The Making of a Constitution

The constitutional conventions held in the Northern Mariana Islands generated many documents beyond the final constitutional language put to the public for a vote. It is the entire record of a convention that sums up its efforts and serves as a platform for future efforts.

Daily journals record the debates of the convention. Position papers, background papers, and proposed constitutional language lay out the hopes and reasoning of the delegates. Committee reports and recommendations reflect the fashioning of compromises. Public hearings and comments from the public record the reaction to proposed actions by the Convention.

Over time, these valuable records that support and explain the actions of the constitutional conventions may be dispersed or disappear altogether.

This collection, in fully searchable digital format, is an effort to bring all of these documents together in one place for use by citizens, educators, students, historians and other scholars, judges, lawyers, legislators, and policy makers. Putting the documents into fully searchable digital format makes the use of voluminous materials easier and more convenient. A standard archiving software, Adobe Portable Document Format, has been used to make the collection widely accessible.