Read the Constitution, followed by commentary offered by two scholars for each clause chosen by the Center from the American Constitution Society and the Federalist Society—America’s leading legal organizations representing different perspectives on the Constitution. These experts explore areas of agreement and disagreement about the Constitution’s text and history, how it’s been interpreted over time, and what it means today.
The National Constitution Center’s Founders’ Library includes primary texts that span American history—from the philosophical works that influenced the Founding generation to the most important speeches, essays, books, pamphlets, petitions, letters, court cases, landmark statutes, and state constitutions that have shaped the American constitutional tradition. Sources are curated by diverse scholars for nonpartisan rigor.
Text of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights with brief historical commentary.
Through this website, you can read and search through thousands of records from George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison and see firsthand the growth of democracy and the birth of the Republic. It contains nearly 120,000 searchable documents.
Documents--diaries, letters, drawings, and memoirs--created by those who participated in or witnessed the events of the past tell us something that even the best-written article or book cannot convey.
