General Records of the United States Government
(Record Group 11)
Table of Contents
- 11.1 ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY
- 11.2 THE CONSTITUTION AND AMENDMENTS
- 11.3 LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES AND RELATED RECORDS
- 11.4 INTERNATIONAL TREATIES AND RELATED RECORDS
- 11.4.1 Treaties and Executive agreements
- 11.4.2 Postal agreements and conventions
- 11.5 TREATIES WITH INDIAN TRIBES AND RELATED PAPERS
- 11.6 PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATIONS, EXECUTIVE ORDERS, AND OTHER
- 11.7 ELECTORAL RECORDS
- 11.8 INTERSTATE COMPACTS
- 11.9 CARTOGRAPHIC RECORDS (GENERAL)
Established: As a federal government having national jurisdiction, effective March 4, 1789, by resolution of the Confederation Congress, August 6, 1788, following ratification of the Constitution by the requisite nine states on June 21, 1788.
- First Continental Congress (Sept. 5-Oct. 26, 1774)
- Second Continental Congress (May 10, 1775-Mar. 2, 1781)
- Confederation Government (Mar. 2, 1781-Mar. 4, 1789; Confederation Congress in recess after October 11, 1788)
Finding Aids: Ralph E. Huss, comp., Preliminary Inventory of United States Government Documents Having General Legal Effect, PI 159 (1964).
Related Records: Record copies of publications of the United States Government in RG 287, Publications of the U.S. Government. Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention, RG 360.
Textual Records: Engrossed copy of the Constitution and accompanying resolution of the Constitutional Convention directing that the Constitution be laid before Congress and submitted to state ratifying conventions, 1787. Formal documents from the states ratifying the Constitution, 1787-90. Enrolled original joint resolution of Congress of September 25, 1789, proposing 12 amendments (including the 10 adopted, known as the Bill of Rights), with ratifications, 1789-90. Other ratified amendments with related records from the states, 1795-1992. Unratified amendments concerning titles of nobility, 1810; child labor, 1924; equal rights, 1972; and Congressional representation for the District of Columbia, 1978.
Microfilm Publications: M338, M1518.
Related Records: For the original Congressional resolutions proposing constitutional amendments SEE the enrolled resolutions under 11.3.
Textual Records: Original engrossed copies of laws of the United States and of joint resolutions, signed by the Speaker of the House, the President of the Senate, and the President of the United States, 1789-1994. Original and printed copies of a few miscellaneous House and Senate resolutions, 1926 and 1933. Enrolled bills kept from becoming law by the pocket veto, 1815-96 (1 vol.).
Microfilm Publications: M337, M1326.
Textual Records: Treaties, 1778-1992. Executive agreements, 1922- 45, with lists by number, date, and country, 1922-40. Unnumbered international agreements, 1943-45. Treaties and other international acts (TIAS), 1942-83, which include both Executive agreements and perfected treaties ratified and proclaimed after January 1, 1946. Treaties, agreements, and other international acts for which the United States is the depository party, 1943- 74. Treaties that have not gone into effect ("unperfected treaties"), 1803-1982.
Maps (17 items): A published copy of the 1818 edition of the John Melish map of the United States, referred to in the 1819 treaty with Spain. Published copy of the 1847 edition of J. Disturnell's map of Mexico used in preparing the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848. Manuscript map of the harbor of Simoda (Shimoda), Japan, compiled in 1854 by surveyors with Commodore Matthew Perry's fleet, to accompany the American treaty with Japan. Manuscript plan of Sitka, Alaska, 1867, later published in H. Ex. Doc. 125, 40th Cong., 2d sess., Serial 1337. Plans of U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy bases in the Philippines, part of TIAS 9224, 1967-78 (13 items). SEE ALSO 11.9.
Textual Records: Draft convention with France, 1853. Draft conventions with Italy, 1877 and 1880. Ratifications by the signatory countries of the Universal Postal Convention, 1897.
Related Records: For postal agreements included in treaty files, SEE 11.4.1.
Textual Records: Original ratified and unratified treaties, September 17, 1778-August 13, 1868, and handwritten and printed copies of treaties concluded as early as 1722 that were used as precedents for later treaties, with card indexes and lists.
Microfilm Publications: M668.
Textual Records: Presidential proclamations, 1791-1991, with card indexes and lists, 1789-1947, and drafts and worksheets of proclamations, 1930-42. Executive orders, 1862-1991, with card indexes and lists, 1862-1947, and drafts of Executive orders, 1929-42. Other Presidential documents, including reorganization plans, military orders, regulations, administrative orders, designations of officials, and interpretive letters, 1945-91.
Microfilm Publications: T1223, M1118, M1331.
Maps (81 items): Boundaries of national parks and monuments in Alaska, from Presidential Proclamations 4611 through 4627, November 1978. SEE ALSO 11.9.
Textual Records: Certified copies of ascertainments of electors, 1888-1992. Correspondence and memorandums concerning selection of electors. Newspaper clippings of the ascertainments as published through 1924. Statements of electoral votes, 1928 and 1932. Miscellaneous correspondence and records, 1904-42.
Textual Records: Duplicate originals and authenticated copies of the compacts with letters of acknowledgement and related correspondence, 1950-70.
SEE Maps UNDER 11.4.1 and 11.6.
Bibliographic note: Web version based on Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States. Compiled by Robert B. Matchette et al. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1995.
3 volumes, 2428 pages.
This Web version is updated from time to time to include records processed since 1995.