See also Constitution

On September 17, 1787 delegates to the Constitutional Convention met for the last time to sign the document that they had crafted and present it to the American public. In commemoration of that event and in celebration of the U.S. Constitution, the United States government has designated September 17th as Constitution Day.

U.S. Constitution

• Constitution - manuscript and full text
• Interactive Manuscript version
• Preamble and Articles - with explanation

Amendments

• Bill of Rights - manuscript and full text
• Amendments 11 through 27 - ratified amendments
• Amendments Never Ratified - some proposed amendments never ratified

Its Origins

• Creation
• Constitutional Convention
• Federalist Papers

People

• The Framers
• Signers (NPS)
• Signers (NARA)

Exhibits

• The Charters of Freedom (NARA)
• To Form a More Perfect Union: the Work of the Continental Congress (LC)
• Thomas Jefferson: Establishing a Federal Republic (LC)

Special Cases

• African American Experience: a Quest for Full Citizenship (LC)
• Votes for Women Suffrage (LC)
• A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the US Constitution (Smithsonian)

Historical Documents

• Constitution Main Page - several versions of the Constitution and related publications; searchable Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation: Annotations of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in its 1992 edition with supplements for 1996, 1998, and 2000. Others include: the Declaration of Independence, The U.S. Constitution as Amended, with Unratified Amendments & Analytical Index, and The Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence, Pocket Edition. (GPO)

• Primary Documents in American History: United States Constitution - links to resources including the Broadsides collection guide. One highlight is the set of digitized volumes from Max Farrand's The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 containing: the proceedings of the Constitutional Convention, and the notes and letters of James Madison and other participants. The site also links to the digitized papers of James Madison from the Library’s Manuscript Division, other historic collections, and a selective bibliography.

• The American Constitution: a Documentary Record - early American historical documents arranged under the following headings: Roots of the Constitution; Revolution and Independence; Credentials of the Members of the Federal Convention; The Constitutional Convention; and Ratification and Formation of the Government. In addition to the Constitution, documents include the English Bill of Rights from 1689; original American state constitutions from 1776; variant texts of plans proposed at the Constitutional Convention; and the ratification documents from individual states. (Yale Avalon Project)

Fun (nongovernmental)

• Constitution Center: Centuries of Citizenship - a Constitutional Timeline: marking key events in our constitutional history from 1765 to the present. The site has an interactive.

More

• Constitutional Resources - lots of resources (some mentioned above) with interesting facts