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Tag: constitution day

Constitution 225: There’s a “fifth” page the public has never seen

  Millions of people have passed through the Rotunda of the National Archives Building in Washington, DC, to see the original parchments that are our Charters of Freedom. They pause to look at the faded writing on the Declaration of Independence, the bold opening words “We the People” on the Constitution, and the straightforward enumeration [...]

Constitution 225: Celebrating our founding document

The Constitution turns 225 on September 17, and the National Archives is ready to celebrate our founding document! Don’t miss your chance to see the “fifth page” of the Constitution, on display for the first time. It will be in the Rotunda for public viewing only from September 14 to 17. From now until September [...]

What Franklin thought of the Constitution

All summer long, a group of men huddled in a stifling hot room in Philadelphia (Madison almost passed out from the heat) to develop the framework for a government that would govern the newly independent states of America. There was debate, and there was arguing. There were grounds on which some delegates were immovable—Edmund Randolph, [...]

The documents that built the Constitution

Just in time for Constitution Day on September 17, acting Chief of Reference at the National Archives Trevor Plante literally takes viewers inside the National Archives vaults to see some of his favorite rarely-displayed documents including the following: The original text of the “Virginia Plan,” Edmund Randolph’s proposal for a national government that included three [...]