at 43 (1924). http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/auok.htm.

27. Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery (1926)

Yale Law School. (1998). The Avalon Project: Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery September 25, 1926. http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/league/lea001.htm.

28. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “Four Freedoms” (1941)

Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. (n.d.). Annual Message to Congress, January 6, 1941, The “Four Freedoms” Speech. http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/4free.html.