Elliot’s Debates

The Debates in the Several State Conventions, on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, as Recommended by the General Convention at Philadelphia, in 1787

Together with the Journal Of The Federal Convention, Luther Martin’s Letter, Yates’s Minutes, Congressional Opinions, Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of ’98–’99, and Other Illustrations of the Constitution.
In Four Volumes.
Second Edition, with Considerable Additions.

Collected and Revised from Contemporary Publications, by Jonathan Elliot.

Published under the Sanction of Congress.

Washington: Printed for the Editor. 1836.

Complete Volumes in PDF:

Volume One, Volume Two, Volume Three, Volume Four, Volume Five

Volume One

• Federal Constitution
• Ante-Revolutionary History
• Approaches towards Independence
• Declaration of Independence
• Political Rights and Sovereignty
• Occurences incident to Act of Confederation
• Official Action accompanying Act of Confederation
• Confederation, Debates
• Confederation, Articles
• Objections of certain States
• Proceedings which led to the Adoption of the Constitution
• The Federal Constitution
• Ratifications
• Amendments proposed
• Luther Martin’s Letter
• Yates’s Minutes
• Yates and Lansing’s Letter
• Edmund Randolph’s Letter
• Sherman and Ellsworth’s Letter
• Elbridge Gerry’s Letter
• George Mason’s Objections
• John Jay’s Address
• Richard Henry Lee’s Letter
• Gouverneur Morris’s Letter to George Washington
• Gouverneur Morris to Thomas Pickering
• James Madison to Mr. Sparks

Volume Two

• Convention of MASSACHUSETTS
• Convention of CONNECTICUT
• Convention of NEW HAMPSHIRE
• Convention of NEW YORK
  Circular
• Convention of PENNSYLVANIA
  Harrisburg Proceedings
• Convention of MARYLAND

Volume Three

• Convention of VIRGINIA
  • Resolutions; proposed Ratification
  • The Question; Ayes and Noes
  • Ratification; Form
  • Bill of Rights
  • Amendments proposed
  • The Question; Ayes and Noes

Volume Four

• Convention of NORTH CAROLINA
  • Declaration of Rights
  • Amendments proposed
  • The Question of Adoption
• SOUTH CAROLINA, (in Legislature.)
• SOUTH CAROLINA, (in Convention.)
  • The Question on Ratification
• List of Delegates to the Congress of 1765
• Opinions, from 1789 to 1836, involving Constitutional Principles, from Congressional Debates, &c.
• Virginia Resolutions of 1798, by Mr. Madison
• Answers to the States
• Kentucky Resolutions, by Mr. Jefferson
• Report on the Virginia Resolutions, by Mr. Madison
• South Carolina and the Tariff Protest
•      President Jackson’s Proclamation on the Ordinance of South Carolina
• Mr. Madison’s Tariff and Banks
•      Letter I (Tariff)
•      Letter II (Tariff)
•      Letter III (Banks)
• Mr. Jefferson on Banks
• Mr. Madison, Letters on Debts and Bank of the United States.
•      Mr. Madison to Mr. Stevenson on Debts.
•      Mr. Madison on Banks.
• Gen. Alexander Hamilton on Banks
• Various Papers on the Veto Power
• Digest of Decisions in the Courts of the Union, involving Constitutional Principles

Volume Five: Supplementary to Elliot’s Debates

• Advertisement
• Debates in the Congress of the Confederation, from November 4, 1782, to June 21, 1783; and from February 19 to April 25, 1787.
• Letters of Mr. Madison prior to the Convention of 1787
• Debates in the Federal Convention, from Monday, May 14, 1787, until its Final Adjournment, Monday, September 17, 1787
• Letters Written after the Adjournment of the Federal Convention
• Appendix to the Debates in the Federal Convention