Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention

This section includes texts from the building and creation of the United States of America, 1774-1789. Collections include Journals of the Continental Congress, Letters of Delegates to Congress, Elliot's Debates, and Farrand's Records.

  • Journals of the Continental Congress The Journals of the Continental Congress (1774-1791) are the records of the daily proceedings of the Congress and include the text of ordinances, such as the Northwest Ordinance, reports to Congress and correspondence with the colonies, states, foreign powers and others.
  • Letters of Delegates to Congress Letters of Delegates includes all the documents written by delegates that bear directly upon their work during their years of actual service in the First and Second Continental Congresses, 1774-1789, as well as some diaries, public papers, essays, and other documents.
  • Elliot’s Debates The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution is a five-volume collection compiled by Jonathan Elliot in the mid-19th century.
  • Farrand's Records One of the great scholarly works of the early twentieth century was Max Farrand's The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787.