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This past week, most of us heard the U.S. Constitution mentioned in conjunction with the Supreme Court’s monumental decision on Roe v. Wade. As I listened to news programs, outlining the implications of this ruling, I began questioning my knowledge of our Constitution.
I had a Civics class where we studied this and other historic documents, but that was decades ago. Before graduating, we were required to complete a course in Texas civics, but that didn’t include the U.S. Constitution.
Maybe it was time for a refresher course, so my research began. This is what I found:
On September 17, 1787, the U.S. Constitution was born in Philadelphia, and as delegates left the Constitutional Convention in Independence Hall, Benjamin Franklin was asked what kind of government had been created. He famously responded, “A Republic, if you can keep it.”
Our nation’s origin and identity are defined by a document, making the U.S. the first to radically change history and the process of nation building.
At the 1787 convention, delegates devised a plan for a stronger federal government with three branches—executive, legislative and judicial—along with a system of checks and balances to ensure no single branch would have too much power.
From its inception, the U.S. Constitution has been a living (or changing) document. After that first draft in Philadelphia, the constitution was amended (added to) 10 times. These 10 amendments, the Bill of Rights --guaranteeing basic individual protections, such as freedom of speech and religion -- became part of the Constitution in 1791. In all, the Constitution has been amended 27 times, most recently in 1992.
Beyond amendments, the ongoing vitality of the Constitution has been assured through interpretations by Supreme Court decisions.
The Constitution of the United States established America’s national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens.
The Preamble outlines the Constitution's purpose and guiding principles:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure 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."
On May 25, 1787, there were 55 delegates attending the Constitutional Convention, representing all 13 states except Rhode Island, which refused to send representatives because it did not want a powerful central government interfering in its economic business. George Washington, a national hero after leading the Continental Army to victory during the American Revolution, was unanimously selected as president of the convention.
The delegates (who also became known as the “framers” of the Constitution) were a well-educated group that included merchants, farmers, bankers and lawyers. Many had served in the Continental Army, colonial legislatures or the Continental Congress. Most were Protestants. Eight were signers of the Declaration of Independence.
The delegates had been tasked by Congress with amending the Articles of Confederation; however, they soon began deliberating proposals for an entirely new form of government. After intensive debate, which continued throughout the summer of 1787, they developed a plan establishing three branches of national government–executive, legislative and judicial. A system of checks and balances was put into place so that no single branch would have too much authority. The specific powers and responsibilities of each branch were also laid out.
Among the more contentious issues was the question of state representation in the national legislature. Delegates from larger states wanted population to determine how many representatives a state could send to Congress, while small states called for equal representation.
The issue was resolved by the Connecticut Compromise, which proposed a bicameral legislature with proportional representation of the states in the lower house (House of Representatives) and equal representation in the upper house (Senate).
Another controversial topic was slavery. Although some northern states had already started to outlaw the practice, they went along with the southern states’ insistence that slavery was an issue for individual states to decide and should be kept out of the Constitution. Many northern delegates believed that without agreeing to this, the South wouldn’t join the Union. For the purposes of taxation and determining how many representatives a state could send to Congress, it was decided that enslaved people would be counted as three-fifths of a person. Additionally, it was agreed that Congress wouldn’t be allowed to prohibit the slave trade before 1808, and states were required to return fugitive enslaved people to their owners.
By September 1787, the convention’s five-member Committee of Style (Hamilton, Madison, William Samuel Johnson of Connecticut, Gouverneur Morris of New York, Rufus King of Massachusetts) had drafted the final text of the Constitution, which consisted of some 4,200 words.
On September 17, George Washington was the first to sign the document. Of the 55 delegates, a total of 39 signed. In order for the Constitution to become law, it then had to be ratified by nine of the 13 states.
Some states, especially Massachusetts, opposed the document, as it failed to reserve un-delegated powers to the states and lacked constitutional protection of basic political rights, such as freedom of speech, religion and the press.
In February 1788, a compromise was reached under which Massachusetts and other states would agree to ratify the document with the assurance that amendments would be immediately proposed. The Constitution was thus narrowly ratified in Massachusetts, followed by Maryland and South Carolina.
It was subsequently agreed that government under the U.S. Constitution would begin on March 4, 1789. George Washington was inaugurated as America’s first president on April 30, 1789. On February 2, 1790, the U.S. Supreme Court held its first session, marking the date when the government was fully operative.
To date, there have been thousands of proposed amendments to the Constitution. However, only 17 amendments have been ratified in addition to the Bill of Rights because the process isn’t easy–after a proposed amendment makes it through Congress, it must be ratified by three-fourths 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 may be able to make a better Constitution.”
