Imagine sitting down with representatives of your school to write a new student handbook. What arguments would ensue? How would compromises be made to finish the project? Scholars research the Constitutional Convention using a directory...

Did you know there are seven Articles and 27 Amendments to the US Constitution? Explore each and every one of them, including the Bill of Rights and other rights around the world, in a super neat US Constitution interactive. 

The Compromise of 1850 attempted to settle sectional disagreements about slavery in the volatile pre-Civil War period. The compromise, actually a series of bills, had an enormous impact on the nation's slow march to civil war. See...

Overview of the Compromise of 1850, it's provisions, and discussion of the regional differences that characterized U.S. sectional conflict during the 1800s.

Article explaining what the Compromise of 1877 was, accompanied by a short video about the struggles of African-Americans after the Civil War.

Web page on the Crittenden Compromise of 1860 which assured the continuation of slavery where it already existed in an attempt to appease Southerners and halt secession of Southern states from the Union.

Presents the events leading up to the passing of the Compromise of 1850, followed by a description of those events, the content of the Compromise, and its impact.

Before finding the final terms of the Compromise of 1850, read about the disputes and debate that accompanied the attempts to pass something that would address Northern and Southern concerns.

A good look at the issues debated about the admission of new states, particularly those that would be made from the Louisiana Purchase. Read about why the issue of allowing slavery in the new states was such a hard decision for Congress....

Find the various parts of the Compromise of 1850, proposed by Henry Clay, that extended slavery in some cases, prohibited in others, and added California as a free state. A clear chart shows what parts of the law were beneficial to the...

Read about how compromises were reached at the Philadelphia convention that dealt with issues between large and small states, and slave and free states. Take the quick quiz to assess knowledge about the writing of the Constitution.

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.

Find out how Booker T. Washington tried to allay the fears of white Southerners in his speech in Atlanta in September, 1895. Although hailed as a new era in which blacks would give up their civil and political rights and in return get...

A good summary of the domestic policies of the Monroe Administration. Find out about Monroe's Cabinet, the Panic of 1819, the development of a road system, and the adoption of the Missouri Compromise.

This ambitious unit examines the various levels of legislature from federal to municipal, the wants of constituents versus what the legislators feel is right, and the need for compromise. Offers video, activities, and related resources.

Brief description of how the movement to secede from the Union was stalled by the state of Virginia. Click on "Dilemmas of Compromise" to understand this site in context.

Biography of Oliver Ellsworth who represented Connecticut in the Continental Congress and also was a promoter of the Connecticut Compromise.

A concise review of the ways the issue of slavery split the country from the Missouri Compromise to eventual secession of the southern states.

The question of the expansion of slavery into the territories of the United States was an old question that was addressed again in the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Read about the Tallmadge Amendment and the opinions supporting and...

Read excerpts of the contentious debate about slavery in the territories as the U.S. Congress tried to hammer out legislation that could be passed by both houses and signed into law by the president. Find the provisions of the Compromise...

Outline on the extension of slavery and U.S. westward expansion, touching on the development of the cotton gin, Northwest Ordinance and Missouri Compromise.

The Compromise of 1850 did not solve all the slavery issues in the territories, which was not surprising. Read about the Kansas-Nebraska Act, put forth by Sen. Stephan Douglas, who proposed that the issue be decided by popular...

Article outlines the issues of debate over slavery and the compromises made while writing the Constitution.

Read about the essential repeal of the Missouri Compromise, which had established which states could be slave and which would be free for thirty years, with the rancorous passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. See who supported it and why,...