University of Chicago
The Founders' Constitution: Federal v. Consolidated Government: Virginia Plan
The original text of The Virginia Plan presented at the Constitutional Convention. Discusses federal versus consolidated government.
University of Chicago
The Founders' Constitution: James Madison to George Washington
The original text of a letter from James Madison to George Washington discussing his ideas for a new national government that were to soon be presented to the Constitutional Convention as the Virginia Plan.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Classroom: The Constitutional Convention
Travel back to 1787 and become a delegate to the convention in Philadelphia. As the Founding Fathers struggle to decide how the young nation will be governed, explore how very different men representing their states' conflicting...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Us History: 1754 1800: The Constitutional Convention
Shortly after the end of the Revolutionary War, American leaders realized that the nation needed a new, stronger Constitution. But what would the new system of government look like?
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Constitutional Convention
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...
State Library of North Carolina
N Cpedia: 1835 Constitutional Convention
Reforming the state's constitution was one of the most important and hotly debated political issues in antebellum North Carolina. The state's constitution of 1776, which remained largely unchanged until the convention of 1835, had...
Library of Congress
Loc: The United States Constitution
See transcripts of the debates of the Federal Convention of 1787, the draft of the Constitution, or see the facsimiles of the original documents. Trace the progress of the Constitution using the historical documents themselves.
University of Chicago
The Founders' Constitution
The University of Chicago provides thousands of primary source documents concerning the diverse contents of the Constitution. Documents underlying the proposed Constitution, as well as documents of the time debating the proposed...
US Senate
The u.s. Senate: The Senate and the United States Constitution
This site from the United States Senate provides information about the evolution of the Senate as the Constitution was being written by the Constitutional Congress.
Michigan State University
Michigan State University: American Revolution: The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution
In a nutshell, you can find out the problems the new nation had under the Articles of Confederation and the process resulted in a new constitution.
US National Archives
Docsteach: The Voting Record of the Constitution
In this activity, students will analyze a primary source document to find relevant historical data and measure the degree of agreement and disagreement during the Constitutional Convention.
Thomson Reuters
Find Law: Proposing a Constitutional Amendment
The delegates to the Constitutional Convention had to decide the means of amending the Constitution. Discusses Madison's proposal for empowering Congress to propose amendments, either on its own initiative or upon application by the...
University of California
History Project: Debate Over the California Constitutional Convention, 1878 1879
Lesson on immigration, conflict and nativism in which students examine primary source documents to evaluate public policy and attitudes towards Chinese immigrants in California, 1878-1879.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Drafting the Constitution
Essay covers from the Articles of Confederation and the problems of disunity of the new states after the Revolutionary War, internally as well as externally, to the Constitutional Convention, an attempt to address the Articles' problems....
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: The Making of the American Constitution
A brief video providing background information on the Constitutional Convention. [3:58] The video is followed by a quiz and a list of additional resources.
Other
Historical Scene Investigation: Hsi: I Smell a Rat: Constitution Controversy
Activity in which students act as detectves to investigate an historical issue. In this activity students analyze primary source material to learn about controversy surrounding the U.S. Constitution when they are asked to find out what...
Bill of Rights Institute
Bill of Rights Institute: Constitution of the United States of America (1787)
The Constitution was written in the summer of 1787 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by delegates from 12 states, in order to replace the Articles of Confederation with a new form of government. It created a federal system with a national...
Digital History
Digital History: Was the Constitutional Convention Legal?
A look at the convening of a Constitutional Convention to address the problems inherent in the Articles of Confederation. Read a quote from George Washington, who addressed the legality of such a convention.
Texas State Library and Archives Commission
Texas State Library and Archives Commission: Forever Free: The 1870s: The Constitutional Convention of 1875
A Constitutional Convention was held in Texas in 1875 as a reaction to Reconstruction. See how the gains made by the Republican Party, which included African American legislators, were negated by the Democratic Party when it gained control.
Teaching American History
Teaching American History: Ratification of the Constitution
Dive into the times following the Constitutional Convention when the people and the leaders carried on in-depth conversations about the proposed constitution for the new nation. There were debates between Federalists and Antifederalists...
Library of Congress
Loc: Records of the Federal Convention: Farrand
This article offers discussion of various aspects of the Federal Constitutional Convention of 1787, along with images from original congressional documents.
Ohio Test Prep
Ohio Test Prep: u.s. Constitution
Video test preparation module for Social Studies on the U.S. Constitution teaches students about provisions and compromises made during the Constitutional Convention and how the terms reflect Enlightenment thinking.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Constitution or Articles?
In this lesson, students will observe the political climate at the time of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and read the writings of the delegates who refused to sign the proposed Constitution, as well as those who supported it....
Yale University
Notes of Rufus King in the Federal Convention of 1787
A transcript of the actual handwritten notes taken by Rufus King (delegate from Massachusetts) at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
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