United States Constitutional History Resources

Contains source documents from the pre-Constitutional period and the Constitutional Convention and ratification period.

This documentary series is a research tool of remarkable power, an unrivaled reference work for historical and legal scholars, librarians, and students of the Constitution. The volumes are encyclopedic, consisting of manuscript and printed documents-contemporary newspapers, broadsides, and pamphlets-compiled from hundreds of sources, copiously annotated, thoroughly indexed, and often accompanied by microfiche supplements. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Michael Kammen has noted that The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution series "will be of enduring value centuries hence" and described it as "one of the most interesting documentary publications we have ever had." The American Bar Association Journal has stated, "Each new volume now fills another vital part of the mosaic of national history."

A collection of primary and contemporaneous sources on the Constitution, organized by Constitutional provision.

Collection of essays, addresses, and letters supporting ratification of the Constitution not included in The Federalist.

The complete story of the American Constitution, told in the words of those who created it.   Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Michael Kammen has gathered together the fundamental documents needed to understand the genesis and evolution of the United States Constitution--from the exploratory notions concerning the nature of constitutions in 1776, the Articles of Confederation in 1777, and various constitutional plans proposed at the Philadelphia Convention in 1787, to the advocacy position of "Publius" in the 21 most important Federalist papers and contrasting views offered by leading Anti-Federalist dissenters.   Kammen also includes private correspondence that passed between prominent founders during the crucial years 1787 to 1789 (58 revealing letters), along with the Judiciary Act of 1789 and the Bill of Rights, which completed the basic structure of government and provided essential security for its citizens.   Taken together, these are the great state papers that illuminate America's brilliant and unique contribution to the history of political thought and democratic values.

The design of this work was to give a literal print of the documents deposited in the Bureau of Rolls & Library of the Department of State relating to the formation of the Constitution of the United States as adopted, amended, & in force at the time of publication.

What did the Founding Fathers mean when they wrote the Constitution? What did the right to keep and bear arms or an establishment of religion or the republican form of government mean to the founders? Obviously, as enlightened men of the late eighteenth century, they were familiar with a host of ideas and concepts drawn from ancient political theory as well as contemporary political pamphleteers. However, as our language has evolved the precise meaning of the words of the founders has become obscure as well as misunderstood. To make the words and concepts used by the founders clear to modern readers, Greene and his colleagues have gone back to the sources known to the founders and excerpted the key passages from these sources that bear on the language and concepts of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. More than eighty key words are organized in alphabetical order, from accusation to witness. Under each entry, passages from key sources are provided in chronological order from as early as 1215 to December 15, 1791. Augmented by a concordance to the Constitution and a general subject index, The Language of the Constitution provides easy access to the key concepts and ideas of the Constitution as the founders understood them. This volume is invaluable for students and legal professionals, including lawyers, legislators, and judges of the state courts (which are now interpreting the federal constitution), as well as the federal courts. It is an essential acquisition for public, school, university, and law school libraries.

A collection of primary source material relating specifically to the origins of the Bill of Rights.

The Essential Bill of Rights: Original Arguments and Fundamental Documents provides the convenience of an affordable and accessible compilation of the original, essential documents and arguments that eventually led to the adoption of the Bill of Rights in the United States.

Presents historical documents that constitute sources of American civil liberties. Documents include: Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact & other British colonial charters, Petition of Right, Abolition of the Star Chamber, Northwest Ordinance, & U.S. Constitution & amendments.

The text annotates the debates of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in relation to the relevant constitutional articles.

This set contains fundamental instruments recording the historical development of constitutional government in each state of the union.

"Local government in colonial America was the seedbed of American constitutionalism." So begins the introductory essay to this landmark collection of eighty documents created by the American colonists—and not English officials—that are the genesis of American fundamental law and constitutionalism. Most of these documents, commencing with the Agreement of the Settlers at Exeter in New Hampshire, July 5, 1639, and concluding with Joseph Galloway's Plan of Union, 1774—"the immediate precursor to the Articles of Confederation"—have never before been accessible to the general reader or available in a single volume. As Professor Lutz points out, the documents are chosen to make possible "a careful examination of [the American] people's attempt at self-interpretation." All of the principal colonial documents are included, as are all documents attempting to unite the colonies, beginning with the New England Confederation of 1643. Bicameralism, popular sovereignty, the separation of powers, checks and balances, limited government, and religious freedom—in sum, the hallmarks of American constitutionalism—were first presented to the world in these writings. Donald S. Lutz is Professor of Political Science at the University of Houston.

Ford, Paul Leicester. Bibliography and Reference List of the History and Literature Relating to the Adoption of the Constitution of the United States 1787-8. Brooklyn, N.Y.: [By the Author], 1896. 58 pp. Reprinted 2003 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. LCCN 2002025962. ISBN 1-58477-268-9. Cloth. $55. * Reprint of a rare self-published volume that was issued in a single edition of only 100 copies. Ford [1865-1902], an authority in the field, offers a well-annotated and thorough bibliography of books, pamphlets, periodical articles, newspaper articles and broadsides. Also includes a useful reference list organized by author, format, content, ideological position and place of publication.