Essential American Principles: A User's Guide to American Political Documents"We hold these truths to be self evident", "Four score and seven years ago", "We the people" these quotes are now part of the American vernacular; these expressions are now embedded in the very fabric of the nation's culture. From Patrick Henry's speech to Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, these principles and documents have defined American political theory as well as history. In fact, the very notion of what it means to be an American is,