The Constitution of the United States (and Bill of Rights)
Adopted by the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787. It was ratified by three-fourths of the States on July 2, 1788. Ratification of the Bill of Rights was completed December 15, 1791. "The most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man." (Gladstone)

In the year before his passing, Thomas Jefferson recorded that the best guides to the distinctive principles upon which the Constitution is "genuinely based" (See: Minutes of the Board of Governors of the University of Virginia, March 4, 1825)are the following:

The Declaration of Independence
Adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, its signers pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. Written by Thomas Jefferson, it stands as a timeless statement of human liberty, rights and equality.

The Federalist Papers (Library of Congress)
A collection of eighty-five letters written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison & John Jay under the pseudonym of "Publius" to the citizens of the State of New York from October 17, 1787 to August 16, 1788, in argument for the adoption of the Constitution. "[T]he best commentary on the principles of government which ever was written."(Thomas Jefferson). "The most important work in political science ever written in the United States." (Clinton Rossiter)

George Washington's Farewell Address
Published September 19, 1796. Prepared with the assistance of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, it contains all of the true maxims of American Liberty. Abraham Lincoln recommended that the people of the United States read Washington's "immortal Farewell Address" in celebration of the anniversary of the birth of the Father of our Country. (See: Executive Letter, February 19, 1862).

Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787
The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. While not a founding document per se, James Madison's Notes of the Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 constitutes a valuable resource in understanding the reasoning behind Constitutional provisions.

Return to the Institute for American Liberty's HOME PAGE