Full transcript
0:00[Music]
0:12so September 17th 1787 uh we still
0:16celebrate uh as Constitution Day
0:19September 17th we remember the the day
0:21that 39 men in the constitutional
0:23convention uh that met in Philadelphia
0:25signed the document and rested content
0:27that the nation as a whole uh would now
0:29choose to accept it or reject it uh the
0:31story of our Constitution's ratification
0:33that is the acceptance of the
0:35Constitution by the states began the
0:37very next day uh by 11:00 a.m on
0:40September 18th the Pennsylvania assembly
0:42uh a unic cameal body meaning they only
0:44had one house in their state legislature
0:46had that had met upstairs in the same
0:48building that the constitution was being
0:50drafted um had formally presented had
0:52been formally presented with the Tex of
0:54the Constitution and surely they were
0:56happy to be back in the first floor
0:57chamber they were they got to move back
0:59downstairs after the constitution
1:00convention was done on September 18th um
1:04they read the text of this proposed
1:06constitution alow for the assembly and
1:09for a large crowd of citizens in the
1:10gallery uh Benjamin Franklin was the
1:12president of this assembly and a
1:14delegate to the convention and he
1:16proposed that the assembly work quickly
1:18to establish a ratifying convention here
1:19in Pennsylvania uh of specially elected
1:21delegates uh and in all in all hopes of
1:25becoming the first state to ratify this
1:27new constitution uh by September 25th
1:30uh on that was a Tuesday the assembly
1:32voted to print 2,000 copies of this
1:34constitution constitutional text as
1:36proposed constitution in English and a
1:39thousand copies in German for
1:40distribution throughout the state and
1:42that day uh September 25th uh for George
1:46Kimber a convention delegate that had
1:48helped to draft the Constitution and a
1:49wealthy Philadelphia Merchant moved that
1:51a ratifying convention be held uh he
1:54moved that they uh gather together on
1:56the last day of November
1:581787 now here critics of the
2:00Constitutional revisions that were being
2:02proposed began to speak up why move so
2:05quickly uh Robert whill noted that he
2:07guessed only one Pennsylvanian out of 20
2:09knew anything at all about the text of
2:11this Constitution and besides the
2:13Congress that was meeting under the
2:14current government the the Articles of
2:16Confederation hadn't even formally
2:18submitted the convention's proposals to
2:19the rest of the states uh which surely
2:21must be an absolute necessity we
2:23currently live under a federal
2:24government we can't simply replace it uh
2:26without hearing from that Congress first
2:29uh when it became clear that the
2:30assembly would vote to hold a hasty
2:33ratifying convention uh some of the
2:35dissenting minority Robert White Hill
2:37among them uh who were confident that
2:39this haste signaled some kind of of
2:42conspiracy may be too strong a word but
2:43some kind of uh effort to evade the will
2:46of the People by moving quickly before
2:47they the people had a chance to inform
2:49themselves opted to stay away uh it's a
2:52legislative stalling tactic that we
2:54still see at times in in recent years uh
2:56but they they knew they could postpone
2:58any future votes by simply uh preventing
3:00the Pennsylvania assembly from
3:01assembling a quorum um this is um the
3:05remaining the remaining assembly men
3:07were forced to adjourn for the day and
3:09the very next day uh by by now we're at
3:12Saturday September 29th a writer from
3:14New York brought news that the Congress
3:16that is the Congress under the Articles
3:17of Confederation had agreed to submit
3:19the proposal to the states uh and the
3:22majority in the Pennsylvania assembly
3:24figured that they needed now to take
3:26action to somehow compel uh these
3:28descending minority members to show up
3:31in the chamber so that they could hold a
3:32vote and they and a mob of
3:35philadelphians grabbed two men by force
3:38dragged them into the legislative
3:39chamber uh and with their presence had
3:42exactly the number needed for a quorum
3:44uh the debate that followed is a is a
3:46extraordinarily interesting one because
3:48uh James McMan um was one of these two
3:51men who was dragged in and he demanded
3:54to know um whether he could take a leave
3:56of absence uh he demanded to know
3:57whether he could be held against his
3:59will and still be counted as a member of
4:01the assembly um the debates was of
4:05course uh for ordained because he was in
4:07a strong minority uh and the they ruled
4:11against mut's uh
4:13um refusal to St to be their willingly
4:16as as actually precluding his presence
4:18so they decided they did have a quorum
4:20they voted to hold the ratification
4:22elections and the meetings as originally
4:23moved what resulted then as one of the
4:27the foundational documents in the debate
4:29over the the Constitution um the early
4:31history of the debate over the
4:32Constitution uh was just beginning to
4:34generate some kind of literature at this
4:36point people were beginning to publish
4:38uh pieces and newspapers uh and the 16
4:40assemblymen who had tried to prevent the
4:42Hasty vote of the Pennsylvania assembly
4:44decided to publish a an address uh a
4:47statement of their grievances really uh
4:50they wound up calling it an address of
4:51the subscribers members uh the late
4:54House of Representatives of the
4:55Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to their
4:57constituents and they began to describe
4:59the root tactics that have been used to
5:01compel this Hasty vote for a
5:02ratification vote um some of the
5:06excerpts of this uh documents were were
5:08um exciting uh to the people that that
5:11gra that found it um they uh they found
5:13out uh that the members this dissenting
5:16minority had no alternative uh we were
5:18under a necessity of either returning to
5:19the house and by our presence enabling
5:21them to call a convention before our
5:23constituents could have the means of
5:24information or time to deliberate on the
5:27subject or by absenting ourselves from
5:29the house prevent the measure from
5:30taking place our regard for you induced
5:33us to prefer the latter they said
5:35directly speaking to their constituents
5:37they determined the next morning this is
5:39again in their in their address again to
5:41absent ourselves from the house when
5:42James mcut Esquire and Jacob Miley
5:45Esquire were seized by a number of
5:47citizens of Philadelphia who had
5:48collected together for that purpose
5:50their lodgings were violently broken
5:51open their clothes torn after much abuse
5:54and insult they were forcibly dragged
5:55through the streets of Philadelphia to
5:56the state house and there detained by
5:58force and in the presence of the
6:00majority who had the day before voted
6:02the first of the proposed resolutions
6:03treated with the most insulting language
6:06while the house so formed proceeded to
6:07finish their resolutions which they mean
6:09to offer to you as the doings of the
6:11legislature of
6:13Pennsylvania the address as published
6:15then began to break down some of the
6:16concerns that this dissenting minority
6:17had about the Constitution uh why is
6:19there no protection for the Press uh why
6:21is there no prohibition on a standing
6:23army why would senators serve six-year
6:25terms which in Pennsylvania seemed
6:27particularly egregious because they had
6:29ual elections that document would be
6:32circulated widely in and out of
6:33Pennsylvania and it help to lay the
6:35foundation for an opposition uh for a
6:37couple of reasons really uh first of all
6:38it actually did break down some of the
6:40initial uh on the face of it concerns
6:43that one might have if they looked at
6:44the text of the Constitution but
6:47secondly and I think perhaps even more
6:49important initially it helped to create
6:51a kind of visceral reaction to the
6:53heavy-handed tactics that seem to be
6:55being used by the supporters of the
6:57Constitution now this this division in
7:00Pennsylvania came about um very quickly
7:04right this is late September the text of
7:06the Constitution has just been announced
7:08why is there such um uh firm and sharp
7:11division between supporters of the
7:12Constitution who are willing to drag men
7:14against their will in order to uh uh
7:16vote to hold a ratifying convention and
7:19people so opposed to it that they're
7:20willing to bring legislative proceedings
7:22to a halt uh and why does how does this
7:24develop so quickly after the text of the
7:26Constitution is announced uh in large
7:28part it's a continuation of a division
7:30that Pennsylvania had long before uh
7:321787 um by the end of the war for
7:35independence uh Pennsylvania's
7:36Constitution that they drafted in 1776
7:39uh Remains the most democratic uh the
7:41most um uh Innovative really
7:44Constitution uh drafted by the by the
7:46states in in the years of the Revolution
7:49and there were plenty of people who
7:50thought it was simply too Democratic uh
7:52that this idea of a unic cameal
7:54legislature annual elections no single
7:56executive they didn't even have a
7:57governor or president they had a
7:59committee that that was headed by one
8:01person and this at the moment it
8:03happened to be Ben Franklin um it was
8:05the most democratic state constitution
8:06by far and Pennsylvania was beginning
8:08divide to divide into two parties a
8:10constitutionalist party that supported
8:12this old 1776 Constitution and what they
8:15called a the Republican Party a capital
8:17R Republican party that U was hoping for
8:19changes uh more um conservative U more
8:23balanced Constitution uh during the
8:25debate over the constitution of 1787 and
8:271788 uh with a few exceptions um
8:30constitutionalists that that is people
8:32that supported the old 1776 Pennsylvania
8:34Constitution Were anti-federalists they
8:37did not like this new strong central
8:38government and Republicans gathered on
8:41the side of the Federalists the effect
8:43of that publication of the dissenting
8:44minority in penssylvania assembly U of
8:47of the Pennsylvania assembly was
8:48significant um uh it was printed not
8:50only in Pennsylvania um right away but
8:53it was printed uh 12 times additionally
8:5616 times in seven other states uh and
8:59the report would help to swing open the
9:01floodgates of of this kind of vocal
9:02criticism of the Constitution it would
9:04be followed in Pennsylvania by a series
9:06of essays signed by uh Sentinel uh as
9:09you know pseudonyms were were common at
9:11the time uh which was actually written
9:13by a 28-year-old uh Samuel Brian uh that
9:16were also widely printed throughout the
9:17United States and and the Crux of his
9:19argument cinel who's beginning to to
9:21build the the critique of the
9:23Constitution was that this looked like a
9:25proposed despotism that it really was a
9:27government for the wealthy for the
9:29ambitious um
9:32uh ambitious men who are Desiring a
9:35stronger central government so that they
9:36can be at the head of it um Defenders of
9:38the Constitution Rose to the challenge
9:41right away of this emerging critique and
9:44they were led by James Wilson uh a
9:46member of the Constitutional Convention
9:48a great legal thinker in his time uh and
9:50he had spoken 168 times in the
9:53Pennsyvania excuse me in the
9:54Philadelphia constitutional convention
9:56uh more than anyone else except for his
9:58fellow Pennsylvania delegate Governor
9:59Morris and he knew what he was talking
10:02about and he would stand up uh on
10:04repeated occasions uh both in Prince and
10:06in and person and break down the
10:09critiques of the Constitution and answer
10:11them one by one by one it was a very
10:13fragmented way of responding to the
10:15critique but it was an effective one uh
10:17most influentially it was Wilson who
10:18began articulating the defense of why
10:22the Constitution did not have a Bill of
10:24Rights it did not as drafted uh the Bill
10:27of Rights that we have only came about
10:28under the First Federal Congress after
10:30the Constitution was put into effect and
10:32James Wilson's uh articulation for why
10:35they didn't need a Bill of Rights was a
10:36pretty simple one and one that helped to
10:39um really kind of lay the groundwork for
10:40that response from there on out um why
10:42have a Bill of Rights to limit what the
10:44government can do when the Constitution
10:47only says what the government can do
10:49right uh the government can't do
10:50anything that the Constitution doesn't
10:51already
10:52specify uh he said uh specifically that
10:55the government could not interfere with
10:56the freedom of speech for example uh
10:58because it had no power to interfere
10:59with the freedom of speech and so if you
11:01simply added a line that said that the
11:02government can't interfere with the
11:04freedom of speech it would be quote
11:06Superfluous um and worse it might even
11:08be dangerous right it might then imply
11:10that the government did have some power
11:12to affect the freedom of speech because
11:13otherwise why specify later that it uh
11:16had limits to That Power by late October
11:19with the date of a scheduled ratifying
11:20convention less than a month off
11:22Governor Morris speculated about the
11:25chances of a yes vote in Pennsylvania
11:27and he wasn't confident um he was sure
11:30Philadelphia would go the right way uh
11:32but he was worried about what he called
11:33the cold and sour temper of the back
11:36counties that is Western Pennsylvania
11:38where people were far uh more suspicious
11:40of this new Constitution and there
11:42continued to be rumors of disreputable
11:45tactics on the part of Defenders of the
11:46Constitution including and there's
11:48actually some truth to this one efforts
11:50by printers who supported the
11:51Constitution to keep out any kind of
11:55publications of critiques of the
11:56Constitution that is simply create an
11:58image that everyone 's already for this
12:00uh and so one of the things that would
12:02happen was uh they wouldn't uh print
12:05responses to the opposition's growing
12:08criticism of the Constitution because to
12:09print a response to the opposition would
12:12therefore kind of tip tip off the hand
12:13that there was an opposition in the
12:14first place uh one printer said it would
12:16do more harm than good uh to to printer
12:19response so why not just ignore it all
12:21of this takes us to the convention
12:23itself it was called uh to be held in
12:25late November they elected his president
12:27Frederick Augustus m mullenberg a
12:29Lutheran Minister who would go on to be
12:30the first Speaker of the House and the
12:32First Federal Congress and the most
12:33vocal critics of the Constitution of
12:35Pennsylvania uh were elected there uh
12:37from Western their Western counties uh
12:39these are names that we don't know
12:41anymore but they they they Merit a
12:42moment in the sun anyway William Finley
12:44of West Morland Robert White Hill that I
12:46mentioned before of Cumberland John
12:48Smiley of fet and they mounted a
12:50vigorous critique one that James Wilson
12:52and others uh would respond to point by
12:54Point again their Chief critique uh
12:57right now was why Rush
12:59why hurry so much um it took four months
13:02to write the Constitution can't we at
13:03least spend four weeks to talk about it
13:05um they asked to go into a committee of
13:08the whole to enable a more vigorous
13:09debate they asked why the Constitution
13:11began with the words we the people
13:13instead of we the states uh seem to for
13:15ordain a Consolidated Empire that might
13:18uh mean that the government of
13:19Pennsylvania would be taking um uh would
13:22be on a short road to its own
13:23destruction they asked why the
13:25Constitution didn't protect protect jury
13:26trials and civil cases that prompted a a
13:30a strange debate over whether Sweden had
13:32ever had a jury trial um that they
13:34thought was extraordinarily important
13:36for some reason uh but at every turn the
13:38votes of the convention and this is an
13:40interesting um aspect of Pennsylvania's
13:44ratification debates that are very
13:45different from some of the other states
13:46at every turn the votes of the
13:48convention looked almost exactly the
13:50same about 44 people for whatever vote
13:54it uh seemed to lead to the ratifying of
13:56the Constitution and about 24 opposed
13:59give or take one or two um in many cases
14:02people had arrived to the convention
14:03with clear instructions uh from the
14:05people that had elected them to either
14:06support or oppose the constitution uh
14:09they had a clear mandate they believed
14:10and they didn't want to sway from it in
14:12other cases they had simply strongly
14:14held opinions and they weren't about to
14:15be swayed by orations one way or the
14:17other and so after a couple of weeks of
14:20debate um the convention ratified the
14:23Constitution on December 12th with a
14:25final vote of 46 to 23 much like it
14:27looked on day one Bells told Cannon
14:30fired although Delaware had beat them to
14:32the punch and uh Pennsylvania became the
14:35second state to ratify the Constitution
14:38but the dissenting minority was not done
14:40and this helps to kind of point the way
14:42forward to the debates in other states
14:44three days later a publication uh by the
14:47Pennsylvania packet uh was first printed
14:49that would be reprinted over and over
14:51again it was called The Descent of the
14:52minority of the convention and it
14:55outlined all of the reasons that 21 out
14:57of the 23 no votes um they signed it
15:00personally were concerned about the
15:01future uh particularly it outlined all
15:03the reasons that this new constitution
15:05might produce a Consolidated and
15:07despotic government their fears this
15:10Descent of the minority helped to
15:12establish some of the vocabulary of the
15:14criticisms of the Constitution and state
15:15after state from this point forward and
15:17the ways that CR critics of the
15:19Constitution um were able to describe
15:22not just their um philosophical
15:24objections to the Constitution but also
15:26the ways in which they believe that
15:27they'd been uh coerced and cajoled into
15:30subordinate in ways that that uh uh
15:32seemed undemocratic and disrespectful
15:34helped to shape the debates to come as
15:36each of the remaining 11 states read
15:38debated and dissected what would
15:40ultimately become our nation's
15:42Constitution
15:45[Applause]
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15:53Oklahoma Alumni Association Freedom 101
15:57is a program of the institute for the
15:59American constitutional Heritage at the
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