Inside the Vault: Constitution Day!

Originally broadcast on September 17, 2020, this session of Inside the Vault: Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Collection celebrated Constitution Day with rare materials from the Gilder Lehrman Collection: The US Constitution! Gilder Lehrman's curators were joined by Conroe Brookes from Hamilton, and Kevin Cline, 2016 National History Teacher of the Year, to explore these rare documents, learn about their creation, take a close look at how the preamble changed between the first draft and the final copy, and what the Constitution says about voting. 

Click here to download the slides from the presentation.

Classroom-ready resources for the documents presented

• First Draft of the US Constitution
• Member’s copy of the US Constitution
• George Washington’s thoughts on the Constitution
• Pierce Butler’s notebook
• A newspaper article about a brawl over ratification

Use the timestamps below to jump to the documents you want to view

• Pierce Butler’s notebook: 13:20–33:31 
• First Draft of the US Constitution: 33:31–45:55, 48:51–53:04
• Member’s copy of the US Constitution: 45:55–48:50
• George Washington’s thoughts on the Constitution: 53:05–57:11
• A newspaper article about a brawl over ratification: 57:12–1:03:58