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About 250 Years Ago … US Constitution

The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, the first constitution of the United States, on November 15, 1777.

The Articles of Confederation served as the written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it declared independence from Great Britain. It established a weak central government that mostly, but not entirely, prevented the individual states from conducting their own foreign diplomacy.

Congress sent the Articles to the states for ratification at the end of November. Most delegates realized that the Articles were a flawed compromise, but believed that it was better than an absence of formal national government.

On December 16, 1777, Virginia was the first state to ratify. Other states ratified during the early months of 1778.  The Maryland legislature was the last to ratify the Articles of Confederation on March 1, 1781.

The weakness of this confederation became increasingly apparent when the War for Independence was over and the staggering debt repayment, which Congress under the Articles could proportionally assess but not directly collect, became a point of conflict between the states and a source of intense domestic strife within several of the states.  (Williams)

Congress Tried to Revise the Articles of Confederation

The states’ disputes over territory, war pensions, taxation, and trade threatened to tear the young country apart. Alexander Hamilton helped convince Congress to organize a Constitutional Convention.

The Constitutional Convention assembled in Philadelphia in May of 1787. The delegates shuttered the windows of the State House and swore secrecy so they could speak freely.

Although they had gathered to revise the Articles of Confederation, by mid-June they had decided to completely redesign the government. There was little agreement about what form it would take.

One of the fiercest arguments was over congressional representation – should it be based on population or divided equally among the states? The framers compromised by giving each state one representative for every 30,000 people in the House of Representatives and two representatives in the Senate.

On July 26, 1787, after two months of fierce debate over the structure and powers of a new federal government, the Constitutional Convention was ready to commit its resolutions to writing. Appointing a “committee of detail” to draft a written constitution, the Convention adjourned until August 6.

After five weeks of debate over the committee of detail’s draft Constitution, the Constitutional Convention appointed a committee of style to prepare a final version; Gouverneur Morris, later known as the “penman of the Constitution,” did most of the work.

The state delegates approved the draft of the Constitution on September 15, 1787. The signing was set for the very next Monday.

Jacob Shallus, the assistant clerk for the Pennsylvania General Assembly, agreed to engross (copy in a fine, clear hand) the document. Over the course of about 40 hours, he created an accurate transcription of the draft. He was paid $30 for his efforts. On September 17, the document was ready for signing.

Thirty-nine of the 42 men present signed the Constitution. George Washington was first, followed by each state delegation descending from north to south.  (George Reed signed for John Dickinson of Delaware, who was absent.)

George Mason, Elbridge Gerry, and Edmund Randolph refused to sign because the Constitution lacked a bill of rights. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams did not sign because they were on diplomatic missions in Europe during the convention, bringing the total number of signatures to 39.

The founders set the terms for ratifying the Constitution. They bypassed the state legislatures, reasoning that their members would be reluctant to give up power to a national government. Instead, they called for special ratifying conventions in each state. Ratification by 9 of the 13 states enacted the new government. But at the time, only 6 of 13 states reported a pro-Constitution majority.

The Continental Congress Institutes a New Government

By the summer of 1788, enough states had ratified the Constitution, and the Confederation delegates who were preoccupied in their home states came back to New York for the last few months of the government under the first Constitution, the Articles of Confederation.

There was much haggling that summer over whether Congress should admit Kentucky as a state or leave that issue to the new government. They debated incessantly over the seat of the First Congress, a question left for the new federal Congress itself to resolve.

They even debated whether another constitutional convention should be called to address the question of a bill of rights and other amendments, with both New York and Virginia calling for such a convention.

On July 2, 1788, Congress received the momentous news that New Hampshire had just become the ninth state to ratify the new Constitution, making it the law of the land.

Congress responded by appointing a committee to schedule the first federal elections and fix the date when the new government would begin operation in New York City. This was the last major act of the Continental Congress.

James Madison, George Washington, and other Federalists resolved to win the first federal elections to ensure that their vision of the new Constitution would have a fighting chance to succeed.

George Washington hoped the First Congress would find a way to deal with the proposed constitutional amendments “without overturning the whole system.” He concluded: “I earnestly pray that the Omnipotent Being who hath not deserted the cause of America in the hour of its extremest hazard, will never yield so fair a heritage of freedom a prey to anarchy or despotism.”

Only thirteen House members, representing five of the eleven states that had ratified the Constitution by March 4, showed up for the opening session. The Senate, too, failed to achieve a quorum. Both bodies adjourned in less than an hour, and the guns sounded again and the crowds cheered again, but the members themselves were disappointed in the anticlimax of their first day under the new Constitution.

What Does the Constitution Say?

The Constitution of the United States contains a preamble and seven articles that describe the way the government is structured and how it operates.

The preamble sets the stage for the Constitution. It clearly communicates the intentions of the framers and the purpose of the document. The preamble is an introduction to the highest law of the land; it is not the law. It does not define government powers or individual rights.

Establish Justice is the first of five objectives outlined in the 52-word paragraph that the Framers drafted in six weeks during the hot Philadelphia summer of 1787. They found a way to agree on the following basic principles:

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

The first three articles establish the three branches of government and their powers: Legislative (Congress), Executive (office of the President,) and Judicial (Federal court system). A system of checks and balances prevents any one of these separate powers from becoming dominant.

Article I assigns the responsibility for making laws to the Legislative Branch (Congress). Congress is divided into two parts, or “Houses,” the House of Representatives and the Senate. The bicameral Congress was a compromise between the large states, which wanted representation based on population, and the small ones, which wanted the states to have equal representation.

Article II details the Executive Branch and the offices of the President and Vice President. It lays down rules for electing the President (through the Electoral College), eligibility (must be a natural-born citizen at least 35 years old), and term length. The 12th and 25th Amendments modified some of these rules.

Article III establishes the Judicial Branch with the U.S. Supreme Court as the federal court system’s highest court. It specifies that Federal judges be appointed for life unless they commit a serious crime. This article is shorter than Articles I and II. The Federal Convention left much of the work of planning the court system to the First Congress. The 1789 Judiciary Act created the three-tiered court system in place today.

Articles four through seven describe the relationship of the states to the Federal Government, establish the Constitution as the supreme law of the land, and define the amendment and ratification processes.

Article IV outlines states’ powers in relationship to each other. States have the authority to create and enforce their own laws but must respect and help enforce the laws of other states. Congress may pass Federal laws regarding how states honor other states’ laws and records.

Article V explains the amendment process, which is different and more difficult than the process for making laws. When two-thirds of the Senate and two-thirds of the House of Representatives vote to change the Constitution, an amendment goes to the state legislatures for a vote. Alternatively, two-thirds of the state legislatures can submit an application to Congress, and then Congress calls a national convention at which states propose amendments. Three-fourths of the state legislatures or state conventions must vote in favor of an amendment to ratify it.

Article VI states that Federal law is supreme, or higher than, state and local laws. This means that if a state law conflicts with a Federal law, Federal law takes precedence.

Article VII describes the ratification process for the Constitution. It called for special state ratifying conventions. Nine states were required to enact the Constitution. Rhode Island became the 13th state to ratify the Constitution in 1790.

To date, the Constitution has been amended 27 times, most recently in 1992.

Click the following link to a general summary about the US Constitution:

Click to access US-Constitution.pdf

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250 Years Ago … ‘United Colonies’ Becomes the ‘United States of America’

On September 9, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted a new name for what had been called the “United Colonies.” The name “United States of America” has remained since then as a symbol of freedom and independence.

Benjamin Franklin popularized the concept of a political union with his May 9, 1754 warning in the Pennsylvania Gazette to the British colonies in America to ‘Join or Die’, exhorting them to unite against the French and the Indians, showing a segmented snake, “S.C., N.C., V., M., P., N.J., N.Y., [and] N.E.”

The “Snake Cartoon,” which appeared in the Gazette directly below the article, has usually been considered the first American political cartoon.

Thomas Jefferson is credited as being the first person to come up with the name (United States), which he used while drafting the Declaration of Independence. In June 1776, Jefferson’s draft version of the Declaration started with the following sentence: “A Declaration of the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress assembled.”

The final version of the Declaration starts with the date July 4, 1776 and the following statement: “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.”

Richard Henry Lee of Virginia had used the name “United Colonies” in a June resolution to Congress; he wrote, “Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.”

These thoughts are included in the Declaration’s final paragraph,

“We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.”

Also, the words “United States of America” appeared in the first draft of the Articles of Confederation on July 8, 1776, as it was submitted to Congress. The Articles weren’t ratified by the states until March 1781.

The United Colonies Become the United States … on Monday, September 9, 1776, the Continental Congress moved to approve some important resolutions. John Adams notes in his Diary on that day,

Resolved, that in all Continental Commissions, and other Instruments where heretofore the Words, ‘United Colonies,’ have been used, the Stile be altered for the future to the United States.

“The abbreviation ‘U. S. A.’ had its beginning in poor quality gun-powder.

“Every caskful manufactured or purchased was to be examined and none received into the public magazines for the use of the United States of America but such as has been approved by the public inspector as to its quickness in firing, strength, dryness and other necessary qualities.”

“The inspector was to mark each cask so approved with the letters ‘U. S. A.’ and such other marks as were necessary to distinguish the several sorts of powder. Robert Towers was elected by Congress the first inspector of gunpowder.”

“This was the first official determination to use a distinguishing mark or brand …. this convenient and unmistakable letter triad was not settled upon. Instead, however, the Congress went back to the full words ‘United States.’”

Click to access United-Colonies-Become-the-United-States-of-America-SAR-RT.pdf

Click to access United-Colonies-Become-the-United-States-of-America.pdf

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About 250 Years Ago … First Continental Congress

In 1774, the British Parliament passed a series of laws collectively known as the Intolerable Acts, with the intent to suppress unrest in colonial Boston by closing the port and placing it under martial law. In response, colonial protestors led by a group called the Sons of Liberty issued a call for a boycott.

Merchant communities were reluctant to participate in such a boycott unless there were mutually agreed upon terms and a means to enforce the boycott’s provisions.

Across North America, colonists rose in solidarity with the people of Massachusetts. Goods arrived in Massachusetts from as far south as Georgia, and by late spring 1774, nine of the colonies called for a continental congress. Virginia’s Committee of Correspondence is largely credited with originating the invitation.  The colony of Connecticut was the first to respond.

Colonial legislatures empowered delegates to attend a Continental Congress which would set terms for a boycott.  The colonies elected delegates to the First Continental Congress in various ways.  Some delegates were elected through their respective colonial legislatures or committees of correspondence.

The Congress first convened in Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 5, 1774, with delegates from each of the 13 colonies except Georgia.   (Georgia was facing a war with neighboring Native American tribes and the colony did not want to jeopardize British assistance.)

As delegates pondered the fate of Massachusetts, Joseph Warren and a committee of men from Suffolk County, Massachusetts, formulate a plan of resistance. Proposed on September 9, 1774 and, speaking with one voice, the delegates unanimously endorse the document on September 17, their first official act.

This plan encouraged Massachusetts to protest the Intolerable Acts by stockpiling military supplies, operating an independent government, boycotting British goods, and announcing no allegiance to Britain and a king who failed to consider the wishes of the colonists.

Reaction to these Resolves was mixed. While some supported such a bold proposal and felt it was an appropriate reaction to the British, others feared it would cause war.

Debate was later stalled for weeks while a statement of American rights was debated at length. Producing this statement required answering constitutional questions that had been asked for over a century.

The hardest constitutional question surrounded Britain’s right to regulate trade. Joseph Galloway, a conservative delegate from Pennsylvania, insisted on releasing a statement clarifying Britain’s right to regulate trade in the American colonies. However, other delegates were opposed to giving Britain explicit rights to colonial trade.

During this debate, Galloway introduced A Plan of Union between the American Colonies and Britain. The Plan of Union called for the creation of a Colonial Parliament that would work hand-in-hand with the British Parliament. The British monarch would appoint a President General and the colonial assemblies would appoint delegates for a three-year term. Galloway’s plan was defeated in a 6-5 vote.

On October 14, 1774, the First Continental Congress adopted their Declaration and Resolves.  This stated the group’s objections to the Coercive Acts, listed the rights of the colonists, and itemized objections to British rule beyond the Intolerable Acts.

The list of rights insisted that Colonists were “entitled to life, liberty, and property” and “that foundation of English liberty, and of all free government, is a right in the people to participate in their legislative council;”

Furthermore, the delegates promptly began drafting and discussing the Continental Association. This would become their most important policy outcome.  The Continental Association, adopted October 20, 1774, reaffirmed the Colonists’ British connections and allegiance to the King,

The Association called for an end to British imports starting in December 1774 and an end to exporting goods to Britain in September 1775. This policy would be enforced by local and colony-wide committees of inspection.

These committees would check ships that arrived in ports, force colonists to sign documents pledging loyalty to the Continental Association, and suppress mob violence. The committees of inspection even enforced frugality, going so far as to end lavish funeral services and parties. Many colonial leaders hoped these efforts would bond the colonies together economically.

Virginia secured the Continental Association’s delay in ending exports to Britain. Before the Continental Congress, Virginia had passed its own association that delayed ending exports to avoid hurting farmers with a sudden change in policy. The delegates from Virginia showed up to the Continental Congress united, and refused to waiver on the issue of delaying the ban on exports to Britain.

The idea of using non-importation as leverage was neither new nor unexpected. Prior to the Continental Congress, eight colonies had already endorsed the measure and merchants had been warned against placing any orders with Britain, as a ban on importation was likely to pass.

Some colonies had already created their own associations to ban importation and, in some cases, exportation. The Virginia Association had passed at the Virginia Convention with George Washington in attendance.

Washington’s support of using non-importation as leverage against the British can be traced back as far as 1769 in letters between him and George Mason. When the colonies first started publicly supporting non-importation, Bryan Fairfax, a longtime friend of Washington’s, wrote to him urging him to not support the Continental Association and to instead petition Parliament.

Many delegates felt that using the Continental Association as leverage would be impractical without explicit demands and a plan of redress. However, Congress struggled to come up with a list of rights, grievances, and demands.

Furthermore, to only repeal laws that were unfavorable to the delegates without a list of rights would be a temporary fix to the larger issue of continued British abuse. To address these issues, Congress formed a Grand Committee.

Finally, at the end of the First Continental Congress, the delegates adopted a Petition addressed to “The King’s Most Excellent Majesty” on October 26, 1774.  In noted, in part,

“Your majesty, we are confident, justly rejoices, that your title to the crown is thus founded on the title of your people to liberty; and therefore we doubt not but your royal wisdom must approve the sensibility that teaches your subjects anxiously to guard the blessing they received from divine providence, and thereby to prove the performance of that compact which elevated the illustrious house of Brunswick to the imperial dignity it now possesses. …”

“By giving this faithful information we do all in our power to promote the great objects of your royal cares, the tranquillity of your government and the welfare of your people. …”

“Yielding to no British subjects, in affectionate attachment to your majesty’s person, family, and government, we too dearly prize that privilege of expressing that attachment, by those proofs which are honourable to the prince who receives them, and to the people who give them, ever to resign it to any body of men upon earth. …”

“We ask but for peace, liberty and safety. We wish not a diminution of the prerogative, nor do we solicit the grant of any new right in our favour. Your royal authority over us and our connection with Great-Britain, we shall always carefully and zealously endeavour to support and maintain. …”

“We therefore most earnestly beseech your majesty, that your royal authority and interposition may be used for our relief, and that a gracious answer may be given to this petition.”

Many delegates were skeptical about changing the king’s attitude towards the colonies, but believed that every opportunity should be exhausted to de-escalate the conflict before taking more radical action.

They did not draft such a letter to the British Parliament as the colonists viewed the Parliament as the aggressor behind the recent Intolerable Acts. Not fully expecting the standoff in Massachusetts to explode into full-scale war, the Congress agreed to reconvene in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775.

By the time Congress met again, war was already underway, and thus the delegates to the Second Continental Congress formed the Continental Army and dispatched George Washington to Massachusetts as its commander.

Click the following link to a general summary about the First Continental Congress:

Click to access First-Continental-Congress-SAR-RT.pdf

Click to access First-Continental-Congress.pdf

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About 250 Years Ago … Peace of Paris

The 1781 U.S. victory at the Battle of Yorktown made peace talks where British negotiators were willing to consider U.S. independence a possibility.

After Yorktown, the Continental Congress appointed a small group of statesmen to travel to Europe and negotiate a peace treaty with the British: John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson and Henry Laurens.

Jefferson, however, was not able to leave the United States for the negotiations, and Laurens had been captured by a British warship and held captive in the Tower of London until the end of the war, so the principal American negotiators were Franklin, Adams and Jay.

Franklin, who served as America’s first ambassador to France, had been in Paris since the start of the Revolution and was instrumental in securing French assistance during the war. Peace negotiations between British and American diplomats began there in the spring of 1782 and continued into the fall.

Eighteenth-century British parliamentary governments tended to be unstable and depended on both a majority in the House of Commons and the good favor of the King. Thus, when news of Yorktown reached London, the parliamentary opposition succeeded in overthrowing the embattled government led by Frederick North, Lord North.

However, the new government, led by Charles Watson-Wentworth, Marquess of Rockingham, was not much more stable than the previous one. The strong personalities of its ministers led to internal conflicts between them and King George III.

Rockingham died in July of 1782, and he was succeeded by William Petty Fitzmaurice, Earl of Shelburne. Lord Shelburne’s government wanted to seek peace, but hoped to avoid recognizing U.S. independence.

However, the war had been expensive, and Britain faced a formidable alliance, fighting the combined forces of France, Spain, and the Netherlands, in addition to the rebellious colonists.

Shelburne and other British diplomats had pursued a strategy of trying to drive the alliance apart by entering negotiations for a separate peace with France’s allies.

Although such efforts failed with the Netherlands, US negotiators were receptive to the idea of separate negotiations, because they saw in such negotiations the clearest path to ensuring recognition of US independence in a final peace settlement. The French Foreign Minister, Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes, approved of separate negotiations, though not of a separate peace.

In the meantime, Anglo-American negotiations had been stalled, owing to internal conflicts in the British government and British refusal to recognize U.S. independence as part of the peace settlement.

In July of 1782, Lord Shelburne gave in on the issue of independence, hoping that a generous peace settlement with the United States would bring peace with France, the Netherlands, and Spain. However, John Jay objected to British refusal to acknowledge the United States as already independent during peace negotiations, so the negotiations halted until the fall.

Anglo-American negotiations entered their final stage in October and November of 1782. The United States succeeded in obtaining Newfoundland fishing rights, a western border that extended to the Mississippi with rights of navigation (which the Spanish government would later prevent) and, most importantly, British acknowledgement of U.S. independence along with the peaceful withdrawal of British forces.

In return for these concessions, the agreement contained provisions requiring the U.S. to honor private debts and ensure an end to the seizure of Loyalist property. U.S. negotiators John Jay, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Henry Laurens signed a preliminary agreement with British representative Richard Oswald on November 30, 1782. The agreement would remain informal until the conclusion of a peace agreement between Britain and France.

The Peace of Paris is a collection of treaties concluding the American Revolution and signed by representatives of Great Britain on one side and the United States, France, and Spain on the other.

Preliminary articles (often called the Preliminary Treaty of Paris) were signed at Paris between Britain and the United States on November 30, 1782.

On September 3, 1783, three definitive treaties were signed

  • Treaty of Paris – between Britain and the United States in Paris
  • Treaty of Versailles – between Britain and France and Spain, respectively
  • Treaty of Paris – between Britain and the Netherlands (Dutch Republic) (a preliminary treaty on September 2, 1783, and a final separate peace on May 20, 1784)

Click the following link to a general summary about the Peace of Paris:

Click to access Peace-of-Paris.pdf

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250 Years Ago … Battle of Brooklyn

The Battle of Brooklyn was the first major conflict to take place after the Second Continental Congress declared independence from Great Britain and, in terms of troop deployment, it was the largest battle to take place during the entire Revolutionary War.

On August 27, 1776, twenty thousand British soldiers fought 12,000 American colonists for control of the Port of New York, which the British secured, and ultimately maintained, throughout the war.

After George Washington’s momentous victory in the siege of Boston earlier that year, his defeat at Brooklyn was a blow to his confidence and that of his regulars.

The British took New York City and Long Island from the Continental Army through a successfully executed sneak attack, forcing Washington and his men to escape in the dead of night on August 29, when a thick fog descended on the area surrounding the East River.

Many counted this fortuitous weather event as an act of divine assistance, upon which the Continental Army relied for the remainder of the war.

Information here is from the White House – Founders Museum

https://www.whitehouse.gov/america250/founders-museum