HIS 3110 – The American Revolution and Early National Period: Web Resources

The Federalist, commonly referred to as the Federalist Papers, is a series of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison between October 1787 and May 1788. The essays were published anonymously, under the pen name "Publius," in various New York state newspapers of the time.
The Federalist Papers were written and published to urge New Yorkers to ratify the proposed United States Constitution, which was drafted in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. In lobbying for adoption of the Constitution over the existing Articles of Confederation, the essays explain particular provisions of the Constitution in detail. For this reason, and because Hamilton and Madison were each members of the Constitutional Convention, the Federalist Papers are often used today to help interpret the intentions of those drafting the Constitution.

A portion of an online in-text virtual library, AMDOCS contains full-text primary sources in American history from 800 AD-2009 AD. The sectionson 1750, 1775, 1787, 1797-1801, 1800, and 1825 contain hundreds of primary source documents by Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Governors, members of the Navy, and other outstanding historical figures.

This section of the Avalon project contains the text of major primary resources relating to the American Revolution, starting with The Currency and Stamp Acts of 1764 and 1765, all the way up to the Paris Treaty of 1783.

The Division holds over 29,000 linear feet of manuscripts and archives in over 5,500 collections. The strengths of the Division are the papers and records of individuals, families, and organizations, primarily from the New York region. These collections support research in the political, economic, social, and cultural history of New York and the United States. The holdings include the papers of James Madison, Samuel Adams, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson.

Comprises 253 published narratives by Americans and foreign visitors recounting their travels in the colonies and the United States and their observations and opinions about American peoples, places, and society from about 1750 to 1920. Also included is the thirty-two-volume set of manuscript sources entitled Early Western Travels, 1748-1846, published between 1904 and 1907 after diligent compilation by the distinguished historian and secretary of the Wisconsin Historical Society Reuben Gold Thwaites.

This resource from the Miller Center offers biographical and political information on the Presidents of the United States. It also talks about the cabinets, political parties, and foreign relations.

The online Research Guide, which forms the core component of the American Women Web site, began life as a print publication. During a period of nearly four years, eighteen Library of Congress catalogers, reference specialists, and editors surveyed their collections and compiled a richly illustrated, 456-page resource guide titled, American Women: A Library of Congress Guide for the Study of Women's History and Culture in the United States, which was published in December 2001 by the Library of Congress in cooperation with the University Press of New England.

The digital collections of the Library of Congress contain a large selection of primary source materials associated with presidential elections from 1789 to 1920, including manuscripts, letters, broadsides, government documents, prints, photographs, sheet music, sound recordings, films, and newspaper articles.

These resource guides compile digital materials that are available throughout the Library’s Web site. In addition, each resource guide provides links to external Web sites and a bibliography containing selected works.

Beginning with the Continental Congress in 1774, America's national legislative bodies have kept records of their proceedings. The records of the Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention, and the United States Congress make up a rich documentary history of the construction of the nation and the development of the federal government and its role in the national life. These documents record American history in the words of those who built our government.

Books on the law formed a major part of the holdings of the Library of Congress from its beginning. In 1832, Congress established the Law Library of Congress as a separate department of the Library. It houses one of the most complete collections of U.S. Congressional documents in their original format. In order to make these records more easily accessible to students, scholars, and interested citizens, A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation brings together online the records and acts of Congress from the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention through the 43rd Congress, including the first three volumes of the Congressional Record, 1873-75.