A treasure trove of 19th-century 4th of July speeches, readable online

Check out this treasure trove of 4th of July orations, mostly from the 19th century, readable online, courtesy of “the Internet Archives.”

The archive is extensive and includes addresses by

John Quincy Adams,

Unitarian minister Edward Everett Hale,

first senate majority leader Henry Cabot Lodge,

American historian and statesman George Bancroft,

education reformer Horace Mann,

Harvard mathematician Benjamin Peirce,

abolitionist and social reformer William Lloyd Garrison,

theologian and Swedenborgian Henry James Sr. (also father of the more famous Henry and William James),

and many others.