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Center for Civics Education
Dr. Jo Ellen Chatham
Director, Center for Civics Education
949-214-3200
[email protected]
Convention: A Daily Journal is a day-by-day journal of the 1787 Constitutional Convention convened by twelve of the original thirteen states to amend the Articles of Confederation and create a “more perfect union.” It chronicles the daily activities of the Convention, profiles the delegates and their interactions with each other, and looks back to life in America in the 1780s. Writing in the first person, the story is told from an “observer” hearing events as told in contemporary newspaper accounts and delegates’ personal notes and letters.
By Center for Civics Education Posted on 8/1/2020 - 4 minute read
John Langdon and Nicolas Gilman attended their first session of the Convention on July 23, only three days before the Convention adjourned for an eleven-day recess. By that time, two of New York’s delegates had left in protest. Langdon, Gilman and two others were first appointed delegates by the New Hampshire legislature on January 17 but had provided neither funds nor letters of credit. On June 27, the legislature acted again, reappointing Langdon and Gilman and two new men. Again, it provided no funds.
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By Center for Civics Education Posted on 7/30/2020 - 5 minute read
George Washington recorded in his diary that he spent today “in company with Mr. Govr. Morris, and in his Phaeton with my horses went up to one Jane Moore’s in the vicinity of Valley Forge to get trout.” In short, they went fishing.
By Center for Civics Education Posted on 7/29/2020 - 5 minute read
Paul Revere’s midnight ride through the Massachusetts countryside to warn the colonial militia that “the British are coming” was memorialized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem Paul Revere’s Ride. However, for many years after the Revolutionary War, Revere was known for making bells. When the church he attended, New Brick Church in Boston, needed a new bell for its tower, Revere opened a bell foundry, eventually casting more than one hundred bells before his death many years later.
By Center for Civics Education Posted on 7/28/2020 - 5 minute read
The Constitutional Convention has adjourned for eleven days while the Committee of Detail organizes the approved propositions into a draft constitution to be presented on August 6. The Convention having been called to revise and improve the Articles of Confederation, it is appropriate for us to review the Articles, their origins, and defects to have a more complete understanding of the task facing the men who have gathered here in Philadelphia for that purpose.
By Center for Civics Education Posted on 7/27/2020 - 4 minute read
Beginning with the introduction of the Virginia Plan by Edmund Randolph on May 25, delegates from twelve of the thirteen States have considered how to achieve the task placed on them by the Continental Congress, “for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation…to render the federal constitution adequate to the exigencies of government and the preservation of the Union.” From the outset, delegates from small States have been single-minded in their efforts to protect themselves from large States, prompting William Paterson to introduce the New Jersey Plan two weeks later, an alternative to that proposed by Randolph.
By Center for Civics Education Posted on 7/25/2020 - 4 minute read
Yesterday, James Wilson moved to postpone discussion of the executive so “that time might be given for further deliberation.” Such deliberation surely continued through the evening as some delegates lobbied for their own positions and others sought compromise or new ideas. Oliver Ellsworth was the first to speak, introducing a new proposition.
By Center for Civics Education Posted on 7/24/2020 - 4 minute read
The Convention decided yesterday to postpone until today reconsideration of how the national executive is to be chosen, specifically whether electors should make the appointment. Georgia’s William Houston opposes electors, preferring the recommendation of the Committee of the Whole, that the executive be appointed by the national legislature. “It is improbable,” he said, “that capable men would undertake the service of electors from the more distant States.”
By Center for Civics Education Posted on 7/23/2020 - 4 minute read
The State of New Hampshire did not appoint its delegates to the Convention until June 27. Its resolution authorized four “commissioners” by name. “They, or any two of them, are authorized” to represent New Hampshire. Today, two of the four arrived, Nicholas Gilman and John Langdon; they will be the only delegates attending from that State. Their credentials were read, and they took their seats as the Convention considered the three remaining resolutions of the Report of the Committee of the Whole.
By Center for Civics Education Posted on 7/22/2020 - 4 minute read
George Washington’s diary continues to be sparse, most entries providing no more information than what it discloses today: “Left town by 5 o’clock A.M. Breakfasted at Genl. Mifflin’s. Rode up with him and others to the Spring Mills and returned to Genl. Mifflin’s by dinner, after which proceeded to the City.” Accompanied by four other members of the Convention, according to the diary of Peter Legaux, they visited “in order to see our vineyard and bee houses. In this, they found great delight, asked a number of questions, and testified their highest approbation with my manner of managing bees.”
By Center for Civics Education Posted on 7/21/2020 - 4 minute read
Having reached a tentative agreement on the general framework for the executive and the judiciary departments, today the Convention considered whether the judiciary should be added to the executive to veto laws passed by Congress and the method by which judges should be appointed.
For more information, please contact the Director:
Dr. Jo Ellen Chatham Director, Center for Civics Education [email protected] 949-214-3200