• Charter of Liberties (1100 A.D.)


• Magna Carta (1215 A.D.)


• Confirmation of Charters (1297 A.D.)


• Ordinances of 1311 (October 5, 1311)


• Petition of Right (1628 A.D.)


• Bill of Rights (1689 A.D.)

Colonial Constitutionalism

• First Charter of Virginia (April 6, 1606)


• Second Charter of Virginia (May 23, 1609)


• Third Charter of Virginia (March 12, 1612)


• Ordinance for Virginia (July 24, 1621)


• First Charter of Massachusetts (March 4, 1629)


• Charter of Maryland (June 30, 1632)


• Charter of Connecticut (1662)

• Massachusetts Governor’s Salary Dispute (September 11, 1728)


• James Otis, Against Writs of Assistance (February 1761)


• Jonathan Edwards: On the Great Awakening (December 12, 1743)


• The Declaration of Rights of the Stamp Act Congress (October 19, 1765)


• The Declaratory Act (March 18, 1766)


• Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress (October 14, 1774)


• Burke’s Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies (March 22, 1775)


• The Olive Branch Petition (July 5, 1775)


• Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776)

Colonies Reconstituted as Free Republics

• New Hampshire Constitution (January 5, 1776)


• South Carolina Constitution (March 26, 1776)


• Virginia Bill of Rights (June 12, 1776)


• Virginia Constitution (June 29, 1776)


• New Jersey Constitution (July 2, 1776)


• Delaware Constitution (September 10, 1776)


• Pennsylvania Constitution (September 28, 1776)


• Maryland Constitution (November 11, 1776)


• North Carolina Constitution (December 18, 1776)


• New York Constitution (April 20, 1777)


• South Carolina Constitution (March 19, 1778)


• Massachusetts Constitution (1780)

Confederation and Constitution

• Articles of Confederation (1781)
  


• Treaty of Paris (1783)
  


• Treaty of Hopewell (1785)
  


• The Virginia Plan (May 29, 1787)
  


• The New Jersey Plan (June 15, 1787)
  


• Northwest Ordinance (1787)
  


• The Federalist No. 10 (Nov. 23, 1787)
  


• The Federalist No. 26 (1787)
  


• The Federalist No. 28 (1787)
  


• The Federalist No. 39 (1788)
  


• The Federalist No. 51 (Feb. 8, 1788)
  


• The Federalist No. 75 (1788)
  


• The Federalist No. 85 (1788)
  


• The Constitution of the United States (1789)
  

Early Republic

• The Judiciary Act (1789)
  


• Treaty of Holston (1791)
  


• The Jay Treaty (1794)
  


• Militia Acts (1792)
  


• Washington's Farewell Address (1796)
  


• Alien Act (1798)
  


• Sedition Act (1798)
  


• Virginia Resolution (1798)
  


• Kentucky Resolutions (1799)
  

• Maryland Act for Territorial Cession (February 24, 1825)
  


• Jackson’s Maysville Road Veto (May 27, 1830)
  


• Clay’s Response to Jackson’s Bank Veto (July 10, 1832)
  


• South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification (November 24, 1832)
  


• Jackson’s Proclamation to the People of South Carolina (December 10, 1832)
  


• South Carolina’s Reply to Jackson’s Proclamation (December 20, 1832)
  


• Nullification of the Force Bill (March 18, 1833)
  

• Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee, 14 U.S. (1 Wheat.) 304 (1816)
  


• United States v. Bevans, 16 U.S. (3 Wheat.) 336 (1818)
  


• McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. 316 (1819)
  


• Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1 (1824
  


• Osborn v. Bank of the United States, 9 Wheat. 738 1824
  


• Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. (6 Pet.) 515 (1832)
  


• Swift v. Tyson, 41 U.S. 1 (1842) 41 U.S. 1 (Pet.)
  


• Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 41 U.S. 539 (1842) 41 U.S. 539 (Pet.)
  


• The License Cases, 46 U.S. 504 (1847)
  


• The Passenger Cases, 48 U.S. 283 (1849) 48 U.S. 283 (How.)
  


• Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1856) 60 U.S. 393 (How.)
  


• Erie R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64 (1938)
  

• Go to The Center for Constitutional Studies


• Go to National Humanities Institute