September 16, 2012 - Anniversary of the Signing of the Constitution of the United States of America

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to oursleves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Hope everyone has had a great weekend!  Tomorrow, September 17, 2012, is the 225th Anniversary of the Signing of the Constitution of the United States of America.

The Federal Convention convened in the State House (better known as Independence Hall) in Philadelphia on May 14, 1787.  Their intention was to review the Articles of Confederation.  The members had to adjourn from day to day until a quorum of seven states was obtained on May 25.  By mid-June it was clear that the Convention would draft an entirely new frame of government instead of amending the existing Articles.

The delegates debated and redrafted the articles of the new Constitution throughout the summer.  Among the debated topics were how much power to allow the central government, how many representatives in Congress to allow each state, and how these representatives should be elected.

When many of us think of what the founding fathers of the United States of America did that summer, we tend to idealize it.  In reality, while 74 delegates were appointed to the convention, only 55 actually attended.  Rhode Island refused to send delegates altogether.  Patrick Henry refused to attend, and declared that he "smelt a rat."  Many political leaders of this time believed that the state governments offered the chief protection for personal liberties and did not which to lend a hand to any proceeding that posed a threat to that protection.

The convention did have a very impressive assemblage.  James Madison, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, George Mason, John Dickinson.  The delegates came to the convention with their own ideals of a form of government.  Alexander Hamilton even declared the British government "the best in the world" and proposed a strikingly similar model.  As any gathering of those with differing opinions, the debate over the Constitution was long and grueling.

On September 17 the members of the Convention met for the last time.  Benjamin Franklin had written a speech that was delivered by James Wilson.

I think it will astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear that our councils are confounded like those of the builders of Babel; and that our States are on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one another's throats."

Some members of the Convention were doubtful of the ratification by the states of the Constitution.  Pennsylvania was the first to call for a ratifying convention.  When Federalist (pro-Constitution) dominated Pennsylvania asembly lacked a quorum to call a state ratifying convention, a Philadelphia mob dragged two anti-Federalist members from their lodgings through the streets to the State House where they were forced to stay while the assembly voted.  (On a side note, this reminds me of last year when Wisconsin Democrats instead of doing their job ran away to Illinois to avoid a voting quorum.)

The Constitution was eventually ratified by the states, but it was a tenuous process.  anti-Federalists accused Federalists of only caring about protecting their class.  The call for a Bill of Rights was made by the anti-Federalists, who attacked the propsosed Constitution for its lack of specific protection against tyranny.  A Bill of Rights had not been a priority for the convention, as most delegates believed that the fundamental rights of individuals had been secured in the state constitutions.

On December 13, 1952 the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were placed in helium-filled cases, enclosed in wooden crates, laid on mattresses in an armored Marine Corps personnel carrier, and escorted by ceremonial troops, tow tanks, and four servicemen carrying submachine guns down Pennsylvania and Constitution avenues to the National Archives.  Two days later, President Harry truman declared at a formal ceremony in the Archives Exhibition Hall.

"We are engaged here today in a symbolic act.  We are enshrining these documents for future ages.  This magnificent hall has been constructed to exhibit them, and the vault beneath, that we have built to protect them, is as safe from destruction as anything that the wit of modern man can devise.  All this is an honorable effort, based upon reverence for the great past, and our generation can take just pride in it."