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The Revolutionary Portfolio: Constitution-Making and the Wider World in the American Revolution A Paper by Daniel J. Hulsebosch NYU School of Law Hulsebosch@exchange.law.nyu.edu<mailto:Hulsebosch@exchange.law.nyu.edu> "The Revolutionary Portfolio" is part of a larger project exploring the international dimensions of American constitution-making in the Founding Era, 1776-1815. An earlier article analyzed the innovations in the federal Constitution that were designed to compel the United States to adhere to international obligations under treaties and the law of nations. This paper returns to the outset of the Revolution to argue that the Continental Congress and the provincial assemblies collaborated to construct a portfolio of foundational documents designed in large part to persuade the European powers that the conflict was not an insurrection or even a civil war but rather a war between international states. In mid-1776 Congress drafted three of the documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Model Treaty. At the same time, Congress recommended that the states draft the state constitutions. Revolutionary diplomats then publicized the portfolio in Europe as evidence that Americans were independent states on the cutting edge of political reform in the Atlantic World and, consequently, deserved trade and assistance. Copies of the paper are available for reading at the Institute, Swem Library's Reference and Circulation Desks, the Lyon G. Tyler Department of History, and the American Studies Program, all at the College of William and Mary; Colonial Williamsburg's John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Library; the University of Richmond's Department of History, the Virginia Commonwealth University's Department of History, the Library of Virginia, and the Virginia Historical Society, all in Richmond; Virginia State University's Department of History in Petersburg; Old Dominion University's Department of History in Norfolk; and the University of Virginia's Corcoran Department of History in Charlottesville. If you would like to receive the paper by email, please send Melody Smith (mlsmit@wm.edu<mailto:mlsmit@wm.edu>) your email address. DATE: Tuesday, November 5 TIME: 7:00 P.M. PLACE: Kellock Library Conference Room at the Institute, Swem Library, Ground Floor Please submit requests for parking passes to Melody Smith (mlsmit@wm.edu<mailto:mlsmit@wm.edu>) by 5 PM on November 5. All colloquia will be followed by a social hour, with desserts and drinks. The Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture is sponsored jointly by The College of William and Mary and The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. --
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