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Interesting Documents from the Founding Era
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The Five Most Important Speeches During the Ratification Debates
Throughout the debate over ratifying the newly proposed Constitution of 1787, thousands of speeches were given in a variety of forums. Speeches were delivered in the Constitutional Convention, the Confederation Congress, legislative…
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Commemorating the Constitution
Recently the National Archives announced a new exhibit that will display the four pages of the Constitution, the additional page with two resolutions of the Constitutional Convention providing the procedure for the…
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A National Magazine: Mathew Carey’s American Museum
In July 1788, Mathew Carey, a twenty-eight-year-old Irish immigrant living in Philadelphia, looked back over the past year which had been eventful for both Carey and his adopted country. In 1787 a…
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Absent and Missed: Non-Attendance at the Constitutional Convention
The 1787 Constitutional Convention has been consistently praised. Four of the fifty-five delegates who attended have been particularly honored for their noteworthy contributions—George Washington, James Madison, James Wilson, and Gouverneur Morris. The…
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Jump-Starting Ratification: Franklin’s Last Speech in the Constitutional Convention
Benjamin Franklin was one of the most important delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention. Because he brought no new ideas to the Convention and did not deliver remarks that changed the course…