Creating the Constitution
Between the Declaration of Independence and the U.S.
Constitution, the American Revolution swept through the colonies pitting
friends and families against each other. In truth, it was a civil war. We will
explore the battles of the War for Independence in future postings, while today
we will stay with the Independence Hall and explore the creation of our democracy.
As the war progressed, most people realized that the
Articles of Confederation did not work. No state honored all of their federal
taxes since there were no penalties. At times, Georgia and New Jersey refused
to pay anything. Consequently, the Confederation government lacked the money to
pay even the interest on its foreign debt. By 1786, the United States defaulted
on its debts from the war as they came due. Changes had to happen.
Constitutional Convention
The Constitutional Convention convened on May 14, 1787 when
delegates returned to Independence Hall in Philadelphia to correct the
Articles. By mid-June, the delegates switched from revising the existing
Articles to creating a totally new type of government. Many issues might have
derailed an agreement among the diverse and divisive states: how much power to give the federal
government; how to elect representatives to Congress and how many should come
from each state; who could vote; when to hold elections; and how to change the
constitution and thus the government? Delegates debated all of these issues and
more through the summer of 1787 in the State House.
In seeking a better government, Americans turned again to
the Enlightenment philosophies of the Englishman John Locke, the Frenchman
Montesquieu, and other Europeans. Conceding that humans were corruptible and
lusted after power, these philosophers did not count on the goodwill of humans
to temper our excesses. As Virginian James Madison observed: “if humans were
angels, no government would be necessary.”
Despite creating a democracy to give the public power over government, our
country’s founders did not truly trust people.
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| James Madison, delegate from Virginia (Courtesy http://www.biography.com/) |
To counter human nature, the delegates turned to Montesquieu
who championed the separation of power between the executive, legislative, and
judicial branches to protect individual freedoms. Only power checking power could
preserve the hard won liberty. Such borrowings from enlightenment thought found
fertile ground in the deliberations to revise the Articles of Confederation.
Virginia versus New Jersey
The convention debated two models of democracy —the
Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan. The Virginia Plan, written mainly by
James Madison, favored empowering the states with the larger populations. It
proposed a federal government with three branches to insure checks and balances
to prevent abuses of power. The legislative branch had two houses—one elected
by popular vote for three year terms and the other selected by state
legislatures for seven year terms. Representation was based on population –
larger states had more elected officials in both chambers.
The New Jersey Plan, also known as the Small State Plan,
challenged the Virginia Plan when William Paterson presented it to the
Constitutional Convention on June 15, 1787.
To counter the disproportionate power that the more populated states
would garner under the Virginia Plan, this alternative called for a unicameral
body with one vote for each state like under the Articles of Confederation. In
a compromise cobbled together by the Connecticut contingent, aspects of the New
Jersey Plan were incorporated into the final draft. This created a bicameral
legislature with a House of Representatives apportioned by population and a
Senate which granted equal votes to each state, big or small.
After debate and compromise carried
out over the summer, the Constitutional Convention adopted the new Constitution
on September 17, 1787 and sent it out from Independence Hall to the states
for approval. Ratified by conventions in eleven States, the Constitution went
into effect on March 4, 1789. As the supreme law of the land, the Constitution formed
a model for representative government that launched a democratic revolution
around the world over the next two centuries.
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| The Preamble of the U.S. Constitution |
The Constitution created three units of the federal
government—an elected bicameral legislature, an elected president in charge of
the executive branch, and an appointed judicial system. All three have duties
to ensure a separation of powers to safeguard against abuses. For sharing power
between the federal government and the states, national laws take precedence,
but funding flows to the states. Finally, the Constitution describes how to
ratify it and how to amend it.
The Constitution paradoxically empowers and protects citizens
from the entrenched interests of the economically and politically powerful
while at the same shielding those elite interests from power of the people. Checks
and balances do minimize the abuse of power by our leaders as well as the same
by the many. Our founding fathers did not fully trust the American people, both
the wealthy as well as the rest of us to do the right thing.
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| "Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States" by Howard Chander Christy |
Democracy as a blood sport
From the beginning, political combat between opposing forces
has shaped our society. That is the history that drives us and our culture. Some
of our citizens embrace personal
liberties so much that they want little or no regulation on individual and
corporate activities. This group feels threatened by government. Others support
government in regulating the excesses of the powerful. Who does the most to
protect our freedoms—people in business or people in government? As part of the
government that regulates and protects, the NPS serves on the front lines of
this basic battle of what to save and what to use in our land.
This plays out in interesting ways. Story of AZ who thought
he owned the Grand Canyon.
The Constitution provided the framework for the success of
our republic. It held many firsts as historian Joseph Ellis states: it established the first modern nation sized
republic; it created the first wholly secular nation; and it created a
government with overlapping agencies where multiple states and their divergent
interests worked together. Despite the strengths of the Constitution, the
Founding Fathers avoided several areas which belied the phrase that all men are
created equal. For a nation created on equality, slavery existed and in the
coming century, grew in some states and territories. Native Americans did not
receive equal protection and in fact, lost land and rights. Women did not win
the right to vote until the 20th century. While the Constitution serves as a
model for democratic governance around the world, it also held some almost
fatal flaws as well.
Sacred Space at Independence Hall.
The colonial men and women had fought a long and difficult
war to free themselves from King George and the Parliament. Some of the plans
and justifying documents came from Independence Hall in Philadelphia. As the
war ended and the new country struggled to create a government acceptable to
the all of the states, the hall once again hosted the intense debates and the
drafting of the new republic. The resultant Constitution of the United States
has for more than two centuries served as a model for democratic governments
around the world.
From May 1775 to 1783, Independence Hall served as the
principal meeting place for the Second Continental Congress and from 1790 to
1800 was the temporary capital of the new country. The newly formed Congress
and recently elected President Washington conducted their business next door in
the Congress Hall as the nation’s permanent capital was built south of
Philadelphia on the Potomac River.
At first, Independence Hall and the surrounding buildings
that had played such a vital role in the Revolution and forming of the Republic
did not attract much public attention. In the 1820s, one room in the State
House was designated as Independence Hall and the surrounding block as
Independence Square. A first floor museum opened in 1876, and the second floor
restored in 1897. On June 28, 1948, the U.S. Congress authorized the
Independence National Historical Park which was then formally established on
July 4, 1956. Independence Hall became a UNESCO World Heritage Site on October
23, 1979. The area around Independence Hall is sacred ground for democracy.
Millions of people from around the world have converged on
Philadelphia, have tramped over the grassy mall, lined up to view the Liberty
Bell, toured Independence Hall and the Portrait Gallery, and visited the other
sites of this National Historical Park. They all come to look for America.
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| People lined up to view the Liberty Bell (Photo by Hunner) |
143 South Third Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 965-2305
http://www.nps.gov/inde/index.htm
