Colonists, Citizens, Constitutions highlights documents that tell the story of American constitutionalism from the founding era through the turn of the twentieth century.

These federal and state constitutional materials, selected from the collection of the Dorothy Tapper Goldman Foundation, offer essential windows onto the history of the United States. Remarkably numerous and impressively diverse, constitutions enabled Americans to create revolutionary governments of, by, and for the people.

Weaving both well-known and less familiar documents into a compelling historical narrative, the exhibition and accompanying catalog reveal how Americans have exercised their constitutional powers to shape their communities and why democracy remains an ongoing process, one in which citizens must constantly strive to create “more perfect” unions among themselves.

 

Virtual Exhibition

(New-York Historical Society)

The exhibition will be on view at the Museum of the American Revolution, Philadelphia, from June 12 – September 6, 2021.

It was previously shown at the New-York Historical Society, February 28, 2020 – March 7, 2021.