Strange-but-true stories about the US Constitution
When Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas traveled around Illinois in 1858 debating each other while vying for a seat in the U.S. Senate, they weren’t looking for votes from the masses. They were seeking votes in the Illinois legislature. Douglas was the incumbent senator, and Lincoln, who had served one term in the House in … Continue reading The 17th Amendment Observes Its Centennial
The 16th Amendment and the first Internal Revenue Bureau Form 1040 will be on display from April 1 to April 30 at the National Archives in Washington, DC. Today's guest post comes to us from education and exhibit specialist Michael Hussey. “Congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever sources … Continue reading The 16th Amendment and 100 years of Federal income taxes
Today's blog post comes from Susan K. Donius, Director of the Office of Presidential Libraries at the National Archives. This post originally appeared on the White House blog. Last month, President Obama began his second Inaugural Address by saying, “Each time we gather to inaugurate a President we bear witness to the enduring strength of … Continue reading George Washington Writes in the Margins
Today's blog post comes from National Archives social media intern Anna Fitzpatrick. Before the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves, many men and women in bondage ran away from their owners to freedom. These escape attempts were dangerous, and not all of them were successful. Abolitionists sometimes helped slaves in their flight to freedom, like these … Continue reading Emancipation Proclamation: Flight to Freedom
This is part of a series, written by Jim Zeender, devoted to letters written by the Founding Fathers in their own words and often in their own hand. Jim is the Senior Registrar in the Exhibits Division. “It is impossible to increase taxes, disastrous to keep on borrowing, and inadequate to merely to cut expense.” This … Continue reading Jefferson in Paris: The Constitution, Part I
These days, 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. But the Constitution is silent on a lot of things you probably thought it said. Here are eight examples. The President can veto a proposed amendment to the Constitution. … Continue reading No, it’s not in the Constitution
October is American Archives Month! To celebrate, we’re running a series of “spotlights” on the many locations that make up the National Archives. Today's post features the National Archives Building in Washington, DC, and was written by Rick Blondo, management and program analyst at the National Archives. The Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the … Continue reading Archives Spotlight: Making the Constitution accessible
Today’s post was written by National Archives volunteer Paul Richter. It is part of a series tracing the development of the Constitution in honor of the 225th anniversary of this document on September 17, 2012. In the earliest days of the Constitutional Convention, the delegates agreed their proceedings would be secret. As the convention drew … Continue reading Constitution 225: It was secret, but we know about it
In honor of the 225th anniversary of the Constitution, we challenged citizens on Twitter to take the Preamble of the Constitution and distill its meaning into a twitter-sized bite. The Archivist of the United States chose the winner on the Constitution Day. Congratulations to Jean Huets, who will receive a pocket-sized Constitution from the Foundation … Continue reading Constitution 225: And the winner is….
Imagine a time before computers and the safety net of spellcheck and auto-correct. Imagine you are about to write by hand (or "engross") the document that will set out the fundamentals of governing a new nation. And you have less than 48 hours to do it. The Constitution (plus its "fifth page" were written by … Continue reading Constitution 225: To errata is human
