Saturday, September 17 is Constitution Day, a celebration of what is widely recognized as the greatest achievement in self-governance yet conceived by the human mind. While many people believe the U.S. Constitution is “inspired,” in much the same way that religious scripture is said to be “inspired,” the inspiration was not carved by lightning in tablets of stone, it came in fits and starts, over several years of bitter struggle.
The Second Continental Congress convened May 10, 1775, after King George III refused to honor the Declaration of Rights and Grievances adopted by the First Continental Congress. a month earlier, British troops had descended on Concord, Massachusetts to confiscate “guns and powder” from the colonists. The “shot heard around the world” resulted in the first battle of the Revolutionary War.
The next week, in preparation for the Second Continental Congress, the Virginia Provincial Council met to decide what position Virginia’s delegates would take. Here, Patrick Henry delivered his now famous speech that concluded:
“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"
amid cries of “treason, treason,” Henry’s motion to arm a militia carried, 65 to 60. Henry was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, where John adams said of him:
"There was but one man in Congress, Patrick Henry, who appeared to me to have the sense of the precipice of the danger upon which we stood, and had the courage and the ability to address it."
For more than a year, the delegates debated the idea of independence. Finally, in June of 1776, a committee consisting of: John adams, Ben Franklin, Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman, and Thomas Jefferson, was appointed to draft a Declaration of Independence. The men who signed the Declaration July 4, 1776, knew that their action would result in war, and an era of uncertainty.
a week after the signing, John Dickinson proposed The articles of Confederation (www.usconstitution.net/articles.html), which included a strong central government.
The articles were debated and revised for another year, which resulted in removing most of the power of the central government, before being submitted to the States for ratification in November of 1777. The States debated the articles for another four years, before the final ratification by Maryland occurred, on March 1, 1781. The war dragged on for another two years, until the Treaty of Paris was signed September 3, 1783.
Not everyone in the United States shared Patrick Henry’s zeal for freedom. Nor did they all support the Declaration of Independence or the articles of Confederation. From a population of only about 2.5 million, as many as 100,000 “Loyalists” fled to Canada, between 1775 and 1780. as many as 30,000 slaves escaped to join with the British army, on the promise of being freed after the war. Still other loyalists stayed in the U.S. and aided the British troops in a variety of ways.
The war claimed 4,435 american lives, and wounded another 6,188. These people died to win the right to form their own government, and live is they chose to live, rather than to be subjects of an omnipotent king. Neither victory on the battlefield, nor the ratification of the articles of Confederation, guaranteed the freedom for which they fought.
The new government of the United States guaranteed sovereignty for each of the 13 States. The government consisted of one legislative body - the Congress - in which each State had one vote. There was no executive branch, no judicial branch. Nine votes were required to adopt laws, and amendments to the articles required all 13 votes.
On paper, the new government was empowered to set up a postal department, to estimate the costs of the government and request donations from the States, to raise armed forces, and to control the development of the western territories, coin, borrow, or appropriate money, as well as declare war and enter into treaties and alliances with foreign nations. Nothing in the articles, however, empowered the Congress to enforce any of its powers.
States that did not agree with a law adopted by Congress could, and often did, ignore the law. States withheld payment requests made by the new government, and, when unhappy with the trade agreements made with other nations, began to negotiate their own separate agreements. Some States began to impose tariffs on other States’ commerce. By 1787, it was clear to many that the new government was inadequate.
On February 21, 1787, by a vote of 14 to 10, Congress authorized a Constitutional Convention to assemble in Philadelphia in May, to “revise” the articles of Confederation.
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