Digital Collections

The digital collections of the Library of Congress contain a wide variety of primary source materials associated with the U.S. Constitution, including government documents, manuscripts, and broadsides. Provided below is a link to the home page for each relevant digital collection along with selected highlights.

Congressional Publications

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates 1774 to 1875
This collection contains congressional publications from 1774 to 1875, including debates, bills, laws, and journals.

Selected highlights from this collection:

Elliot's Debates
Elliot's Debates is a five-volume collection compiled by Jonathan Elliot in the mid-nineteenth century. The volumes remain the best source for materials about the national government's transitional period between the closing of the Constitutional Convention in September 1787 and the opening of the First Federal Congress in March 1789.
Farrand's Records
Farrand's Records gathered the documentary records of the Constitutional Convention into four volumes, three of which are included in this online collection, containing the materials necessary to study the workings of the Constitutional Convention. The notes taken at that time by James Madison, and later revised by him, form the largest single block of material other than the official proceedings. The three volumes also include notes and letters by many other participants, as well as the various constitutional plans proposed during the convention.
The Making of the U.S. Constitution
When Joseph Gales compiled the early debates and proceedings of Congress for publication in 1834 he chose to introduce the first volume of the Annals of Congress with a brief history of the making of the Constitution followed by the text of the Constitution itself, "as originally adopted," that is, without the amendments we know as the Bill of Rights.

Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention

Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774 to 1789
This broadside collection contains 277 documents relating to the work of Congress and the drafting and ratification of the Constitution. Items include extracts of the journals of Congress, resolutions, proclamations, committee reports, treaties, and an early printing of the United States Constitution. The Continental Congress Broadside Collection, consisting of 256 titles, includes material relating to the work of Congress, dating from 1774 to 1788. The Constitutional Convention Broadside Collection (21 titles) dates from 1786 to 1789 and includes documents relating to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, extracts of proceedings of state assemblies and conventions relating to the ratification of the Constitution, and several essays on ratification.

Alexander Hamilton Papers

Alexander Hamilton Papers
The papers of Alexander Hamilton (ca. 1757-1804), first treasury secretary of the United States, consist of his personal and public correspondence, drafts of his writings and correspondence among members of the Hamilton and Schuyler families.

Selected highlights from this collection:

George Washington Papers

George Washington Papers
The complete George Washington Papers collection from the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress consists of approximately 65,000 documents.

Selected highlights from this collection:

James Madison Papers

James Madison Papers, 1723 to 1859
The James Madison Papers consists of approximately 12,000 items that document the life of the man who came to be known as the “Father of the Constitution.” Includes an essay on Madison's role in the Constitutional Convention.

Selected highlights from this collection:

James Madison's Original Notes on Debates at the Federal Constitutional Convention, 1787
High-resolution color images of Madison's notes.
James Madison. Original Notes on Debates in the Federal Convention (Part 1 - ), Including Introduction
James Madison. Original Notes on Debates in the Federal Convention (Part 2 - July 26, 1787 -
John C. Payne's Copy of James Madison's Original Notes on Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787
James Madison and the Federal Constitutional Convention of 1787
An essay documenting Madison as intellectual leader and keeper of the memory of the gathering that created the United States Constitution in the summer of 1787.

Printed Ephemera

Printed Ephemera: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera
The Printed Ephemera collection comprises 28,000 primary-source items dating from the seventeenth century to the present and encompasses key events and eras in American history. Search this collection to locate additional printed ephemera related to the Constitution.

Selected highlights from this collection:

Rare Books

Rare Book Selections
The collections housed in The Rare Book and Special Collections Division amount to nearly 800,000 books, encompassing nearly all eras and subjects maintained in well over 100 separate collections.

Selected highlights from this collection:

Thomas Jefferson Papers

Thomas Jefferson Papers, 1606 to 1827
The complete Thomas Jefferson Papers from the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress consists of approximately 27,000 documents.

Selected highlights from this collection:

Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, December 20, 1787
Thomas Jefferson received a copy of the Constitution in November, 1787, while living in France. Beginning on the second page of this letter to James Madison, Jefferson expressed his opinions on the new Constitution, including his belief that a Bill of Rights was needed.
Alexander Hamilton, June 18, 1787, Proposals for United States Constitutional Convention
Thomas Jefferson, 1788, Notes on the United States Constitution

Constitution of the United States: Primary Documents in American History

History, Humanities & Social Sciences: Ask a Librarian

Digital Collections

Congressional Publications

Selected highlights from this collection:

Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention

Alexander Hamilton Papers

Selected highlights from this collection:

George Washington Papers

Selected highlights from this collection:

James Madison Papers

Selected highlights from this collection:

Printed Ephemera

Selected highlights from this collection:

Rare Books

Selected highlights from this collection:

Thomas Jefferson Papers

Selected highlights from this collection: