The Drafting Table

Which documents and ideas influenced the Founders when drafting the Bill of Rights? How did the amendments change throughout the drafting process? What text made it into the final ratified text?

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Discover How the Drafters Deliberated

Explore key historical documents that inspired the Framers of the Constitution and each amendment during the drafting process, the early drafts and major proposals behind each provision, and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.

Articles
image of scroll with text we the people
The Constitutional Convention

Drafting the U.S. Constitution
Amendments
illustration of two hands freed from chains
13th Amendment

Abolition of Slavery
14th amendment seal reading e pluribus unum
14th Amendment

Citizenship Rights, Equal Protection, Apportionment, Civil War Debt
seal depicting black and white hands casting ballots
15th Amendment

Right to Vote Not Denied by Race
illustration of an election ballot box with male and female gender icons on the side and two hands dropping an election ballot into the slot
19th Amendment

Women’s Right to Vote