The US Constitution was Ratified when New Hampshire Became the 9th State to Ratify the Constitution, as Specified in Article 7 of the Constitution
It was 11 years after the Declaration of Independence—and four years after American victory in the Revolutionary War—when a small group of delegates convened in Philadelphia to create a new charter for governing the young nation. The result was the longest lasting, most successful, most enviable, and most imitated constitution ...
Alexander Hamilton Speech on Compromises of the Constitution: “I hope we shall never sacrifice our liberties.”
Mr. Chairman: The honorable member who spoke yesterday went into an explanation of a variety of circumstances to prove the expediency of a change in our National Government, and the necessity of a firm Union; at the same time he described the great advantages which this State, in particular, receives ...
Swedes Stage a False Flag Attack on Puumala Leading to the Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790)
In 1788, the head tailor at the Royal Swedish Opera received an order to sew a number of Russian military uniforms. These were then used by the Swedes to stage an attack on Puumala, a Swedish outpost on the Russo-Swedish border, on 27 June 1788. This caused an outrage in Stockholm and impressed the Riksdag of ...
James Madison: “There are More Instances of the Abridgment of Freedom… by Gradual & Silent Encroachments of Those in Power than by Violent and Sudden Usurpations.”
James Madison (1751-1836) helped frame the Bill of Rights, member of the Continental Congress and rapporteur at the Constitutional Convention in 1776 and 4th President of the United States: In an address to the Virginia Convention he said: I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of ...
Patrick Henry, Speech before the Virginia Ratifying Convention: ““Guard with jealous attention the public liberty…”
Patrick Henry, speech before the Virginia Ratifying Convention, 1788: “Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.” ...
George Washington: “It (is)… little short of a miracle, that the delegates from so many different states should unite in forming a system of national Government”
In a letter from Washington to Lafayette on 7 Feb. 1788: “It appears to me, then, little short of a miracle, that the delegates from so many different states (which states you know are also different from each other in their manners, circumstances, and prejudices) should unite in forming a ...
Washington: “(The U.S.A. is safe from Oppression) so long as there shall remain any virtue in the body of the people.”
In a letter to Marquis De Lafayette, February 7, 1788, George Washington wrote this: [T]he [federal] government . . . can never be in danger of degenerating into a monarchy, and oligarchy, an aristocracy, or any other despotic or oppressive form so long as there shall remain any virtue in ...
Benjamin Franklin’s Closing Speech at the Constitutional Convention
Mr. President I confess that there are several parts of this constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them: For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions ...
Signing of the Constitution
In a warm room in Philadelphia, 39 men signed the document that formed our nation. With each passing year, America continues her record of having the longest on-going constitutional republic in history. “Done…the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven.” ...
The Northwest Ordinance is Passed by Continental Congress
In 1781, Virginia began by ceding its extensive land claims to Congress, a move that made other states more comfortable in doing the same. In 1784, Thomas Jefferson first proposed a method of incorporating these western territories into the United States. His plan effectively turned the territories into colonies of ...
