| − | Although the rules of the Constitutional Convention required that everyone destroy their notes, such that only the Constitution itself was supposed to survive, some of the notes kept by participants were not destroyed and are used today to interpret the Constitution. Most notably, James Madison preserved his very detailed notes which he took during the proceeding, and they were published after his death decades later. Because of James Madison's detailed notes about the proceeding at the Constitutional Convention and is participation in writing some of the ''Federalist Papers'' (see below), he is sometimes called the "Father of the Constitution," but Madison's influence over the Constitution was no greater than that of many other Founders. Many of Madison's suggestions at the Convention were rejected. | + | Although the rules of the Constitutional Convention required that everyone destroy their notes, such that only the Constitution itself was supposed to survive, some of the notes kept by participants were not destroyed and are used today to interpret the Constitution. Most notably, James Madison preserved his very detailed notes which he took during the proceeding, and they were published after his death decades later. Because of James Madison's detailed notes about the proceeding at the Constitutional Convention and his participation in writing some of the ''Federalist Papers'' (see below), he is sometimes called the "Father of the Constitution," but Madison's influence over the Constitution was no greater than that of many other Framers. Many of Madison's suggestions at the Convention were actually rejected by the group, rather than accepted. |
| − | The surviving records of the debates and internal proceedings of the Constitutional Convention are freely available on the internet.<ref>http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/tocs/toc.html</ref> They should be used (even bookmarked) in order to complete some of the homework assignments in this course. | + | The surviving records of the debates and internal proceedings of the Constitutional Convention are freely available today on the internet.<ref>http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/tocs/toc.html</ref> They should be used (even bookmarked) in order to complete some of the homework assignments in this course. |