This Constitution: A Bicentennial Chronicle Project '87 Essays

Project '87 was a joint undertaking of the American Historical Association and the American Political Science Association. It was dedicated to commemorating the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution by promoting public understanding and appraisal of this unique document.

The Project was devoted to research and scholarly exchanges on the Constitution. It was the hope and expectation of the Project's governing committee that, through its activities and those of others, both students and the public alike will come to a greater awareness and comprehension of the American Constitution.

The following essays (PDF documents) were published in 1985 in support of expanding the discussion and knowledge-base about the Constitution and other historically relevant issues.

(Anti) Federalists

• The Constitutional Thought of the Anti-Federalists, Murray Dry
  
• The Imperial Roots of American Federalism, Jack Greene
  
• A Summer Seminar on The American Experiment,  Harvey Mansfield, Jr
  
• Eighteenth-Century American Constitutionalism, Gordon S. Wood
  
• The Federalist, Jean Yarbrough

Bill of Rights

• The Nationalization of the Bill of Rights: An Overview, Richard C. Cortner
  
• James Madison and the Bill of Rights, Jack N. Rakove
  
• George Mason's "Objections" and the Bill of Rights, Robert A. Rutland

Citizenship

• Weevils in the Wheat: Free Blacks and the Constitution, 1787-1860, James Oliver Horton
  
• The Meaning of American Citizenship, Rogers M. Smith

Constitution

• An Introductory Bibliography to American Constitutional History, Kermit L. Hall
  
• The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States, Donald S. Lutz
  
• The Origins of the Constitution, Gordon S. Wood

The Courts

• The Supreme Court and the Rights of Aliens, Leonard Dinnerstein
  
• A Frequent Recurrence to Fundamental Principles: The Courts and Constitutional Change, A.E. Dick Howard
  
• The Origins of the National Judiciary, Philip B. Kurland

The Declaration of Independence

• The Declaration of Independence: A Constitutional Document,    George Athan Billias

Framers

• The Achievement of the Framers,  Henry Steele Commager

The Great Convention

• From Confederation to Constitution: The Revolutionary Context of the Great Convention, Lance Banning

Miscellaneous

• Madison and the Extended Republic: Theory and Practice in American Politics,  Jack N. Rakove

Public Schools

• Education for a Republic: Federal Influence on Public Schooling in the Nation's First Century,  David Tyack

Suffrage

• Ourselves and Our Daughters Forever: Women and the Constitution,  Linda K. Kerber