Article reviews several conditions of American society that sowed the seeds of civil war, particularly slavery and sectional conflict.

The success of the Revolution gave Americans the opportunity to give legal form to their ideals as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, and to remedy some of their grievances through state constitutions. As early as May 10,...

George Washington wrote of the period between the Treaty of Paris and the writing of the Constitution that the states were united only by a "rope of sand."Disputes between Maryland and Virginia over navigation on the Potomac River led to...

The U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1787 and still in effect to this day, was in many ways a work of creative genius. As an economic charter, it established that the entire nation -- stretching from Maine to Georgia, from the Atlantic...

One of the last acts of the Congress of the Confederation was to arrange for the first presidential election, setting March 4, 1789, as the date that the new government would come into being. One name was on everyone's lips for the new...

The 18th-century statesmen who met in Philadelphia were adherents of Montesquieu's concept of the balance of power in politics. This principle was supported by colonial experience and strengthened by the writings of John Locke, with...

History for Kids reference page provides an overview of the Bill of Rights, outlining each of the ten amendments, and teaching about the history and principles of the U.S. Consitution and first ten amendments.