An interactive atlas of the American founding
We the
People.
The Constitution.
The people. The ideas
that made a nation.
Meet the founders. Read their words. Follow the debates into the document that shaped the United States.
Philadelphia · 1787
SEPTEMBER
1787Archival portraits · National Archives guide
A story you can follow
Moses. The letters.
The founding.
Walk through eight connections, with the documents in front of you.
Start with a question
How does a country
come together?
Through people with different ideas, a room full of arguments, and words that could be debated—and changed.
Explore the founding as a connected story. A person leads to a document. A document reveals a disagreement. A disagreement brings you back to the Constitution.
Your way into the story
Four doors. One Constitution.
Meet the minds
Faces, contributions and dated statements. Discover the people behind the debates.
Explore the foundersRead the words
Move through the Preamble, seven articles and every ratified amendment.
Open the readerFollow the years
See how letters, proposals and dissent become part of the constitutional story.
Enter the timelineTrace an idea
Representation, rights, conscience and the use of biblical imagery in public life.
Connect the ideasThe people behind the parchment
Different minds.
A shared undertaking.
The opening words · September 17, 1787
“We the People of the United States,
in Order to form a more perfect Union…”
Start with the purpose. Then explore how the structure—and its protections—developed.
Read the Preamble