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...

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.

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 Trace the progress of the Constitution using the historical documents themselves.

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

A learning module on the Great Compromise and the role it played in developing the US Constitution in 1787. It includes several supporting questions accompanied by formative tasks and source materials, followed by a summative performance...

The links in the New Nation, which is provided for by the Library of Congress, will lead you to sets of selected primary sources on a variety of topics,such as the Constitution, governmental policy on Native Americans, and problems and...

The original Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between thirteen states, created in 1777 and ratified in 1781. It preceded the Constitutional Convention in 1787.