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National Constitution Center
Interactive Constitution
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.
Ashbrook Center at Ashland University
The Constitutional Convention
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...
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.
University of Missouri
Exploring Constitutional Conflicts: The Constitutional Convention of 1787
One word can sum up the Constitutional Convention of 1787 - compromise. Find out which compromises were made and by which groups of people and/or states. This expansive site includes background on the convention, primary source...
Digital History
Digital History: The Constitution and Slavery
The issue of slavery was a contentious one during debates in the Constitutional Convention. Read about the various issues, the quotes of several of the delegates, and see how the word "slave" is not even mentioned in the Constitution....
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....
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Constitution Through Compromise
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.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: The Debate About Slavery
Article outlines the issues of debate over slavery and the compromises made while writing the Constitution.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: An Uneasy Peace
See what turmoil resulted from the acquisition of new territory after the Mexican-American War. There was great disagreement between those who wanted to abolish slavery and those who wanted to be able to carry slavery into the new lands....
George Washington University
Birth of a Nation: The First Federal Congress 1789 1791
An exhaustive look at the first Congress during George Washington's presidency. Find out about the precedents that were set and the interpretations that had to be made about the new Constitution. A fabulous site from George Washington...
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: Oliver Ellsworth (1745 1807)
Biography of Oliver Ellsworth who represented Connecticut in the Continental Congress and also was a promoter of the Connecticut Compromise.
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: The Men of Philadelphia [Pdf]
Find short biographies of twenty-three of the fifty-five delegates to the Constitutional Convention and their ideas about government. These men were certainly not representative of the common man in the new United States, but they were...
Digital History
Digital History: Representation: By State or by Population? [Pdf]
Read the opinions of some of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention in regard to the very thorny issue of how states would be represented in the national legislature. [pdf]