The Constitution of the Untied States Part 4: "The Legislative Branch Sections 6-10"

In outlining Article I of the Constitution, Sections 1-5 were covered in part three of this series.
This series is designed to be read in order, so if you are just finding this blog, I ask that you read the first three parts before reading part four.

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: "We The People..."
Part 3: "The Legislative Branch Sections 1-5"

If you are a history nerd like me, you can go all the way back and read my five-part series on the Declaration of Independence:

Part 1: "When in the Course of human events..."

Part 2: "We hold these truths to be self-evident"

Part 3: Charges against the King

Part 4: The Government has failed

Part 5: Free and Independent

Now let's continue with sections 6-10 of Article One.

Section Six: Compensatoin/Arrest/Emoluments

First, let's take a look at the actual text from the constitution:

The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place. 

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.

Pay 

The first paragraph states two things. First, members of Congress will be paid for their services according to the law. That means that congress votes for their own pay raise! That was modified by the 27th Amendment so that any pay raises that were voted on by congress would not take effect until the next election has taken place. Therefore, a member of congress is voting for the pay raises of the next people in the office. It might be them, or it might be their successor.

Free from Arrest

Second, it states that a member of Congress can't be arrested for things they might say or do in their job as a Congressperson unless it is an extreme breach of duty (Treason, Felony, etc.). This is put in place to allow for rigorous debate and prevent the legislative branch from being bullied by the executive branch for debating things they do not agree with. This does not mean that a congressperson is exempt from the law, it does mean they can argue and debate freely.

Emoluments

The second paragraph of Section six states that an elected official may not hold any other position within the government. It also says that if a congressperson takes part in a vote for a new position in government, they may not leave their elected position to take the newly minted position. This was put in place to try and curb corruption.

Section Seven: Passing Bills

Section seven talked about how a bill moves through Congress to become a law.
Do you remember School House Rock: I'm just a Bill?  They nailed it.

Section seven is broken into three parts.

Part one states the following: 

All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.

This is interesting because if you remember from Part three, Representatives are elected every two years, so they are more likely to take into account their constituent's wants and needs when spending
taxpayer money.

The Path of a Bill

The second part of Section seven talk about how a bill moves through Congress.  Here are the main points. Every bill that passes the House and the Senate shall be presented to the President of the United States.  It then has a few paths it can take.

1) If the President approves, they can sign it and it becomes law. If there is high-quality communication between the legislative branch and the President, then this will be what happens. The House and Senate typically won't put a bill on the President's desk if they know they won't sign it.

2) If the President does not approve, they will VETO it and return it to the house in which it started and they will enter the issues into their journal. They will consider the President's objections and re-work the bill and attempt to put it in front of the President again.

3) If a bill sits on the President's desk and he chooses not to sign it and chooses not to veto it, after 10 days it will become law. Why would a President do this? It gives the President some flexibility. It allowed a bill to become law without having the President's name on it. 

There is another way that a bill will NOT become law. If the bill sits on the President's desk for 10 days and he did not veto and did not approve, but Congress is adjourned: Then the bill dies and must be taken up again when Congress assembles.

The third part of Section Seven gives instructions for passing a bill that the President has vetoed.

If Congress can pass the original bill with 2/3 votes in each house, it will become law even though the President does not approve. This is called a "Veto Override" and is rare. 

Section Eight: Taxes and Money

Section eight gives Congress the authority to raise taxes and gives out guidance on what they are allowed to spend tax money on.  Here is the first paragraph of Section eight:

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

We see some of the same languages that we saw in the  Preamble in that the taxes collected will be used for debts, common defense, and general welfare. It also lays out that taxes will be equal across the States. The Federal government can't tax Florida at a higher rate than it taxes Montana. States have their own individual tax laws for how the State collects money.

The rest of Section eight lays out the other things that Congress is allowed to do. 

The list is pretty extensive, so I will hit the high points, but I encourage you to view the entire section, available in the resources listed below.

- Borrow money.
- Regulate trade between other countries, between the states, and between Indian tribes.
- Develop rules for Naturalization.
- Print money and provide punishment for printing fake money.
- Establish a post office.
- Promote the progress of science and useful arts. (I wonder what the definition of "useful" is!)
- Set up federal courts that are subordinate to the Supreme Court.
- Punish Pirates and other offenses committed not he high Seas.
- Declare war.
- Raise and support an Army and Navy as well as make the rules for governing them.
- Call up the Militia to execute laws, quell an uprising, or repel a foreign invasion.
- Provide a system for States to man, equip, and train their own Militias.
- Allow the Federal government to buy land to set up government buildings, forts, docks, etc.

Section eight concludes with what is referred to as the "elastic clause" meaning that it gives Congress the ability to stretch and flex to meet the needs and wants of the Country by making laws that are "necessary and proper."

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Section Nine: Limitations

Section eight laid out what Congress was allowed to do. Section nine lays out what Congress is not allowed to do. Section nine starts out with a bang.

The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.

In simple terms, Section nine, clause one protects the slave trade.
Several states had already outlawed trading slaves within their state boundaries, and Southern states were worried that because Congress would have the power to control trade, that they would end the slave trade altogether, crippling their economies. Charles Pickney of South Carolina said, "South Carolina and Georgia cannot do without slaves."  Both states threaten to leave the Convention over the matter. To keep things moving, the slave trade was protected for 20 years, after which the slave trade would be forbidden.

The founding fathers were very concerned about the Federal government becoming too powerful, so the rest of Section nine places other limitations on congress. Again, I will summarize.

- Habeas Corpus: Will not prevent a prisoner from bringing their case in front of the court except for extreme circumstances.
- Ex Post Facto: No bill can be enforced before its passage. If a law is passed that you can not wear a blue hat on Thursday, no one can be punished if they wore a blue hat on Tuesday.
- Taxes: Can not be collected unfairly, and all spending must be documented.
- People in Office: Can not have titles of nobility, can't accept gifts, bribes, jobs, etc. from any foreign country. This is an attempt to keep foreign countries from meddling in U.S. affairs.

Section Ten: Limiting the States

Section ten is addressing some of the issues exposed in the Articles of Confederation. If you
remember from part one of the series, the Articles of Confederation provided a very weak central government, a reaction from the founders who remembered the brutality of King George III.  With that in mind, the limitation on the states is minimal. Again, the founders trying to maintain the delicate balance of a strong central government and state sovereignty. Here is Section ten in its entirety:

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility. 

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress. 

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

In summary, states are NOT allowed to do the following:
- Make treaties.
- Print their own money, or make their own form of money.
- Punish people without a trial (Attainder) or before the law being passed (ex post facto).
- Interfere with private contracts
- Give titles of Nobility. That means I'll never be the "KING OF KINGSFORD!"
- Charge import/export taxes except to pay for inspections.
- States aren't allowed to make preparation for war or engage in war unless they are invaded and Congress doesn't know yet. Remember the communication systems at the time.

There it is! Article One of the Constitution!
I hope you have learned something about the greatest political document ever written. The constitution is very complex, yet simple at the same time, balancing the need for specificity with the elasticity of vagueness. It's not perfect, but it does move us toward a, "more perfect union."

Check back next week for Part Five: "The President"

~~~

Here is a link to the U.S. Constitution.

Leave a comment and share this post!

Resources:

Hart, D., Bower, B., & Lobdell, J. (2002). History alive. Palo Alto, CA: Teachers Curriculum Institute.

https://constitutionallawreporter.com/article-01-section-06/

https://constitutionus.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFroMQlKiag

The Constitution of the United States Part 3: "The Legislative Branch Sections 1-5"

Article one of the Constitution covers the Legislative Branch. It is the largest part, but that doesn't mean that the most important. Our founders insisted that we have three co-equal branches of government with each one having a check and balance on the other. However, I believe the legislative branch is the most complex because it encompasses the house of representatives and the senate. We will cover the first five sections in this post.

Article I Section 1: All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

That simply means that only the legislative branch can make laws. The President of the United States can't make laws, the Supreme Court can't make laws, only the legislative branch can.

The Great Compromise
Before we can cover section two (The House of Representatives) and Section three (The Senate), we need to talk about the Great Compromise. Two plans were being debated in terms of how states would be represented.

The Virginia Plan stated that each state should have a certain number of representatives based on their population. Large states (like Virginia, Pennsylvania, etc.) argued that because they had a larger population, they should have more of a say in what the federal government did. The smaller states were not a fan of this, so they made their own plan for representation.

The New Jersey Plan called for each state to have equal representation regardless of population. They argued that without equal representation, smaller states would have no say in what was being done by the federal government.

The Connecticut Plan, also known as "The Great Compromise" blended both plans together into the system we know today. The compromise set the standard for a two-house system with the House of Representatives would represent the people and is filled based on population and the Senate would represent the states and be filled equally by each state.

Section Two: The House of Representatives

Section two covers the House of Representatives. It states that representatives will be chosen every two years. The thought behind this was that they will be more in tune with their constituents because they have to face them for re-election every other year.

To be a representative, you must meet the following criteria:
1) Must be at least 25 years old.
2) Must be a Citizen of the United States for at least seven years.
3) Must be a Citizen of the State they are representing.

Then there is the question of how the population will be counted to determine the number of representatives. The basics:
1) Each state will have one representative for every 30,000 people.
2) Each state will have at least one representative, even if they don't meet the 30,000 thresholds.
3) Until each state can count its citizens, each state lists how many representatives it will have to start:

New Hampshire- 3, Massachusetts- 8, Rhode Island - 1, Connecticut- 5, New York - 6, New Jersey- 4, Pennsylvania- 8, Delaware- 1, Maryland- 6, Virginia- 10, North Carolina- 5, South Carolina- 5, Georgia-3

The 3/5 Compromise

It seems simple, right? Until we realize that this was in the age of slavery. Like free states, slave states wanted as many representatives as they could have, so they proposed that the slaves counted as part of their population when determining how many representatives their state was allotted. 

Free states, wanting to protect their own percentage of representatives, argued that since slaves were sold, traded, and treated as property, they should NOT be counted as part of a slave state population and instead, should be taxed similarly to horses and cattle.

Governor Morris (PA) argued that if the slave states wanted to count slaves as part of their population, then they should, "...make them citizens and let them vote."

Slave states weren't ready for that. Their entire agricultural economy based on slave labor so the compromise was reached to allow each slave to count as 3/5 of a person in terms of population.

Although claiming that a slave was only 3/5 of a person contradicted in the phrase, "All Men are Created Equal" as stated in the Declaration of Independence (Start reading my five-part series on the Declaration of Independence HERE), it seemed the only way to keep the convention together. This compromise, as horrifying as it sounds by 2020 standards, really started to change people's thinking on slavery, leading to Northern states passing anti-slavery laws and eventually leading to the 13th Amendment.

The Rest of Section Two

The rest of section two is pretty lackluster, yet very important. It states that the House of Representatives shall choose the Speaker of the House along with other officers and that the House has the sole Power of Impeachment.

It's important to note the House of Representatives has the power to Impeach, but the Senate has the sole power to try all Impeachments. It's another example of the separation of power.

Section 3: The Senate

Section three outlines the responsibilities, duties, and requirements for the Senate.  It declares that each State is authorized two Senators who will be elected for a term of six years. This is another interesting example of the separation of powers in that Representatives are elected for two years, while senators are elected for a period of six.

The founding fathers were concerned about a massive amount of turnover in the Senate, so the second paragraph in section three states that immediately upon election, Senators will be broken into three groups. Group one will be up for re-election after two years, group two will be up for election after four years, and group three will serve the full six-year term. After that first election, each senator will be elected for a full, six-year term. This grouping sets the Senate up for 1/3 of its members being up for re-election every two years, allowing for some continuity by limiting turnover all at once.

To be a Senator, you must meet the following criteria:
1) Must be at least 30 years old.
2) Must be a Citizen of the United States for at least nine years.
3) Must be a Citizen of the State they are elected from.

Realizing that there will always be an even number of Senators, the founding fathers then added a method of breaking a tie. In another example of separating powers, the Constitution states:

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

That means that if the Senate is split on a vote, the Vice President of the United States will break the tie. The First Vice President of the United States, John Adams broke 29 ties in the Senate. The most tie-breaking votes were conducted by Vice President John C. Calhoun between 3/4/1825 and 12/28/1832 with 31.


Impeachment
The last part of Section three covers the Senat's role in impeachment. The House of Representatives has the sole power of impeachment, but the Senate has the sole power to try all impeachments. Thi of this as, the police will bring charges against a bank robber, but the judge and jury will determine guilt or innocence. It is a complicated issue, so I will stick to the basics:

1) When trying an impeachment, each member will be under Oath.
2) If the President of the United States is being impeached, the Chief Justice will be in charge.
3) To convict a person being impeached, 2/3 of the Senate must vote to convict.
4) The only punishment that can be issued by impeachment is the removal from office and disqualification of holding any other office of honor, trust, or profit.
5) The convicted can be charged with other crimes according to the law.

Section 4: Elections

Section four tasks each state legislature to figure out when and how to hold the elections for their Representatives and Senators. It also states that congress shall assemble at least once per year on the first Monday of December. This was changed to January 3rd by the 20th Amendment. 

The interesting part here is that Congress is only mandated to meet one time throughout the year. Travel arrangements at the time did not allow for constant back and forth from a Congressmen state and Philadelphia and eventually Washington D.C. In today's travel environment, many congressmen and women work in the capital building during the week and fly to their home state for the weekend.

Section 5: Rules and Documentation

When the Constitution refers to, "each house," it means that it applies to both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Section five states the following:

1) Each House will conduct its own votes.
2) Each House will have a majority of its members present to conduct business

3) Each House will make its own rules for conducting business and how it will punish its members.

4) If 2/3 of a House agrees, a member can be expelled.

5) Each House will keep a record of its work.

6) If 1/5 of the members want a roll call vote, it will be taken and the YEAs and NAYs recorded.

7) During a season of congress, neither house can adjourn for more than three days without permission from the other house.

There it is.

The first five sections of Article one.

I know that's A LOT!!  That's why I broke Article one into two posts.
Next week we will cover sections six through ten.

~~~

Here is a link to the U.S. Constitution.

Leave a comment and share this post!

Resources:

Hart, D., Bower, B., & Lobdell, J. (2002). History alive. Palo Alto, CA: Teachers Curriculum Institute.

https://constitutionus.com/

https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/VPTies.pdf

https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/A_Great_Compromise.htm

http://totallyhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/We-the-People-of-the-United-States.jpg

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/looking-in-the-cultural-mirror/201007/the-census-and-race-part-ii-slavery-1790-1860

https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsj.html

The United States Constitution Part 2: "We The People..."

The first three words of the Constitution of the United States are very powerful:

"We The People..."

It's powerful because it starts the document with those responsible for its creation and implementation. It doesn't say, "We the government..." or "We the chosen ones..." It says, "We the people..." Keep that in mind as you read the constitution and live your life. For the United States Citizen, YOU are "the people." Act like it.

The preamble is an introduction to the greatest experiment in self-government that has ever been created, even today. Maybe you learned it on a Saturday morning while listening to, "School House Rock."  I show that clip to 8th graders because I think it does a nice job of laying out all the parts and how they applied in the past and how they apply today. "Today" being 1976 when it was shown on TV. 

Here is the full preamble, which by itself is beautiful, and would guide our founding fathers on their mission of developing the constitution.

"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."

I have already covered, "We the People..." but it is so powerful, I want to bring attention to it again. In that room in Philadelphia, some of the most powerful and brilliant men to ever live were in one spot, developing a government for the masses, and the first thing they want to ensure is that the people are governed by themselves.

The purpose of creating the constitution is clear:

"...in Order to form a more perfect Union..."

Note that the founders are realistic in their mission. They understand that it isn't possible to develop a perfect government, but they can work toward making it, "more perfect" and that premise will continue as we actively seek to make the United States "more perfect" every day.

USHistory.org

That phrase "perfect" would come up again when it was time for Benjamine Franklin to sign. Before he placed pen to the parchment he stated:

"I confess that I do not entirely approve of this Constitution, it, therefore, astonishes me, to find this system approaching so near to perfect...and I think it will astonish our enemies. Because Is expect no better, and because I'm not sure that it is not the best, I urge every member of this convention to put his name to this instrument."

As the oldest member of the convention, Franklin had a lot to say! When the convention was over, he said that he often looked at the chair that George Washington was sitting in, day after day, and wondered if the sun carved into the wood was rising, or setting on this new nation. He ended by saying:

"I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun."

After staying the purpose of the Constitution, the preamble lays out five things that the founders believe the government should do for the people.

 
1. Establish Justice: As colonists, people were treated, tried, convicted, etc. based on whatever the King and/or his representative wanted. The "law" was not applicable to everyone in the same amounts. The founders believed that every law should be applied to every person without preference or prejudice.
2. Insure Domestic Tranquility: In the Articles of Confederation, states would often have disagreements without any way of settling the dispute. Although many of the founders were strongly opposed to a strong central government, they recognized that it had to be strong enough to keep the peace between individual states.
3. Provide for the Common Defenses: Under the Articles of Confederation, the federal government was able to raise an Army and a Navy, but they weren't allowed to levy taxes
   (They had enough taxes from Great Britan!). Similar to domestic tranquility, the founding fathers understood that defending their new country had to be done by the central government because the states would not/could not develop the resources needed to fight and win a war.
4. Promote the General Welfare: "Promote" is a very different word than "Provide" above. I think it's very important to note the difference when you look at how the government is run today. Some will say that we spend too much money on our National Defense, while others are okay with how much we spend. The Constitution states that the government will "provide" for the common defense, so does that justify the use of taxpayer dollars? Others argue that we should spend more on welfare items such as a federally set minimum wage of $15 per hour, paying off college debt, etc. The Constitution states that the people will "promote" the general welfare, not provide it. Is that justification for not spending taxpayer dollars? Where do you stand and what is your constitutional foundation for your belief? Comment on this post and let me know.
5. Secure the Blessings of Liberty: The founders wanted to build a government that would secure their liberty. Another way to say this was that they wanted to keep "safe" their "freedom from government control." They not only wanted freedom for themselves but also their posterity which simply means the people that generations that follow after them. They didn't want this government to be a flash in the pan that would fall apart after they were gone but wanted it to be able to endure whatever would be thrown at the nation, whether it be war, pandemic, or internal corruption.

A summary of the Preamble in less technical language might look something like this:

"We the People (Can't change that part!) are creating this new government to make sure everyone is justified under the law, the states don't fight, everyone is protected by our Military, we try to help others help themselves, and we want to keep ourselves and our children free from too much government control."

In all fairness, the founders said it much better than I did!

~~~

Here is a link to the U.S. Constitution.

Leave a comment and share this post!

Resources:

Dictionary.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.dictionary.com/

Hart, D., Bower, B., & Lobdell, J. (2002). History alive. Palo Alto, CA: Teachers Curriculum Institute.

The Rising Sun Armchair (George Washington's Chair). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ushistory.org/more/sun.htm

The United States Constitution Part 1: Introduction

I was questioning if I should even write a series on the Constitution because I'm not sure I'm qualified. Some people spend their entire lives dedicated to constitutional law. I am a modest, 8th-grade history teacher.

However, it is just as much my constitution, as it is the constitution of a Chief Justice, and just as much yours if you are a United States citizen. So I'm going to go for it. I hope that by reading my take on the constitution you gain a better understanding and perhaps answer some questions.

This is the first in a 10 part series on the United States Constitution.  Before we can dig into the greatest political document ever created, we have to remember how we go there.

After the declaration of independence was signed and sent to King George III, the revolutionary war raged between the newly declared United States and the most powerful military in the world. Eventually, the British were defeated and forced to surrender under the leadership of George Washington. We will hear that name quite a bit.

The Treaty of Paris

After their defeat, the British refused to stand on AMERICAN soil for treaty negotiations, and the American representatives wouldn't go to England. So where would they meet? Representatives from Britan and America met in Paris, France to sign the treaty that would end the war between their two nations. There were three main parts of the Treaty of Paris.

1. The United States would be recognized as a free and independent country.
2. Britain would give up all claims of land between Canada and Florida, from the East coast to the Mississippi River.
3. The United States would give loyalists (those who were rooting for Brittan) all of their rights and property back to them.  

U.S. DoS

The terms were agreed to and the ready was signed by both countries, officially ending the American Revolution. There was a painting done to capture the historic event, but it was left unfinished because the British representatives refused to pose. They were saltier than a cup of tea dipped out of Boston harbor!

The Articles of Confederation

Now that America was a free and independent country, they needed to figure out how to govern themselves. They knew they didn't want a strong central government like the tyrannical King of England. So they decided to go in the opposite direction.

The central government could declare war, develop an Army and a Navy, print money, and develop the postal system. Each state would get one vote in the new congress. The one thing that the federal government couldn't do was raise taxes. They had to ask the states for money to do anything!

The states had most of the power under the Articles of Confederation and could conduct trade and make deals with other countries on their own. When states had disagreements with each other, there was no system in place to setal the disputes. On the spectrum of power, the Articles of Confederation simply did not give enough power to the federal government to do anything that would lead the country effectively.

The Constitutional Convention

So now what? The founding fathers knew they needed to do something, and do it fast or this newly formed nation would fall apart. There was a King 3,000 miles away who was betting that would happen.

In May of 1787, delegates from each state except Rhode Island converged on the Pennslyvania statehouse, the same room where they stood 11 years earlier to declare their independence, and hammered out what we know today as the United States Constitution.  A few notes about the Constitutional Convention.

1. George Washington was elected president of the convention. He was also the leader of the Continental Army that whipped the British and would go on to be elected the first President of the United States. I can not fathom that man's leadership ability and skill, but I would sure like to learn more about him.
2. James Madison is known as the "Father of the Constitution" because of his intense study of world governments before the convention. He also took impeccable notes on the convention, documenting all of the ideas and debate.
3. The convention was held in complete secrecy. NO ONE was allowed inside the hall while the debate was taking place. At one point, George Washington found a piece of paper that was carelessly left. A military man like himself understood the importance of secrecy, so at the end of the day, he hammered the delegates and insisted that they be more diligent. Secrecy was so important because it allowed for free debate without fear of public opinion stifling conversation. Not one word of what was happening inside the four walls of the statehouse ever leaked to the press.
4. Remember Rhode Island? They boycotted the convention fearing that a strong central government would crush any voice they had in the new nation. In hindsight, they probably should have gone so they could get some digs in on the larger states.

Once the convention was over, the newly drafted constitution was sent to the states for debate. It was an absolute masterpiece of legal, political, and government likes of which the world has never seen. With that, some people were opposed to it for various reasons. In the end, it was adopted, but not until it was promised that individual rights were protected in what we now know as the "Bill of Rights."

James Madison thought the idea of a bill of rights protecting individual freedom was absolutely preposterous. He didn't believe for one second that free men would vote away their right to free speech or to protect themselves. Again, hindsight being what it is, I think we are all grateful for the men who pushed to protect those rights. Madison agreed to add a bill of rights in a, "ratify now, amend later" type of attitude.

Deleware voted to ratify the constitution unanimously on December 7, 1787. Pennsylvania followed on December 12, and New Jersey on December 18.  Other states quickly followed suit and on June 21, 1788, New Hampshire voted to ratify making it the 9th state to ratify and making the constitution the law of the land. A few notes about ratification.

1. Delaware, New Jersey, and Georga voted unanimously to ratify
2. Massachusetts did not want to ratify the constitution unless there was a promise of a bill of rights. They voted to ratify by a vote of 187 in favor and 168 against.
3. The last state to ratify the constitution. See if you can guess: Rhode Island by a vote of 34 in favor and 32 against. For 8th graders to remember that they boycotted the convention and were the last on board, I refute to them as "ROGUE ISLAND!"

The constitution provided a balance between the tyrannical King George III and the weak and almost useless article of confederation. Today, that balance shifts to the left and to the right based on who holds the majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as who occupies the oval office. However, the shift can never get too far from the intended centers because of the brilliance and persistence of the men who met in Philadelphia to give us the greatest governing document ever conceived. Thanks, fellas!

~~~

Here is a link to the U.S. Constitution.

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Resources:

Dates of Ratification of the Constitution. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/dates-of-ratification-of-the-constitution/

Hart, D., Bower, B., & Lobdell, J. (2002). History alive. Palo Alto, CA: Teachers Curriculum Institute.

U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State. Accessed April 12, 2020. https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/ar/14313.htm.