Thomson Reuters
Find Law: History of the Constitution
This history of the American Constitution discusses how the Constitution served as a basis for inspiring and regulating laws made across the nation.
Yale University
Avalon Project: The Plan of Charles Pinckney (South Carolina)
The original text of a plan presented by Charles Pinckney to The Second Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787.
Library of Congress
Loc: American Memory: Debates in Several State Conventions
Read the authentic notes on Virginia's selection of their delegates to the Federal Constitutional Convention. The transcript describes the nominations and the final tally - George Washington, Patrick Henry, Edmund Randolph, John Blair,...
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Gilder Lehrman Institute: The New Nation, 1783 1815
[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...
CPALMS
Florida State University Cpalms: Florida Students: From Confederation to Constitution
This tutorial examines the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and why they were replaced with the Constitution. A PDF file of the tutorial is available.
Library of Congress
Loc: Primary Documents in American History: The Articles of Confederation
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.
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Colonial Williamsburgh: Meet the People: George Wythe
A short biographical sketch on George Wythe, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention from Virginia.
Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press.
New Georgia Encyclopedia: The Butler Family
An entry on the Butler family who owned large plantations on the Sea Islands. The "patriarch" was Pierce Butler who also served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention.
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.
Other
George Mason: Architect of Constitutional Liberty
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.
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.
Other
William Leigh Pierce an Account of the Earthquakes (1812)
William Leigh Pierce's written description of an earthquake that struck the area of the Mississippi near Missouri in 1812. Pierce is better known as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention from Georgia.
Henry J. Sage
Sage American History: Benjamin Franklin's Speech
From James Madison's notes, this speech is Benjamin Franklin's final speech of the Constitutional Convention.
Henry J. Sage
Sage American History: The Albany Plan of Union
Text of plan of governance proposed by Benjamin Franklin to the delegates of the convention in 1754.
Henry J. Sage
Sage American History: The Virginia Bill of Rights
Primary source document establishing a basis and foundation of early American government. This document, adopted in Virginia and drafted by George Mason and Patrick Henry, precedes the Congressional call for independence.
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.
State Library of North Carolina
N Cpedia: 1835 Constitutional Convention
Reforming the state's constitution was one of the most important and hotly debated political issues in antebellum North Carolina. The state's constitution of 1776, which remained largely unchanged until the convention of 1835, had...
Library of Congress
Loc: The Constitution: Counter Revolution or National Salvation
Using primary texts and prior study of Colonial America and the Revolution, students examine "what type of government would best represent the ideals of the American Revolution." Worksheets, discussions, and role-playing within this...
Digital Public Library of America
Dpla: Creating the Us Constitution
The sources in this primary set document the creation of the US Constitution. Includes teaching guide.
Other
History.library Point: John Francis Mercer: A Neglected Patriot
An interesting article on the life of the delegate from Maryland to the Constitutional Convention who eventually walked out (along with his fellow delegate Luther Martin) and fell into the anti-Federalist camp.
US National Archives
Nara: Founding Fathers: North Carolina
Gives biographical details on the five delegates from North Carolina to the Constitutional Convention: William Blount, William Richard Davie, Alexander Martin, Richard Dobbs Spaight Sr., and Hugh Williamson.
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.
![Success Link: 1787 [Archived Version] Lesson Plan](https://content.lessonplanet.com/knovation/original/501064-ffae068b782fcb5a01d3c7ce2e1a5a66.jpg?1661827526 "Success Link: 1787 [Archived Version] Lesson Plan")
Success Link
Success Link: 1787 [Archived Version]
By using the novel, Shh! We're Writing the Constitution by Jean Fritz, and 1787 by Joan Anderson, students learn the lively discussion among the delegates to the Constitutional Convention concerning the ratification of the document they...
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...