After months of debate in the hot Philadelphia summer, on September 17, 1787, the Constitutional Convention finally adjourned and the new Constitution was signed, but it was not the law of the land yet. According to Article VII of the document, nine of 13 states would have to ratify (or approve) the new Constitution before it would officially replace the Articles of Confederation as our governing document.
|
Ratification and The Federalist Papers |
Ratification and The Federalist Papers |
What were the biggest constitutional debates between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists? Scholars Jack Rakove and Mike Rappaport join host Jeffrey Rosen to explore those debates.
Sanford Levinson, discusses his new book about the Federalist Papers. This is the fourth of four events of the Bill of Rights Book Festival.
On this day in 1787, the debate over the newly written Constitution began in the press after an anonymous writer in the New York Journal warned citizens that the document was not all that it seemed.
Explore key historical documents that inspired the Framers of the Constitution and each amendment during the drafting process, the early drafts and major proposals behind each provision, and discover how the drafters deliberated, agreed and disagreed, on the path to compromise and the final text.
Explore our new 15-unit core curriculum with educational videos, primary texts, and more.
Search and browse videos, podcasts, and blog posts on constitutional topics.
Discover primary texts and historical documents that span American history and have shaped the American constitutional tradition.
