The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, Volume 37: Bill of Rights, Book 1

Summary: The first in a planned six-volume series examining the intense debate over the drafting and ratification of the first Ten Amendments to the Constitution, Bill of Rights Volume 1 is the latest volume in the landmark Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution series. Volume 1 in the Bill of Rights series represents a profoundly important documentary record of the effort to protect human rights during the Revolutionary War Era. The volume will include state bills of rights and excerpts from state constitutions that protected rights, actions taken under the Articles of Confederation to protect rights, and the debate over rights in the Constitutional Convention of 1787, among a wealth of other documentation. This volume and those to follow will greatly aid those interested in learning how Americans of the Founding generation established a strong federal system of government while at the same time safeguarding the rights of the people.

Begun in 1976, The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution Series is a reference collection that aims to preserve the state-by-state debates about the ratification of the United States Constitution.

About the Author and Editors:  The Ratification series is directed by constitutional scholar John P. Kaminski, director of the Center for the Study of the American Constitution at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Bill of Rights series co-editors include Kaminski, Thomas H. Linley, Timothy D. Moore, Oindrila Chattopadhyay, and Dustin Cohan.