SUNY Empire Library News & Alerts

Constitution Day, September 17, 2024

The delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution on September 17, 1787, establishing the United States under a federal system of government. The U.S. Constitution was the first written constitution in the world and is the oldest one still in existence.

Congress has established September 17 as Constitution Day to commemorate the anniversary of the signing of the Constitution. You can find out more by visiting the National Constitution Center or by visiting ConstitutionDay.com.

In honor of Constitution Day, the SUNY Empire State University Library has collected some web resources and articles about the Constitution’s history. You can also visit the National Archives Celebrating Constitution Day page, the Law & the Library YouTube Playlist from the Library of Congress or enjoy some videos about the Constitution from History.com.

Empire State University Library Resources for Researching the US Constitution
(SUNY Empire Login Required to Access)

• America: History & Life Database constitution search 
  Scholarly articles on history in the US and Canada, from prehistory to the present. This is a great database to search for American history topics. Click here for help with this database.
• Nexis Uni (formerly known as LexisNexis) 
• Library Database containing laws, statutes, and legal review articles, a great place to research the Constitution and legal news and developments about it. Click here for help using this database.
• Ebooks and reference entries in OneSearch 
  A listing of ebooks and videos in the library's online collection relating to the Constitution.
• Scholarly and peer-reviewed articles in OneSearch 
  OneSearch searches most of the online library collections. This listing is of the scholarly/peer reviewed articles related to the United States Constitution. Click here for help using OneSearch.

The Writing of the Constitution

• Meet the Framers of the Constitution
  National Archives Biographical Index of the Founding Fathers from each state involved
• Founding Friendship: George Washington, James Madison, and the Creation of the American Republic (SUNY Empire login required for access)
  Ebook by Start Leibiger examining one of the most significant relationships behind the politics that produced the American Constitution.
• Centuries of Citizenship: Interactive Constitution Timeline (National Constitution Center)
  An online experience highlighting some of the key dates and events that mark more than 200 years of our constitutional history.

Interpreting the Constitution

• Constitution Annotated: Congress.gov
  Analysis and interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.
• Documents from the Constitutional Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789 (Library of Congress)
  This digital collection contains 274 documents relating to the work of Congress and the drafting and ratification of the Constitution. Items include extracts of the journals of Congress, resolutions, proclamations, committee reports, treaties, and early printed versions of the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
• Amending America (SUNY Empire login required for access)
  Article by Bernard Weisberger from American Heritage (May/Jun95, Vol. 46, Iss. 3) that provides an overview of the amendments to the Constitution and the political climate in which they were adopted.

Reading the Constitution

• Constitution of the United States (National Archives)
  High-resolution images of the U.S. Constitution, with explanatory notes and transcripts of the Constitution text.
• Interactive Constitution (National Constitution Center)
  A clause-by-clause explanation of the Constitution, providing access to basic constitutional facts and interpretation, and searchable by key words and Supreme Court cases.
• The National Constitution Center’s Interactive Constitution app (free)
  • for Apple users
  • for Google users 
• Pocket Constitution for iPod Touch and iPhone (Oak Hill Publishing)
  America's best-selling Pocket Constitution Book "The U.S. Constitution & Fascinating Facts About It" is now available on the App Store for iPhone and iPod touch.
• Legal Information Institute U.S. Constitution (Cornell University Law School)
  Broken down into linked sections so you can view each part individually.