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The Constitution of the United States: First Public Printing
September 19, 1787

The National Constitution Center houses this rare, original copy of the first public printing of the Constitution, published in The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, on September 19, 1787, by John Dunlap and David Claypoole.

Image of the first public printing of the Constitution of the United States.

Citation (Chicago Style): 

Dunlap, John and David Claypoole. The Constitution of the United States: First Public Printing. The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, September 19, 1787. From The National Constitution Center. https://constitutioncenter.org/learn/educational-resources/historical-do... (accessed July 30, 2018).

Usage Statement: 

Public Domain

Public Domain is a copyright term that is often used when talking about copyright for creative works. Under U.S. copyright law, individual items that are in the public domain are items that are no longer protected by copyright law. This means that you do not need to request permission to re-use, re-publish or even change a copy of the item. Items enter the public domain under U.S. copyright law for a number of reasons: the original copyright may have expired; the item was created by the U.S. Federal Government or other governmental entity that views the things it creates as in the public domain; the work was never protected by copyright for some other reason related to how it was produced (for example, it was a speech that wasn't written down or recorded); or the work doesn't have enough originality to make it eligible for copyright protection.