Welcome to the Quill Library

The PDF scans of the 1911 publication, The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, edited by Max Farrand (New Haven: Yale University Press)

The ConSource.org edition of Madison's Notes and other papers.

In 1819 John Quincy Adams oversaw a printed publication of the Journal of the Convention. This collection holds links to the Archive.org copy.

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.

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.

Links to relevant records at e-enlightenment.com

Constitutional History in the news and in scholarship, and news about the Quill platform and the Negotiated Texts Network.

A collection of news items related to the Quill project.

Forthcoming events being organized by the Quill project.

William B. Ewald, Professor of Law and Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania Law School

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.

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.

News items from the Center for Constitutional Studies at Utah Valley University.

Analysis of Historical Society of Pennsylvania Item 1663: "United States Constitution first manuscript draft by James Wilson, 1787."

This collection holds links to images of the Library of Congress copy of Madison's Notes. These colour images were newly available in 2018.

Details of unofficial meetings, discussions and social events held by delegates to the Convention.

Digitized microfilmed copies of some of the first 150 propositions and petitions presented by various delegates of the Utah Constitutional Convention for insertion into the Constitution preserved by the Utah State Archives.

Digitized microfilmed copies of the first draft the articles of the Constitution as drafted by the different specialized committees of the Utah Constitutional Convention for insertion into the Constitution.

Report of the Conference Committee regarding the House's disagreement to various proposed Senate amendments to the Constitution

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.

Links to ConSource editions of Thomas Lloyd's stenographic record of the First House of Representatives.

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.

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

The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States, First Congress, First Session, vol. 1

The Journal of the Senate, First Congress, First Session, vol. 1

Jonathan Elliot, The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, J.B. Lippincott & co. (Philadelphia: 1836-59).

The Congressional register; or, History of the proceedings and debates of the first House of representatives of the United States of America...

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.

Charts the main stages in drafting the Constitution, and contains the major documents produced by the Convention, allowing for quick comparison.

Contemporary reports of the weather during each day of the Convention in Philadelphia 1787

From the mid-1980s, John, now Lord, Alderdice, was intimately involved in the Irish peace process. His archive spans more than thirty years of negotiation and implementation, from his early days in the Alliance Party in the 1980s, through his leadership of the party during several phases of multi-party talks in the 1990s, to the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement during his time as the first Speaker of the new Northern Ireland Assembly. It also includes a small section on the Sunningdale Conference, inherited from previous party leaders, as a testimony to the origins of the 1998 Agreement. The documents which can be viewed in this resource collection were used to model Brooke/Mayhew talks and span the period from 1985 to 1992. They are also contained in the John Alderdice Collection, which includes all the documents digitized by Quill.

At present this collection contains the drafts of the IICD Report. These transcriptions are being used to construct a model of how the text of the final text of the Mitchell Principles was agreed.

This collection of treaties, agreements, legislation, and joint statements relating to the status of Northern Ireland was commissioned by ARINS. It forms part of the Writing Peace project, a new initiative which will bring together archives from across the political spectrum to create a rounded view of the context and detail of the peace talks in Northern Ireland from the late 1980s to early 2000s. Online resource collections and cutting-edge analytical tools will celebrate the constellation of peace makers involved and help scholars and practitioners alike to learn lessons for the future.

Monica McWilliams is Emeritus Professor in the Transitional Justice Institute at Ulster University, and has campaigned tirelessly for peace and human rights in both Northern Ireland and the wider world for more than four decades. As co-founder of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition (NIWC), she was elected to the Multi-Party Talks in 1996 at a key juncture in the peace negotiations. The section of her archive digitized as part of this project focuses on the negotiation of the Good Friday Agreement (1998-2003) and the process of implementation during Professor McWilliams's time as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (1998-2003).

From the mid-1980s, John, now Lord, Alderdice, was intimately involved in the Irish peace process. His archive spans more than thirty years of negotiation and implementation, from his early days in the Alliance Party in the 1980s, through his leadership of the party during several phases of multi-party talks in the 1990s, to the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement during his time as the first Speaker of the new Northern Ireland Assembly. It also includes a small section on the Sunningdale Conference, inherited from previous party leaders, as a testimony to the origins of the 1998 Agreement.

The Forum for Political Dialogue met between 1996 and 1998 in Belfast as part of the negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement. Originally the Records of Debate were posted on the Forum's Official Website, which is now archived. Following the conclusion of negotiations in 1998, Lord Alderdice commissioned print versions of the records.

This Collection is the product of an effort to digitise these Records to incorporate them into an online edition of the Peace Process and once again make them accessible to the public.