Throughout the debate over ratifying the newly proposed Constitution of 1787, thousands of speeches were given in a variety of forums. Speeches were delivered in the Constitutional Convention, the Confederation Congress, legislative assemblies (by governors and legislators), state ratifying conventions, public meetings, debating societies, and even in churches. In some cases, notes of speeches survive …
Recently the National Archives announced a new exhibit that will display the four pages of the Constitution, the additional page with two resolutions of the Constitutional Convention providing the procedure for the ratification and implementation of the Constitution, and the 27 amendments to the Constitution. Inexplicably, however, the exhibit that commemorates Constitution Day (17 September) …
In July 1788, Mathew Carey, a twenty-eight-year-old Irish immigrant living in Philadelphia, looked back over the past year which had been eventful for both Carey and his adopted country. In 1787 a Convention of delegates from twelve of the country’s thirteen states proposed a new form of government that the American people debated for over …
The 1787 Constitutional Convention has been consistently praised. Four of the fifty-five delegates who attended have been particularly honored for their noteworthy contributions—George Washington, James Madison, James Wilson, and Gouverneur Morris. The motivation of the three non-signers—Elbridge Gerry, Edmund Randolph, and George Mason—has been repeatedly analyzed. Understandably, however, little attention has been devoted to those …
Benjamin Franklin was one of the most important delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention. Because he brought no new ideas to the Convention and did not deliver remarks that changed the course of the Convention’s proceedings, his importance was largely symbolic. In 1787, Franklin and George Washington were venerated as the two greatest living Americans—the …
In 1787, about ninety percent of the population of the United States was engaged in agriculture. After the Revolution, many of these people, particularly those in the backcountry, struggled to pay their taxes and debts. Sheriffs seized private property and imprisoned debtors who failed to meet the demands of their creditors. Most states had insolvency …
As a 24-year-old graduate student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison I had a quarter-time appointment working as a project assistant for my major professor, Merrill Jensen, who was then editing the Documentary History of the First Federal Elections. (This four-volumes series was published between 1976 and 1989.) I had come to the UW with a …
During the Revolutionary and Founding eras many Americans increasingly abandoned traditional Christianity, embracing beliefs that could be described as either Unitarian or Deist. Many of these converts publicly maintained their original religious affiliations, attempting to avoid the harsh censures that prominent deists like Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson regularly received. Deists rejected the …
How can anyone truly capture the power of Patrick Henry before a live audience? In truth, it’s nearly impossible.
Changing Course: The Three Non-Signers of the Constitution Of the delegates present on the final day of the Constitutional Convention on 17 September 1787, only three refused to sign the Constitution—Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts and George Mason and Edmund Randolph of Virginia. Ironically, all three had come to Philadelphia as staunch advocates for a substantially …