DAR lays wreath at tomb
Group marks Constitution Week
STILLWATER, N.Y. » Local Daughters of the American Revolution members took part in a recent ceremonial wreathlaying at Saratoga National Historical Park to mark Constitution Week, which is observed from Sept. 17-23.
The event was held at the park’s DAR monument for the unknown American soldiers who perished during the Battles of Saratoga on Sept. 19 and Oct 7, 1777.
“Our Constitution has endured longer than any other constitution in the world,” a national DAR spokesperson said. “Imagine being in Philadelphia that long, hot summer in 1787. Citizens of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania see the many influential men arriving in their city from all over the 13 states. Retired General George Washington’s arrival is celebrated with cheering, church bells ringing and a thirteen-gun salute. What will the citizens of the young nation have for governing and laws when they are done with the Constitutional Convention?”
The convention began on May 14, 1787. Debates were held in secret, behind locked doors guarded by sentries. Even the windows were closed.
Fifty-five of the 70 state delegates attended. George Washington, a delegate from Virginia, was elected unanimously as Constitutional Convention president.
Virginia delegate James Madison, known as the “Father of the Constitution,” wrote The Virginia Plan. He was the driving force behind the convention.
The first two months saw angry arguments over The Virginia Plan by The Committee of the Whole.
The Virginia Plan’s 15 resolutions expanded the debate to incorporate what method of structure and authority the national government should have to administer laws. It is the first test to create a separation of controls into an executive, legislative and judicial branch.
The Virginia Plan also recommended that the legislative branch should be comprised of two houses. In the two houses, each state will be represented in proportion to its population. States with a large population will have more representatives than smaller states.
The larger states approved this notion, but the smaller states did not.
The New Jersey Plan, written by New Jersey delegate William Paterson, proposed a single chamber legislature in which each state, regardless of size, would have one vote, like the Articles of Confederation. The delegates found this plan unacceptable, too.
Then Connecticut dele-
gate Roger Sherman proposed “The Great Compromise.” He said each state be equally represented with a creation of two houses.
The first, the House of Representatives, would have representation according to population, and the second house, the Senate, would have an equal number of representatives regardless of population (two per state).
Pennsylvania delegate James Wilson proposed the idea of an individual for the executive branch with direct election by the citizens. The individual would have absolute veto powers over the legislation passed by the two houses.
Some delegates feared the veto power and called for election of the individual chief executive by Congress. The final compromise said the president would have limited veto powers and be elected by the people, through establishment of the electoral college.
On July 24, the Committee of Detail was authorized to carry out the writing of a Constitution draft. The convention adjourned from July 24 to August 6. For 13 days, a committee comprised of Edmund Randolph, Oliver Ellsworth, James Wilson, and Nathan Gorham worked with Chairman John Rutledge, referencing state constitutions, the Articles of Confederation, plans submitted to the convention, and other relevant material.
The Declaration of Independence was also used as an important model for its outline of ideals of self-government and fundamental human rights.
On Aug. 6, the convention reconvened. The Committee of Detail presented approximately 60 copies of its work to the delegates. These copies were used by the delegates as they worked through each clause to create a final constitution.
The Preamble, written by Gouverneur Morris, was added to the Constitution as its opening during the last days of the convention by the Committee on Style, which wrote the final draft. It was not proposed or discussed on the floor of the convention beforehand.
The final draft was done, ready for ratification, and the signatures of the delegates. However, not all the convention delegates signed the new Constitution.
Virginia delegate George Mason authored the Virginia Bill of Rights. Mason refused to sign the Constitution because he was very concerned about the power given to the federal government and the delegates’ refusal to end the slave trade.
Mason said, “I would sooner chop off my right hand” than sign a Constitution without a Bill of Rights. Mason’s need to have the rights and freedoms of the country’s citizens precisely detailed was eventually preserved in the first 10 amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
Virginia delegate Patrick Henry and New York delegate George Clinton also refused to sign and are called “Anti-Federalists.” They preferred the reorganized nature of the Articles of Confederation as a check on the power of the central government.
Others express reservations, but 34 still signed, anticipating vigorous debates within their states. The five signatories who signed the Constitution, but did not serve in the Continental Congress were Richard Bassett of Delaware, Jacob Broom of Delaware, John Blair of Virginia, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina, and David Brearley of New Jersey.
On Sept. 17, 1787, the Constitution was ratified and signed, on the 10th anni- versary of the First Battle of Saratoga.
By June 1788, the necessary nine states ratified the Constitution as law of the land, and the Continental Congress announced that the new government would begin in March 1789.
James Madison, a newly elected member of the U.S. House of Representatives, presented 19 amendments to the Constitution. On Sept. 25, 1789, Congress adopted 12 of the amendments and sent them to the states for ratification. The first 10 amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified and became part of the Constitution on Dec. 10, 1791.
Today there are 27 amendments. The 17 amendments that followed The Bill of Rights were added from 1798 to 1992.
The framers of the Constitution knew that no document could include all the changes that would take place to guarantee its longevity, a news release said. The process isn’t easy. After a proposed amendment makes it through Congress, it must be ratified by threefourths of the states.
The framers knew it wasn’t a perfect document. However, as Benjamin Franklin said on the closing day of the convention in 1787: “I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such, because I think a central government is necessary for us… I doubt too whether any other convention we can obtain may be able to make a better