Topic: Legal History
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Currency Act
The Currency Act of 1764 forbade colonists from using paper money as legal tender to pay their public or private debts. This measure represented an effort by Parliament to prevent...
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Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress
This document was issued by the First Continental Congress. In response to Parliament’s passage of the Coercive Acts, 12 of the 13 colonies sent delegates to a meeting in Philadelphia...
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Declaration of Independence
This is an engraving of John Trumbull’s monumental painting, The Declaration of Independence. Begun in Paris during the 1780s, Trumbull called on Jefferson’s recollections of events in making the composition....
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Declaration of Independence
While Jefferson lived in Paris, he encouraged the artist John Trumbull to undertake his painting The Declaration of Independence. With Jefferson’s “information and advice,” Trumbull set out to include portraits...
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Declaration of Independence
This document is a large, handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence. Although the Declaration had been approved and printed on July 4, 1776, Congress later ordered the drafting of...Media › audio
Declaration of Independence (Audio)
This is a dramatic reading of the Declaration of Independence. Although the Declaration had been approved and printed on July 4, 1776, Congress later ordered the drafting of an engrossed,...
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Declaratory Act
The Declaratory Act stated that Parliament had the authority to pass laws on all matters relating to the governance of the colonies. Passed after the repeal of the Stamp Act,...
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Edmund Randolph’s Remarks at the Virginia Ratifying Convention
This speech is by Edmund Randolph at the Virginia ratifying convention for the new Constitution. Although a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Randolph refused to sign the final...
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Elbridge Gerry to Massachusetts State Legislature
This document expresses Elbridge Gerry’s reservations about the proposed U.S. Constitution. Although Gerry was a delegate from Massachusetts at the Philadelphia Convention, he, along with two other members, refused to...
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