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Organization
The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution
is divided into four groups of documents:
(1) Constitutional Documents and Records, 1776-1787;
(2) Ratification of the Constitution by the States;
(3) Commentaries on the Constitution: Public and Private;
(4) Amendments to the Constitution: From Ratification by the States
to the Proposal of a Bill of Rights by Congress. Each of these groups
is interrelated, and cross-references are made from group to group.
Constitutional Documents and Records, 1776-1787
This introductory volume to The Documentary History of the Rat-
ification of the Constitution consists of constitutional documents and
records from 1776 to 1787, beginning with the Declaration of Inde-
pendence and concluding with documents describing the transmittal
of the Constitution to the states by the Confederation Congress on
28 September 1787. The documents are arranged in chronological
order within the following sections: (1) The Declaration of Inde-
pendence; (2) The Articles of Confederation; (3) Ratification of the
Articles of Confederation by the States in Congress; (4) Amendments
to the Articles of Confederation, Grants of Power to Congress, and
Ordinances for the Western Territory; (5) The Calling of the Con-
stitutional Convention; (6) Appointment of Delegates to the Constitu-
tional Convention; (7) The Resolutions and Draft Constitutions of
the Constitutional Convention; (8) The Report of the Constitutional
Convention; and (9) The Confederation Congress and the Constitu-
tion.
Ratification of the Constitution by the States
The documents relating to Ratification of the Constitution by
the States are arranged as follows: (1) Pennsylvania; (2) Delaware;
(3) New Jersey; (4) Georgia; (5) Connecticut; (6) Massachusetts; (7)
First Session of the New Hampshire Convention; (8) Rhode Island
Referendum; (9) Maryland; (10) South Carolina; (11) Second Session
of the New Hampshire Convention; (12) Virginia; (13) New York;
(14) First North Carolina Convention; (15) Second North Carolina
Convention; (16) Rhode Island Convention.
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