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Digital History
Digital History: Majority Rule vs. Checks and Balances [Pdf]
It is interesting to read how the delegates to the Constitutional Convention thought as they debated important issues such as the checks and balances that should be written into the new Constitution. Read these conversations based on...
Digital History
Digital History: A Bill of Rights? [Pdf]
There was no Bill of Rights attached to the original Constitution, but it was a topic of discussion. Read a reconstruction of speeches of delegates to the Constitutional Convention who debated for and against the inclusion of a way to...
Digital History
Digital History: Slavery and the Slave Trade [Pdf]
Read reconstructions of debates by delegates to the Constitutional Convention as they attempted to come to terms with slavery, the slave trade, and how to address the issue in the Constitution so all states would be willing to ratify it....
Digital History
Digital History: Hamilton and Jefferson the Men and Their Philosophies [Pdf]
Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton played a huge role not only in crafting important documents in U.S. history, but also by serving as secretaries in George Washington's first cabinet. Read about their diametrically opposing...
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...
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Checks and Balances
Overview of the principle of checks and balances proposed in the Federalist Papers.
Digital History
Digital History: The Delegates
An interesting look at the background of the men who gathered in Philadelphia to frame a new constitution for the new country.
Digital History
Digital History: The Convention
The delegates at the Constitution established strict guidelines for writing the document. Read about the general housekeeping rules, and the way they reached compromises.
Digital History
Digital History: Drafting the Constitution
Those writing the Constitution had many issues to deal with in forming a document to govern the country. One thorny issue was the status of the states in regard to representation in the federal legislature. Read about the Virginia Plan...
Digital History
Digital History: Compromises
Compromise was the name of the game when writing the Constitution. See how taxation, elections, and the power of the federal government were enshrined in the document. Marvel at the ideas that were rejected.
Digital History
Digital History: Completing a Final Draft
Read about the committee that produced a final draft of the Constitution to present to the entire Constitutional Convention. Find out what the delegates to the convention kept in the final draft and what they changed.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: The Constitutional Convention: What the Founding Fathers Said
In this lesson plan, young scholars will consider "The Constitutional Convention: What the Founding Fathers Said." The plan includes worksheets and other student materials that can be found under the resource tab.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: The Creation of the Bill of Rights: "Retouching the Canvas"
In this lesson plan, students will consider "The Creation of the Bill of Rights: "Retouching the Canvas"." The plan includes worksheets and other student materials that can be found under the resource tab.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Declaration of Independence: An Expression of the American Mind
In this lesson plan, students will consider "The Declaration of Independence: "An Expression of the American Mind"." The plan includes worksheets and other student materials that can be found under the resource tab.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: The Constitutional Convention of 1787
In this Curriculum Unit, students will consider "The Constitutional Convention of 1787" in 3 Lessons. The unit also includes worksheets and other student materials that can be found under the resource tab.
Princeton University
Princeton University: William Paterson
A magazine article devoted to Princeton University offers a biography of its distinguished alumnus, who later became Governor of New Jersey and co-authored the New Jersey Plan which was presented to the Constitutional Convention.
Princeton University
Princeton: The Constitutional Convention of 1787
Information about a group of nine delegates to the Constitutional Convention, all of whom had attended Princeton University. Explains Princeton's role in the convention, with longer biographical entries for three Princeton-education...
University of Chicago
The Founders' Constitution: Constitutional Convention: Introduction
A lengthy and detailed article on the issues and events of the Constitutional Conventions in their attempt to amend and then replace the Articles of Confederation.
University of Chicago
The Founders' Constitution: Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
The text of an original letter written by Charles Cotesworth Pinckney to a Mr. Lowndes opposing the independence of the states from each other in favor of the independence of the new nation as a whole.
University of Chicago
The Founders' Constitution: The New Jersey Plan
The original text of The New Jersey Plan for the creation of a new constitution in the Constitutional Convention.
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania Archives & Records: Thomas Fitzsimons
A brief biography of this signer of the Constitution. He later served as a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania.
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania Archives & Records: Jared Ingersoll (1749 1822)
This article gives highlights on the career of this delegate from Pennsylvania to the Constitutional Convention. Ingersoll was considered one of the best lawyers in Philadelphia at that time.
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania Archives & Records: Thomas Mifflin (1744 1800)
A short biographical sketch of Mifflin that provides details about his life and his relationship with the University of Pennsylvania.
University of Chicago
The Founders' Constitution: Luther Martin: Genuine Information
A speech given by Luther Martin, the delegate from Maryland to the Constitutional Convention. Martin was a believer is state's rights and did not sign the finished document.