Founding the Federal Union
Founding the Federal Union aims to capture the processes of negotiation surrounding the drafting of the United States Constitution. The collection consists of digital models of the 1787 Constitutional Convention and the 1789 Bill of Rights and collated archival materials. Cutting edge visualizations extract the narrative contained the archive materials in order to demonstrate how constitutional text was created and enacted on the word level and, amendment by amendment, arrived at the United States’ foundational text.
Negotiations
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Description: Grand Convention at Philadelphia, May to September, 1787, Quill Project 2021 Edition.
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Description: Twelve articles of amendment to the Constitution, introduced in September 1789 by Congress.
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A collection of primary source material detailing the state of the convention between 14 and 25 May, 1787. People include George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Richard Price, Thomas Jordan, Arthur Lee, John Dickinson, George Mason, Rufus King, Jeremiah Wadsworth, and George Read.
A collection of handwritten primary source material pertaining to the deliberations of the Committee of Detail. People include John Jay, George Washington, Richard Caswell, R.D. Spaight, Alexander Martin, James Monroe, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James McClurg.
The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States, First Congress, First Session, vol. 1
In 1819 John Quincy Adams oversaw a printed publication of the Journal of the Convention.
This is a manuscript copy of the journal from that time, a draft of what was published.
In 1819 John Quincy Adams oversaw a printed publication of the Journal of the Convention. This collection holds links to the Archive.org copy.
The ConSource.org edition of Madison's Notes and other papers.
Charts the main stages in drafting the Constitution, and contains the major documents produced by the Convention, allowing for quick comparison.
A collection of printed primary source material pertaining to drafts of the Constitution between August and September, 1787. This collection includes printed drafts with handwritten annotations produced by the convention; for handwritten drafts by the Committee of Detail, see "The Meeting of the Committee of Detail" resource collection.
Jonathan Elliot, The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, J.B. Lippincott & co. (Philadelphia: 1836-59).
Details of unofficial meetings, discussions and social events held by delegates to the Convention.
The Gazette of the United States was a Federalist newspaper in the years of the First Congress. Begun by John Fenno, who served as its editor, the Gazette was published twice weekly, beginning on April 15, 1789. Alexander Hamilton contributed to the paper, both financially and in written content. Senate Secretary Samuel Otis would eventual go on to contract with Fenno to publish various documents for the Senate.
Printed version of the Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States: anno M,DCC,LXXXIX, and of the independence of the United States the thirteenth
This collection holds links to the Library of Congress scan of its microfilm photographs of Madison's personal record recording the work of the Constitutional Convention.
Transcriptions of the differing versions of the Virginia Plan, Pinckney Plan, New Jersey Plan, Hamilton Plan, and others, for comparison.
A collection of tables of population for each state presented to the Convention to inform apportionment of representation.
The PDF scans of the 1911 publication, The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, edited by Max Farrand (New Haven: Yale University Press)
Scans of the handwritten Senate Journal for the First Session of the First Congress
Roger Sherman's proposal in the First Committee on Representation, which demonstrates how Madison's proposed amendments could be amended and included as a supplement to the Constitution.
Links to ConSource editions of Thomas Lloyd's stenographic record of the First House of Representatives.
Analysis of Historical Society of Pennsylvania Item 1663: "United States Constitution first manuscript draft by James Wilson, 1787."
Contemporary reports of the weather during each day of the Convention in Philadelphia 1787