Governing Documents in Comparison

We have collected the constitutions of all of our SUSI/ YSEALI student participant home countries for you to compare and contrast with your own constitution. To access a folder of full-text versions, click on this Link. Although our countries differ in many ways, there are some values upheld by all of the constitutions. 

The Constitute Project Link

Take a look at constitutions from around the world to compare and contract with your own. This website allows you search other constitutions, look at common themes, and search for key concepts. You can even compare any constitution here!

Below are links to the full text of the key government documents of the United States. 

Declaration of Independence Link

The Declaration of Independence was written to explain the colonists’ rights to revolution. This document was intended to unite the colonies in their formal succession from Great Britain. This link will allow you to explore the full document as well as learn about how it was constructed. 

U.S. Constitution Link

Take a look at the United States constitution and compare and contrast it to your own constitution, or constitutions around the world. Think about what values you can find that are similar and in what concepts are different. 

The National Constitution Center offers you an interactive way to read through the US constitution similar to the way you were able to explore constitutional themes when you visited the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. 

Bill of Rights Link

The Bill of Rights contains the first ten amendments of the US Constitution. These ten amendments define the US citizens rights in relation to their government. Discover more about the document and the freedoms it protects by visiting the National Archives. 

Amendments are changes that are made to the constitution. To prevent arbitrary changes to the constitution, the amendment process is strenuous and only 27 of such amendments have been approved since 1787. The process to add an amendment to the constitution requires the amendment be brought to congress and receive a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures. Amendments 11- 27 can be read here. You can read more about the amendment process by visiting here.

What documents are important to your nation and protecting your constitutional rights? You can submit those documents to the Dialogue Institute, by emailing  info@dialogueinstitute.org, to be featured on this page as well.