2 results
Bill of Rights
During the debates on the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, its opponents charged that the Constitution as drafted would open the way to tyranny by the central government. Fresh in their minds was the memory of the British violation of civil rights before and during the Revolutionary War, so they demanded a "bill of rights" that would spell out the immunities of individual citizens. Several state conventions, in their formal ratification of the Constitution, asked for such amendments. Others ratified the Constitution with the understanding that the amendments would ...
Contributed by
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
Treaty Between the Ottawa, Chippewa, Wyandot, and Potawatomi Indians
This document, also known as the Treaty of Detroit, was signed on November 17, 1807, by William Hull, governor of the territory of Michigan, and the chiefs, sachems, and warriors of four Indian tribes, the Ottawa, Chippewa, Wyandot, and Potawatomi. Under its terms, the tribes ceded to the United States a tract of land comprising roughly the southeast quarter of the lower peninsula of Michigan and a small section of Ohio north of the Maumee River. The tribes retained small tracts of land within this territory. Until Congress abolished the ...
Contributed by
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration