Pierce Butler's notes on the draft of the preamble to the US Constitution, August 6, 1787. (The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC00819.01)
Explore the New Nation section of our History Resources. You will find Essays by eminent scholars such as James O. Horton, Larry Kramer, Gary B. Nash, Peter Onuf, and Jack Rakove, as well as Featured Primary Sources from the Gilder Lehrman Collection and Teaching Resources to share with your students.
New Online Exhibitions
We have recently added “We the People,” festuring the Gilder Lehrman Collections set of the first five printings of the US Constitution in 1787, and “Alexander Hamilton and the Ratification of the Constitution,” one of six new exhibitions in Alexander Hamilton: Witness to the Founding Era.
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New Teaching Resources
Differences between Federalists and Antifederalists, an infographic
Opposing Viewpoints on the Ratification of the Constitution, a lesson plan
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ON AMENDING AND INTERPRETING THE CONSTITUTION
Essays
Abraham Lincoln and the Passage of the Thirteenth Amendment by Allen C. Guelzo
Andrew Jackson and the Constitution by Matthew Warshauer
George Washington and the Constitution by Theodore J. Crackel
The Legal Status of Women, 1776–1830 by Marylynn Salmon
Natural Rights, Citizenship Rights, State Rights, and Black Rights: Another Look A Lincoln and Raceby James Oakes
The Reconstruction Amendments: Official Documents as Social History by Eric Foner
Why We the People? Citizens as Agents of Constitutional Change by Linda R. Monk
Winning the Vote: A History of Voting Rights by Steven Mintz
Featured Primary Sources from the Gilder Lehrman Collection
The Articles of Confederation, 1777
Speech in favor of the Twelfth Amendment, 1803
A proposed Thirteenth Amendment to prevent secession, 1816
Ratifying the Thirteenth Amendment, 1866
Videos
Anti-Federalism and Dissent in Constitutional History by Saul Cornell
Dred Scott and the Constitutionality of Slavery by Larry Kramer
Freedom of Religion: A Radical Innovation by Jack Rakove
Introduction to Supreme Court Controversies throughout History by Larry Kramer
Key Moments in American Freedom by Orlando Patterson
Lincoln, Civil Liberties, and the Constitution by Mark Neely
Nixon, Executive Power and the Constitution by R. B. Bernstein
Reconstruction and Citizenship by Eric Foner