Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Second Amendment: Library of Congress


One of my favorite places in Washington, DC is the Library of Congress. Since we can't easily travel there, let's take a peek at what they have online:

Primary Documents in American History



Here are just a couple of the items they have to share:

The James Madison Papers

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. Also contains Madison's original notes on debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, Part 1 and Part 2, as well as John C. Payne's copy of Madison's original notes.

Search this collection to locate additional documents related to the Constitution.

The Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress

Thomas Jefferson received a copy of the Constitution in November, 1787, while living in France. Beginning on the second page of a letter to James Madison dated December 20, 1787, Jefferson expressed his opinions on the new Constitution, including his belief that a Bill of Rights was needed. This collection also contains Alexander Hamilton's proposals from the Constitutional Convention and Jefferson's notes on the Constitution from 1788.




1 comment:

mommapolitico said...

How cool! Been to the site many times with my class, but missed the last two collections. Thanks!

There's a move in my town to privatize the library system. Makes me so damn angry to think that a corporation would be making decisions on book selection and circulation based on profitability! Libraries provide so many public services that would all disappear with corporate ownership, not to mention all the other issues that come with privatization.

Sorry, I digress...many thanks, once again, for the fabulous links! Always enjoy your posts, my Dear.