Teaching American History
Teaching American History: Resources on the Convention
Committees, committee assignments, themes of the Constitutional Convention and more resources are provided. Go into depth studying the details of the significant convention.
Stanford University
Sheg: Document Based History: Reading Like a Historian: Slavery in Constitution
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students use primary source documents to investigate the central historical question about slavery. In this investigation students consider the positions of delegates to the Constitutional Convention...
Siteseen
Siteseen: Government and Constitution: Constitutional Convention
The delegates of the Constitutional Convention framed the Constitution of the United States as a basis of government to address the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.
University of Chicago
The Founders' Constitution: Records of the Federal Convention
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.
iCivics
I Civics: The Constitutional Convention Mini Lesson
Students explore how the U.S. government was created in the years following the Articles of Confederation.
Yale University
Papers of Dr. James Mc Henry on Federal Convention
A complete transcript of James McHenry's account of the Constitutional Convention on May 14, 1787. McHenry discusses the Virginia Plan.
Yale University
Notes on the Secret Debates of the Federal Convention
The complete text of the notes taken by Robert Yates while he was a delegate at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
Teaching American History
Teaching American History: Ratification of the Constitution Introduction
An overview of the process of ratification which occurred following the Constitutional Convention proposed the first version of the Constitution. Meet the primary contributors and understand the six stages of the ratification.
Digital History
Digital History: The Constitution and Slavery
The issue of slavery was a contentious one during debates in the Constitutional Convention. Read about the various issues, the quotes of several of the delegates, and see how the word "slave" is not even mentioned in the Constitution....
University of Chicago
The Founders' Constitution: Popular Basis of Political Authority
Read the words of John Adams at the Constitutional Convention where he is debating the meaning of "the people" in the Constitution.
University of Chicago
The Founders' Constitution: Resolution & Letter to the Congress
The original and complete text of the letter approved by the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787 recommending the newly adopted U.S. Constitution to the Congress and the states for ratification.
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,...
University of Chicago
The Founders' Constitution: Federal v. Consolidated Government: Virginia Plan
The original text of The Virginia Plan presented at the Constitutional Convention. Discusses federal versus consolidated government.
University of Chicago
The Founders' Constitution: James Madison to George Washington
The original text of a letter from James Madison to George Washington discussing his ideas for a new national government that were to soon be presented to the Constitutional Convention as the Virginia Plan.
US National Archives
Nara: Charters of Freedom: Constitution of the United States
Comprehensive overview of the U.S. Constitution. Places the Constitution in context with two other founding charters of American democracy and government, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. Includes access to digital...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Classroom: The Constitutional Convention
Travel back to 1787 and become a delegate to the convention in Philadelphia. As the Founding Fathers struggle to decide how the young nation will be governed, explore how very different men representing their states' conflicting...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Us History: 1754 1800: The Constitutional Convention
Shortly after the end of the Revolutionary War, American leaders realized that the nation needed a new, stronger Constitution. But what would the new system of government look like?
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Constitutional Convention
George Washington wrote of the period between the Treaty of Paris and the writing of the Constitution that the states were united only by a "rope of sand."Disputes between Maryland and Virginia over navigation on the Potomac River led to...
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 United States Constitution
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.
University of Chicago
The Founders' Constitution
The University of Chicago provides thousands of primary source documents concerning the diverse contents of the Constitution. Documents underlying the proposed Constitution, as well as documents of the time debating the proposed...
US Senate
The u.s. Senate: The Senate and the United States Constitution
This site from the United States Senate provides information about the evolution of the Senate as the Constitution was being written by the Constitutional Congress.
Michigan State University
Michigan State University: American Revolution: The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution
In a nutshell, you can find out the problems the new nation had under the Articles of Confederation and the process resulted in a new constitution.
US National Archives
Docsteach: The Voting Record of the Constitution
For this activity, students will analyze a primary source document to find relevant historical data and measure the degree of agreement and disagreement during the Constitutional Convention.