This resource is a Google Arts & Culture interactive presentation about Alexander Hamilton and the ratification of the United States Constitution.

Calling on her two best known books, A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the US Constitution and Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence, Carol Berkin, Presidential Professor of American Colonial and Revolutionary History at Baruch College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, briefly discusses some aspects of the American Revolution and the creation of the US Constitution.

Multi-year initiative recognizing the importance of the Declaration of Independence in the history of the U.S. and the world.

In a series of three brief clips, Larry Kramer, Dean of Stanford Law School, provides some insights into understanding and teaching various details of the constitution.

Students will examine aspects of Article II of the Constitution for specific information related to the requirements for and method of electing the president.

This lesson plan is part of Gilder Lehrman’s series of Common Core State Standards–based teaching resources. These resources were developed to enable students to understand, summarize, and analyze original texts of historical significance. Through a step-by-step process, students will acquire the skills to analyze any primary or secondary source material.

This lesson addresses two essential questions: To what extent does the Bill of Rights provide a "blanket of protection" for American citizens? Why do many Americans believe that the Bill of Rights is especially relevant today?

This resource includes curated guided readings about the ratification of the United States Constitution and accompanying disucssion questions.

On the 200th anniversary of the ratification of the US Constitution, Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to sit on the Supreme Court, said that the Constitution was "defective from the start." Read more about the Constitution and slavery in this article by Steven Mintz.

The United States has the oldest written national framework of government in the world. At the end of the twentieth century, there were about 159 other national constitutions in the world, and 101 had been adopted since 1970. Read more in this article written by Steven Mintz.

This lesson on the Electoral College is part of Gilder Lehrman’s series of Common Core State Standards–based teaching resources. These resources were written to enable students to understand, summarize, and analyze original texts and secondary sources of historical significance. Students will demonstrate this knowledge by answering questions that seek to measure their conceptual understanding of the topic as well as engaging them in thoughtful discussions. Students are required to express themselves in writing. Students are asked to not only explain, but make fact-based arguments based on textual evidence.

This lesson on the Electoral College is part of Gilder Lehrman’s series of Common Core State Standards–based teaching resources. These resources were written to enable students to understand, summarize, and analyze original texts and secondary sources of historical significance. Students will demonstrate this knowledge by answering questions that seek to measure their conceptual understanding of the topic as well as engaging them in thoughtful discussions. Students are required to express themselves in writing. Students are asked to not only explain, but make fact-based arguments based on textual evidence.

David Armitage, Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History at Harvard University, briefly explores some less obvious aspects of the Declaration of Independence, while also pointing to some of the later declarations heavily influenced by the American document.

On February 2, 2023, our curators discussed Benjamin Franklin’s copy of the US Constitution and Jean-Antoine Houdon’s bust of Franklin. They were joined by Liz Covart (Founding Director, Colonial Williamsburg Innovation Studios) and Sara Charles (Education Program Manager, Gilder Lehrman Institute). This program was generously sponsored by The Fund for the Endowment of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms.

Originally broadcast on September 17, 2020, this session of Inside the Vault: Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Collection celebrated Constitution Day with rare materials from the Gilder Lehrman Collection: The US Constitution! Gilder Lehrman's curators were joined by Conroe Brookes from Hamilton, and Kevin Cline, 2016 National History Teacher of the Year, to explore these rare documents, learn about their creation, take a close look at how the preamble changed between the first draft and the final copy, and what the Constitution says about voting.

On May 4, 2023, our curators were joined by Dr. Andrew Robertson (The Graduate Center and Lehman College, CUNY) to discuss materials related to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century voting rights. Dr. Robertson explained how voting rights were expanded and contracted, from the Revolutionary era through the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Thomas Jefferson Foundation Professor of History at the University of Virginia, Peter S. Onuf has written extensively on sectionalism, federalism, and political economy, with a particular emphasis on the political thought of Thomas Jefferson. In this lecture, he looks at Jefferson’s opinions about federal government.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and the American Studies Program and History Department of Columbia University have joined together to observe the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth in 1809 and to mark the publication of Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on Lincoln and His World, edited by Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor of History, Columbia University (W.W. Norton & Company).

What was James Madison's background? How did he feel about the idea of democracy? What ideas did he contribute to the drafting of the Constitution? Larry Kramer, Dean at Stanford Law School, discusses Madison's legacy.

Jack Rakove, William Robertson Coe Professor of History and American Studies at Stanford University, briefly discusses James Madison's role in the framing and ratification of the Constitution, as well as the legal approach of Originalism.