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 ratification and implementation …
Uncategorized
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 Convention of delegates …
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 motivation of the …
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 of the Convention’s …
“Wallowing in the superfluity of liberty”: Agrarian Unrest and the Constitution
In 1787, about ninety percent of the population of the United States was engaged in agriculture. After the Revolution, many of these people, particularly those in the backcountry, struggled to pay their taxes and debts. …
Lost and Found: New Hampshire’s Founding Documents
As a 24-year-old graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison I had a quarter-time appointment working as a project assistant for my major professor, Merrill Jensen, who was then editing the Documentary History of the …
Deism and The Founders
During the Revolutionary and Founding eras many Americans increasingly abandoned traditional Christianity, embracing beliefs that could be described as either Unitarian or Deist. Many of these converts publicly maintained their original religious affiliations, attempting to …
Patrick Henry: “He Spoke as Homer Wrote”
How can anyone truly capture the power of Patrick Henry before a live audience? In truth, it’s nearly impossible.
Changing Course: The Three Non-Signers of the Constitution
Changing Course: The Three Non-Signers of the Constitution Of the delegates present on the final day of the Constitutional Convention on 17 September 1787, only three refused to sign the Constitution—Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts and …
The Due Process of Law: Its Backdoor Entry into the Constitution
The concept of the due process of law is guaranteed in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. It ensures that neither the federal nor, following incorporation by the Supreme Court, state governments …