The Constitution Project
Updated May 4, 2005
Americans often take their national Constitution for granted, and in some ways it's understandable that they should, and in the sense of the document's significance for the American people there's not much wrong with that. The United States Constitution has been called by some “American Scripture,” a set of guidelines bordering on holy writ. What every American should understand, however, is that the creation of the Constitution, called the “Miracle at Philadelphia” by one noted historian, was an event of everlasting significance, not only for Americans but for people everywhere. And it did not come about easily.
Before you begin your project, consider a few general facts about the Constitution which might differ from what we may call “street knowledge.” First, the United States Constitution was not the first constitution written American. Because the colonies had had written charters granted them by the Crown, when independence was declared those colonies, now states, decided that they wanted to continue to have written documents as the basis for their government. Thus even before the Revolutionary War was over the states began writing their own constitutions, generally based upon—but obviously departing from—their colonial charters.
Those state constitutions served two purposes: First, they were a model for the United States Constitution even though the federal government would have different needs requirements. Second, and probably more important, many of the men who wrote the Constitution in Philadelphia had participated in the writing of their state constitutions, or had functioned in government under those constitutions, or both. Thus they brought to the table a considerable amount of practical experience in Constitution writing when they sat down at Philadelphia in that hot summer of 1787.
Another factor that influenced the United States Constitution was the European Enlightenment. The writings of people like Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau, and going back to Hobbes, Locke and beyond, all the way to Plato, strongly influenced the educated men of America such as Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, John Jay, Alexander Hamilton and others. When they arrived in Philadelphia, these men knew their history and their political philosophy, and the notes of the Convention abound with references to past practice.
Even with all that learning, however, their job was difficult—it had never been done before, at least not at the national level. They were creating a new national government from scratch, unheard of in the history of the world. Although the thirteen states had become relatively unified during the Revolutionary War, once the British influence was removed, sectional interests quickly emerged. Slavery flourished and was growing in the deep South states, while it was disappearing in much of the North. The small states were afraid that the large states would overwhelm them, and the large states in turn were fearful that the small states, if they got too much power, might nibble them to death. The question of the chief executive was important: was he to be a King?—or a Republican executive such as president? And was there to be only one or would power somehow be shared at the top? How great were the powers of the federal government to be? What would be retained by the states? How would apportionment in the national Legislature be decided?
As mentioned above, it was a long hot summer. The 55 men assigned to the task were never all there at the same time, and significant numbers came and went or left altogether because of pressing needs at home. By the time the Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, it had survived the rigorous ordeal of being shaped into something that representatives of each state could sign. Even then, the Constitution's battle was not over, for the ratification process was far from certain to succeed. Although several states ratified quickly and nearly unanimously, in the larger states of Virginia, New York and Massachusetts the debate was fierce, and ratification almost failed in all three of those major states. But objections were overcome, recommendations that a Bill of Rights be added were accepted, and the Constitution went into effect in 1789. The Bill of Rights was added shortly thereafter, and the question of the validity of the United States Constitution was not again challenged. What was challenged, however, was the proper interpretation of the Constitution: What did the words actually mean? What does a phrase like “necessary and proper” really mean? How was the system supposed to work in practice?
Your job in this project is first, to read the Constitution carefully. Read each section, take notes and check out what you are not sure about. Annotated copies are available, and numerous secondary works exist. Try, however, to confine your reading to what went on at the time. Look at the famous Federalist Papers, a detailed explanation of the Constitution written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. Find the records of some of the debates in the state ratifying conventions. Read James Madison's notes, which he kept carefully and scrupulously during the entire convention. Look at Catherine Drinker Bowen's “Miracle at Philadelphia” abut the convention itself.
Here are some links to get you going:
Most of those sites have links to other sites as well.
So what is your job? Visit these sources and consider one main question: Why has the Constitution been so successful? As secondary questions, consider: