I would here call attention to some publications by the Directors of the Old South Studies in History and Politics,—­first, The Constitution of the United States, with Historical and Bibliographical Notes and Outlines, for Study, prepared by E.D.  Mead (sold by D.C.  Heath and Co., Boston, for 25 cents); secondly, the Old South Leaflets, furnished to schools and the trade by the same publishers, at 5 cents a copy or $3.00 a hundred.  These leaflets are for the most part reprints of important original papers, furnished with valuable historical and bibliographical notes.  The eighteen issued up to this time (July, 1890) are as follows:  1.  The Constitution of the United States; 2.  The Articles of Confederation; 3.  The Declaration of Independence; 4.  Washington’s Farewell Address; 5.  Magna Charta; 6.  Vane’s “Healing Question;” 7.  Charter of Massachusetts Bay, 1629; 8.  Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, 1639; 9.  Franklin’s Plan of Union, 1754; 10.  Washington’s Inaugurals; 11.  Lincoln’s Inaugurals and Emancipation Proclamation; 12.  The Federalist, Nos. 1 and 2; 13.  The Ordinance of 1787; 14.  The Constitution of Ohio; 15.  Washington’s “Legacy”; 16.  Washington’s Letter to Benjamin Harrison, Governor of Virginia, on the Opening of Communication with the West; 17.  Verrazano’s Voyage, 1524; 18.  Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation.

Howard Preston’s Documents Illustrative of American History, N.Y., 1886, contains the following:  First Virginia Charter, 1606; Second Virginia Charter, 1609; Third Virginia Charter, 1612; Mayflower Compact, 1620; Massachusetts Charter, 1629; Maryland Charter, 1632; Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, 1639; New England Confederation, 1643; Connecticut Charter, 1662; Rhode Island Charter, 1663; Pennsylvania Charter, 1681; Perm’s Plan of Union, 1697; Georgia Charter, 1732; Franklin’s Plan of Union, 1754; Declaration of Rights, 1765; Declaration of Rights, 1774; Non-Importation Agreement, 1774; Virginia Bill of Rights, 1776; Declaration of Independence, 1776; Articles of Confederation, 1777; Treaty of Peace, 1783; Northwest Ordinance, 1787; Constitution of the United States, 1787; Alien and Sedition Laws, 1798; Virginia Resolutions, 1798; Kentucky Resolutions, 1798; Kentucky Resolutions, 1799; Nullification Ordinance, 1832; Ordinance of Secession, 1860; South Carolina Declaration of Independence, 1860; Emancipation Proclamation, 1863.

See also Poore’s Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and other Organic Laws of the United States, 2 vols., Washington, 1877.

The series of essays entitled The Federalist, written by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, in 1787-88, while the ratification of the Constitution was in question, will always remain indispensable as an introduction to the thorough study of the principles upon which our federal government is based.  The most recent edition is by H.C.  Lodge, N.Y., 1888.  For the systematic and elaborate study of the Constitution, see Foster’s References to the Constitution of the United States, a little pamphlet of 50 pages published by the “Society for Political Education,” 330 Pearl St., New York, 1890, price 25 cents.  The student who should pursue to the end the line of research marked out in this pamphlet ought thereby to become quite an authority on the subject.