ConSource: Constitutional Sources Project

The Constitutional Sources Project (ConSource) was founded in 2005 to “facilitate research, increase understanding, and encourage discussion of the U.S. Constitution by creating and maintaining the first, free, fully-indexed, comprehensive online library of constitutional sources.”

The primary objective of this project is to:

“connect ‘We The People’ with the thoughts and ideas of the Framers. High-resolution original images give users the opportunity to see exactly what the readers of the late 1780’s saw. The advanced search capabilities of transcribed text, scholarly certification standards, and constitutional cross-referencing of each document ensure that everyone, from the sixth-grader to The Supreme Court Justice, has direct access to the ideas that helped forge a nation.”

The site includes a treasure trove of  source documents related to the Constitution.  For example, while browsing through the Federalist Papers, I found this bit of wisdom in The Federalist, No. II, written by John Jay, who became first Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court:

“This country and this people seem to have been made for each other, and it appears as if it was the design of Providence, that an inheritance so proper and convenient for a band of brethren, united to each other by the strongest ties, should never be split into a number of unsocial, jealous and alien sovereignties.”

I hope that our study of the Constitution will strengthen our union and the freedoms we enjoy.

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