National Archives Building, where the Constitution reposes today. with thousands of other priceless national records, are the parchment copies of the Declaration, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. The massive bronze doors at the Constitution Avenue entrance to the building lead to the circular Exhibition Hall. At its rear center stands a marble shrine containing the Declaration; the first and fourth, or signature, pages of the Constitution; and the Bill of Rights. Every Constitution Day (September 17) the first four pages of the Constitution are all displayed together in a portable exhibit case in the center of the rotunda. At other times, the second and third pages, as well as the rarely displayed fifth and last page of the Constitution (known as the "Resolution of Transmittal to the Continental Congress"), are safeguarded in the vault below. On the fifth page, signed by Washington, he detailed the steps required for adoption of the new plan of Government, including the ratification process. The Bill of Rights on display, which lists the first 12 proposed constitutional amendments, only the last 10 of which the States ratified, is the enrolled parchment copy of the congressional resolution of September 25, 1789, engrossed by House Clerk William Lambert. Thirteen other parchment copies, differing only in such details as handwriting, capitalization, and lineation, were transmitted to the States for ratification; only a few of these have survived. When not exhibited, the Nation's most precious documents are secured in a fireproof, shockproof, bombproof vault, which is constructed of steel and reinforced concrete and is located below the shrine under the floor of Exhibition Hall. An electrical mechanism automatically lowers them into the vault and raises them back to their positions in the shrine. Other machinery then closes a massive lid of metal and concrete over the vault. These mechanisms can be activated in the event of danger; and, during a power failure, may be operated manually. Along both sides of the bulwark charters is a "Formation of the Union" display. It consists of documents illustrating the evolution of the U.S. Government from 1774 until 1791. Included are the Articles of Association (1774), the Articles of Confederation (1778), the Treaty of Paris (1783), and Washington's inaugural address (1789). On each wall above the exhibit is a mural. In one, Jefferson and the drafting committee are presenting the Declaration to John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress. In the other, James Madison, accompanied by various members of the Constitutional Convention, is submitting the Constitution to George Washington, the Convention's presiding officer. Barry Faulkner's mural depicting Madison and 23 Convention delegates submitting the Constitution to Washington, president of the Convention. Suggested Reading BEARD, CHARLES A. An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. New York: Macmillan, 1913. The Republic: Conversations on Fundamentals. New York: Viking BOWEN, CATHERINE D. Miracle at Philadelphia: The Story of the BURNETT, EDMUND C. The Continental Congress. New York: Macmillan, 1941. FARRAND, MAX. The Fathers of the Constitution: A Chronicle of the Establishment of the Union. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1921. The Framing of the Constitution of the United States. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1913. ed. The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787. 3 vols., New Haven: Yale University Press, 1911; rev. ed., 4 vols., 1937. HAMILTON, ALEXANDER, JOHN JAY, and JAMES MADISON. The Federalist [Papers]: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution, As Agreed Upon by the Federal Convention, 324 September 17, 1787. [1788]. Available in many complete and abridged editions, including paperback. JENSEN, MERRILL. The Articles of Confederation: An Interpretation of the Social-Constitutional History of the American Revolution, 17741781. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1940. The New Nation: A History of the United States During the Confederation, 1781-1789. New York: Knopf, 1950. MCDONALD, FORREST. We the People: The Economic Origins of the Constitution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958. MCGEE, DOROTHY H. Framers of the Constitution. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1968. MAIN, JACKSON TURNER. The Antifederalists: Critics of the Constitution, 1781-1788. Published for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, at Williamsburg, Va. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1961. MORGAN, EDMUND S. The Birth of the Republic, 1763-1789. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956. NATIONAL ARCHIVES. The Formation of the Union. Washington: National Archives and Records Service (Pub. No. 70-13), 1970. NEVINS, ALLAN. The American States During and After the Revolution, 1775-1789. New York: Macmillan, 1927. ROSSITER, CLINTON. 1787: The Grand Convention. New York: Macmillan, 1966. RUTLAND, ROBERT A. The Birth of the Bill of Rights, 1776-1791. Published for the Institute of Early American History and Culture at Williamsburg, Va. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1955. TANSILL, CHARLES., ed. Documents Illustrative of the Formation of the Union of the American States. 69th Congress, 1st Session, House Doc. No. 398. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1927. UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION SESQUICENTENNIAL COMMISSION. History of the Formation of the Union Under the Constitution. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1940. UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. The Constitution of the United States, As Amended Through July 1971. 93d Congress, 2d Session, House Doc. No. 93-215. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1974. UNITED STATES SENATE. The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation-Annotations of Cases De cided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 29, 1972. 92d Congress, 2d Session, Senate Doc. No. 92-82. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1973. VAN DOREN, CARL. The Great Rehearsal: The Story of the Making and Ratifying of the Constitution of the United States. New York: Viking Press, 1948. WARREN, CHARLES. The Making of the Constitution. Boston: Little, Brown, 1928. WHITNEY, DAVID C. Founders of Freedom in America: Lives of the Men Who Signed the Constitution and So Helped to Establish the United States of America. Chicago: J. G. Ferguson, 1965. WOOD, GORDON S. The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787. Published for the Institute of Early American History and Culture at Williamsburg, Va. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1969. |