As we put 2020 into the past, we’re taking a look back on the most popular posts published this year. Thank you to the National Archives staff who helped us share our love of history. 10. The fourth installment of a series about unratified constitutional amendments, Unratified Amendments: Regulating Child Labor, explored an amendment proposed … Continue reading Top 10 of 2020
The Electoral College is outlined in Article II, Section 1, of the U.S. Constitution. It is the formal body that elects the President and Vice President of the United States. Back in 1787, when the delegates to the Constitutional Convention were trying to figure out how the President should be chosen, some wanted the Congress … Continue reading Amending the Electoral College: The 12th Amendment
This is the third installment of a series about unratified constitutional amendments. Today we’re looking at an amendment proposed during the lead-up to the U.S. Civil War that would have protected the institution of slavery. When the second session of the 36th Congress convened in late 1860, the issue of slavery had grown increasingly divisive, … Continue reading Unratified Amendments: Protection of Slavery
December 15 is Bill of Rights Day, which commemorates the ratification of the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. For more information on events and resources at the National Archives, visit our Bill of Rights Day website. How much do you know about the Bill of Rights? We know a lot and have written … Continue reading What you may not know about the Bill of Rights
On December 6, 1865, with Georgia’s ratification of the 13th Amendment, slavery throughout the United States became illegal. Just a few years earlier, in 1861, Ohio Representative Thomas Corwin proposed—and both Houses of Congress passed—a constitutional amendment that would have done the exact opposite. Corwin’s amendment read, "No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which … Continue reading On Exhibit: Abolishing Slavery
Constitution Day is September 17. We've got events, programs, and activities at National Archives locations across the United States. Pundits, candidates, and party activists like to cite the Constitution of the United States as the moral and legal backing for whatever they’re proposing. Or they say that something an opponent proposes is unconstitutional. But the … Continue reading Eight myths about the Constitution
