“As a guide in expounding and applying the provisions of the Constitution, the debates and incidental decisions of the Convention can have no authoritative character. However desirable it be that they should be preserved as a gratification to the laudable curiosity felt by every people to trace the origin and progress of their political Institutions, & as a source perhaps of some lights on the Science of Govt. the legitimate meaning of the Instrument must be derived from the text itself; or if a key is to be sought elsewhere, it must be not in the opinions or intentions of the Body which planned & proposed the Constitution, but in the sense attached to it by the people in their respective State Conventions where it recd. all the authority which it possesses.”
James Madison to Thomas Ritchie, 15 Sept. 1821
The Haven, the tidal river near Boston, down which the Pilgrims attempted to flee to…
Thomas Robert Jermaine Thomas leaned on the rail of the ship to catch a glimpse…
The chapel of St. Helena's in Austerfield, Bradford's hometown This ancient carving of a dragon…
Sandell Young Karolina had a special relationship with her father, Jonas Sandell. Karolina was a…
Only a small section of Scrooby Manor has survived rebuilt as a farmhouse - at…
Interested in touring Italy and Austria with us? Our annual history tour has a few…