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America's founding texts, connected.
Read the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and its amendments, The Federalist and the essays of the ratification debate, with a permanent reference for every passage and links you can check between them.
Search, or jump to “Federalist 10” or “1.8.3”/We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
The library
2,295 passages, each with its own permanent address.
The Declaration of Independence
Adopted in Congress on July 4, 1776, in the National Archives transcription, with each grievance as its own passage.
The Constitution
The text signed in Convention on September 17, 1787, in the National Archives transcription of the parchment, original spelling and all.
The Amendments
All 27 amendments, from the Bill of Rights to the Twenty-seventh, in the National Archives transcriptions.
The Federalist
85 essays by “Publius”, with each paper's author as given by its edition, including the papers whose authorship is disputed.
The ratification debate
Cato, Centinel, the Federal Farmer, Agrippa, the Landholder and more: 109 essays and letters for and against the Constitution, from public-domain printings.
Supreme Court Coming
Landmark cases linked to the clauses they interpret, keyed to CourtListener.
Built to be checked
Nothing here asks for your trust without showing its work.
Texts from the originals
Every text is imported by code from a public-domain original. An automated check re-runs each import to prove no word was retyped or changed by hand.
A permanent address for every passage
References never change, so citations and links keep working.
Connections with provenance
Each link between passages records its type, the reason for it, who made it, and whether a person has reviewed it. Machine suggestions are always labeled.
From the founding to today
CommonHall follows the bills, votes and people shaping government now. Res Publica is the library behind it.