David Marble, Executive Director
Lorianne Updike Toler, Co-Founder
Dear ConSource Visitor,
Today, the world discovered one very precious "National Treasure" among thousands written by our Founders and Framers that we seek to provide for free on ConSource.org. (Read the story as it first appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer)
And today, we write to ask for your support for an organization that makes such treasures come alive and remain accessible to everyone, from school children to Supreme Court Justices to every day people like you and me.
ConSource was conceived with the purpose of "democratizing" access to the source materials of the Constitution, so that anyone can research and have a clear knowledge of the history that inspired its creation and revision—from Article I through Amendment 27.
Never has the public been able to witness the rise of a great Republic as they can through ConSource.org. Through first-hand records, we witness the planning and preparing by James Madison for the Constitutional Convention. We witness its near dissolution in the contest over representation. We witness Franklin call for prayer and be overridden because the convention lacked the resources to hire a preacher. We witness resolution reached through the proposal of the youngest delegate, and, after several weeks of compromise and drafting by James Wilson and the Committee of Detail and Style, we witness the Constitution signed on September 17, 1787.
Through ConSource.org we see history come to life through these and 20,000 other documents written by our Founders.
Why do we need your donation? ConSource is run by a small, dedicated, and passionate group of people: four full-time staff and two part-time staff (of which Lorianne is one while she studies at Oxford).
ConSource has been remarkably successful with very few resources over its 4 years of operations. Our cost-saving partnerships include an ongoing donation of office space from Winston & Strawn and unlimited hosting for our documents and images through Verizon's Thinkfinity non-profit arm.
By keeping our overhead extremely low, we are able to direct funds towards acquiring documents, getting the word out, maintaining the underlying content management software (we have plans are hoping to have enough funds to re-design our entire website – stay tuned!), and helping school children learn directly from the Founders by writing standards-based curricula with our partners in AZ, CA, FL, NY, PA, and TX.
ConSource is democratizing access to the first-hand history of the Constitution, and we need your help to do it. To keep ConSource free, we invite you to join us by donating now, and in so doing bring many more "National Treasures" to life!
Many Thanks!
David Marble, Executive Director
Lorianne Updike Toler, Co-Founder and ConSource Counsel for the Constitution
Mission Statement
Leadership
