The Library of Congress provides several hundred documents relating to the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention. Content includes drafts of the Constitution, journals of Congress, resolutions, proclamations, committee...

After reading this section of the chapter on "Creating Republican Governments", students will be able to identify the central issues of the 1787 Constitutional Convention and their solutions and also describe the conflicts over the...

Information about Connecticut's delegates to the Constitutional Convention. Includes information on Oliver Ellsworth, a key supporter of the Great Compromise, as well as William Samuel Johnson and Roger Sherman.

Explains why the Articles of Confederation were not strong enough to hold the country together. One result was a farmers' rebellion in Massachusetts led by Daniel Shays, which was precipitated by a debt crisis that caused many farmers to...

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...

The original text of official Resolutions by members of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 during the debate creating a new national U.S. Constitution.

A complete transcript of James McHenry's account of the Constitutional Convention on May 14, 1787. McHenry discusses the Virginia Plan.

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....

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 Trace the progress of the Constitution using the historical documents themselves.

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.

Lesson on immigration, conflict and nativism in which young scholars examine primary source documents to evaluate public policy and attitudes towards Chinese immigrants in California, 1878-1879.

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.

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.

A transcript of the actual handwritten notes taken by Rufus King (delegate from Massachusetts) at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

A scholarly article on the life of George Mason, a delegate from Virginia to the Constitutional Convention. Mason is also considered the father of the Bill of Rights.

The sources in this primary set document the creation of the US Constitution. Includes teaching guide.

[Free Registration/Login Required] This website documents the United States through its struggles to become a new nation. Site includes primary source documents for the Articles of Confederation, US Constitutional Convention, and George...

The constitutional convention of 1835 was convened to modify the North Carolina Constitution of 1776. Some provisions of the 1776 document were rooted in the colonial experience, and a growing segment of the population came to consider...

The lesson plan provides varies information and links to help teach about the Constitutional Convention and learn about the Founding Fathers.

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 good biography on Pinckney and his role in the formation of the Constitution.

With the freeing of slaves following the Emancipation Proclamation, African-Americans, including former slaves, began to take part in the government. Read about African-American Charles W. Bryant, Constitutional Convention delegate, and...

Gives biographical details on the three delegates from Connecticut to the Constitutional Convention: Oliver Ellsworth, William Samuel Johnson, and Roger Sherman.

Gives biographical details on the four delegates from Massachusetts to the Constitutional Convention: Elbridge Gerry, Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King, and Caleb Strong.