Massachusetts Historical Society
John Adams’s May 17, 1776 sermon report
A dated letter comparing Israel and America, Pharaoh and George. The edited text includes a date correction.
Open source collection (opens in a new tab)The record behind the story
Go to the source.
Start with the documents, identify who wrote them and when, then follow their proposals into the constitutional text.
Massachusetts Historical Society
Abigail’s request and John’s reply
An educational edition includes primary excerpts from March 31–April 5 and April 14, 1776. The letters show a real disagreement about power and representation.
Open source collection (opens in a new tab)National Archives
The Great Seal adopted in 1782
Charles Thomson’s design and the history of the seal committees. Compare its outcome with the unadopted Moses and Pharaoh proposals.
Open source collection (opens in a new tab)Chabad · Tanakh
Exodus 14 · Hebrew, translation and commentary
The biblical narrative behind the Red Sea imagery. The site distinguishes the verses from Rashi’s later commentary.
Open source collection (opens in a new tab)National Archives
The Constitution · original transcription
Preamble and seven articles. The reader keeps historical wording beside later amendments.
Open source collection (opens in a new tab)National Archives
The Bill of Rights
The ten ratified amendments. The Archives page also explains the twelve original proposals.
Open source collection (opens in a new tab)National Archives
Amendments XI–XXVII
Amendment wording, proposal and ratification notes, including repeal and supersession notices.
Open source collection (opens in a new tab)National Archives
Convention participants
The core index combines 56 Declaration signers and 55 Convention attendees, with eight people appearing in both groups: 103 unique people.
Open source collection (opens in a new tab)National Archives
The Declaration of Independence
Original text and signer names. It is not the Constitution and its signers were not all Convention delegates.
Open source collection (opens in a new tab)National Archives
The Virginia Plan
The displayed manuscript is a June 13 revision, not the missing original submitted on May 29, 1787.
Open source collection (opens in a new tab)Library of Congress
Religion and the founding
Manuscripts for the first Great Seal proposals and records of public religious observance.
Open source collection (opens in a new tab)National Park Service
June 28, 1787 · Franklin’s prayer motion
A historical account drawn from Convention notes. This is a curatorial account of a recorded proposal.
Open source collection (opens in a new tab)Massachusetts Historical Society
Abigail Adams to John Adams · March 31, 1776
A private letter that widens the story beyond the Convention’s attendees.
Open source collection (opens in a new tab)Massachusetts Historical Society
John Adams to Abigail Adams · July 3, 1776
Adams’s own account of the timing of independence and his expectations for its commemoration.
Open source collection (opens in a new tab)Reading this atlas
Know what kind of record you’re seeing.
Original text
Public documents and letters are presented through identified archival transcriptions or manuscript records.
Historical account
Archival biographies and institutional accounts introduce context. They are identified separately from a founder’s own words.
Open questions
A missing explanation remains a question. Dated language supports what a person said at that time; it does not establish every private belief.
First edition · evidence reviewed November 9, 2026. Portrait reproductions and individual supporting records are credited inside each founder profile. The participant index is a defined core roster, not every person who influenced the founding.