founding text
Foundational written source
A founding text is a document or work that establishes the basis for a movement, institution, religion, or field of thought.
The Constitution is a founding text of American government; the Communist Manifesto is a founding text of Marxism.
Such texts carry special authority—they're consulted, interpreted, and debated long after their creation: Scholars returned to the founding texts of psychoanalysis.
- scriptureSacred religious writings
- holy writSacred authoritative writings
- canonAccepted authoritative works
- constitutionInherent physical or structural makeup
- bill of rightsDocument listing protected liberties
charter · manifesto · genesis · origin · first principles · testament · doctrine · covenant · sacred · ten commandments · manuscript · preamble · revelation · commandments · stone tablets · tablets · scroll · codex
- constitutionsbill of rights, constitutional amendment, constitutional reform, clause, clauses
- legal codescode, codes, statute, statutes, law code
- touchstonesbenchmark, yardstick, litmus test, reference point, baseline
founding textcommentary
Explanatory remarks on events
derivative work · secondary source · annotation · gloss · exegesis
founding textclosing statement
Final remarks in proceedings
valedictory · epilogue · postscript · coda · swan song
founding, text, found, founded, founder, founders, foundation, foundations, foundational