Colonists Citizens Constitutions Virtual Exhibition

The “Colonists Citizens Constitutions” exhibit, launched in February 2020 in collaboration with the Dorothy Tapper Goldman Foundation, spotlights 42 rare documents from the Foundation’s extensive collection of Americana, telling the story of how our state and federal constitutions were imagined, formulated, written, and approved by ordinary people. These individuals arrived in America as colonists then made themselves its first citizens, while codifying their philosophies of governance and human rights via the writing of constitutions.

We originally designed the show’s website to serve as a supplement to the in-person exhibition at the New-York Historical Society. However, due to museum closures caused by COVID-19, we ultimately published a virtual tour of the gallery instead, ensuring its documents remained accessible to the public.

View colonistscitizensconstitutions.org