The Founders' Constitution: John Tyler, Virginia Ratifying Convention

Edmund Randolph's notes taken at the state convention of Virginia on ratification of the new Constitution.

Read the words of John Adams at the Constitutional Convention where he is debating the meaning of "the people" in the Constitution.

What a fun way to learn about the making of the American Constitution! This video does a great job of describing the circumstances that existed for the delegates in Philadelphia in 1787, where in a just a few days, they would effectively...

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...

Travel back to 1787 as young scholars investigate the creation of the US Constitution. After first working in small groups to create sets of classroom rules, students go on to read a summary of the Constitution and watch a short video...

Over 11,000 amendments have been proposed for the US Constitution, yet only 27 have peen ratified. This short video explains why.

The original text from the University of Chicago Press of a 1780 letter from Alexander Hamilton to James Duane, who later became a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, on the weaknesses of the existing U.S. government under the...

A list of links to texts of original documents written by participants in the Constitutional Conventions, relating to their attempts to create an acceptable national constitution. Organized in chronological order.

The text of the Resolution of the Constitutional Convention authorizing the submission of the Constitution of the United States to the legislatures of the states to be ratified by state conventions.

The original text of The Virginia Plan presented at the Constitutional Convention. Discusses federal versus consolidated government.