Constitution Minutes 2010-2011

CONSTITUTION MINUTES 2010‐2011

Constitution Week, September 17‐23, commemorates the signing of the Constitution of the United States. The first plan of national government the United States had was called Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, quickly shortened to the Articles of Confederation by most people. The Confederation was a loosely joined group of states that gives only limited powers to the central government. The Articles were drawn up in 1777 and went out of existence when the Constitution was adopted in 1789.

A primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty more pressing than communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of our country? – George Washington

Learn about the history of the writing of the Constitution. The writing of the Constitution was difficult. The opposing ideas were eventually settled by compromise. One compromise was known as “The Great Compromise”, which we authored by Connecticut delegate Roger Sherman. The large states wanted representation based on population and the small states wanted equal representation so the compromise was to have give Congress two houses. The House of Representatives has representation by population and the Senate has equal representation.

Reflect on the different ideas of the time that the Constitution was being written and ratified. Groups of people wrote against the ideas of others and tried to persuade the people to come around to their way of thinking. Among the best known of these documents for ratification are The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. Richard Henry Lee wrote against ratification in the Lee’s Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican. These two opposing groups later became the foundation from which our two political parties formed, the Federalist and the Republicans.

Learn of the difficulties in the process of getting the new Constitution ratified in the late 1700’s. The writers of the Constitution thought they would be able to get all the citizens to ratify it, but due to the difficulty of communicating and traveling it was decided to set up constitutional conventions and have delegates. It still was not until July 2, 1788 that the required ten states had ratified and it went into effect on March 4, 1789. In 1790 all thirteen states had accepted the Constitution as the highest law of the United States.

George Washington was elected the first President of the United States and during his terms many of the powers of the Constitution were exercised. President Washington’s term included the establishment of the First Bank of the United States, ten amendments were added to the Constitution, Vermont, Kentucky and Tennessee were added to the Union and the popular vote fell into two political parties, the Federalist and the Republicans.

Of the forty two delegates who attended most of the Constitutional Convention, thirty nine actually signed. Edmund Randolph and George Mason of Virginia and Eldridge Gerry of Massachusetts refused to sign due in part to the lack of the Bill of Rights. Patrick Henry, an elected delegate, would not even attend the Constitutional Convention because he ”smelt a rat”.

A proclamation issued by George Washington and a congressional resolution established the first national Thanksgiving Day on November 26, 1789. The reason for the holiday was to give “thanks” for the new Constitution.

Madison was responsible for proposing the resolution to create the various Cabinet positions within the Executive Branch of our government and twelve amendments to the Constitution, of which ten became the Bill of Rights. He also proposed that congressional pay be determined by the average price of wheat during the previous six years of a congressional session!

At the time of the ratification of the Constitution, the population of the United States was only 4 million. Today the population exceeds 300 million. From the time of it’s signing the Constitution has only changed 27 times which includes the first ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights. There are two ways to amend the Constitution, which are outlined in Article V. There has been more than 10,000 amendments proposed in Congress since 1789, but fewer than one percent have received enough support to go through the constitutional ratification process.