• publisher: Washington, Printed by and for the editor
  • creator: Elliot, Jonathan, 1784-1846, ed United States. Constitutional Convention (1787) Madison, James, 1751-1836
  • contributor: Madison, James, 1751-1836. United States. Constitutional Convention (1787)
  • Keyword: United States. Constitution.
  • years: 1836-45.
  • pages: 5 v.
  • class: KF4502
  • notes: Vols. 1-4, second edition, with considerable additions, 1836.
  • description: Compiled by Jonathan Elliot in the mid-nineteenth century, the debates stand today as the best source for materials for the period between the closing of the Constitutional Convention in September 1787 and the opening of the first Federal Congress in March 1789. On September 17, 1787, the Continental Congress accepted the recommendation of the Constitutional Convention and agreed to distribute the proposed constitution to the states; each state was then to elect delegates to a state convention to approve or disapprove the new constitution. The Constitution would take effect upon ratification by the conventions of nine of the thirteen states. Elliot's Debates collects the documents pertinent to the discussions on ratification: the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Journal of the Constitutional Convention (from a version that is earlier and less accurate than that in The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787), the text of the proposed Constitution, and the debates in the various states. The Federalist Papers also presents a vital part of the debate over the Constitution.
  • download: pdf file