Convention: A Daily Journal

By Center for Civics Education
Posted on 8/31/2020 - 4 minute read

Today may be considered a landmark in the Convention’s proceedings. Before adjourning, “it was agreed to refer such parts of the Constitution as have been postponed, and such parts of Reports as have not been acted on, to a Committee of a member from each State.” By ballot, the Committee on Postponed Parts appointed Nicholas Gilman (New Hampshire), Rufus King (Massachusetts), Roger Sherman (Connecticut), David Brearley (New Jersey), Gouverneur Morris (Pennsylvania), John Dickinson (Delaware), Daniel Carroll (Maryland), James Madison (Virginia), Hugh Williamson (North Carolina), Pierce Butler (South Carolina), and Alexander Baldwin (Georgia).

View Post »

By Center for Civics Education
Posted on 8/30/2020 - 5 minute read

When the Convention adjourned yesterday, Article XVII pertaining to the admission of new States had been approved. However, this morning Gouverneur Morris moved to “strike out so much of the article as requires the consent of the State to its being divided.” He went further to suggest “it might be proper to provide that nothing in the Constitution should affect the right of the United States to lands ceded by Great Britain in the treaty of peace.” He further proposed it be committed to yet another committee. His proposal to commit failed 3 – 8, but the article itself passed 8 – 3. The final version reads, “New States may be admitted by the Legislature into the Union; but no new State shall be hereafter formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any of the present States without the consent of the Legislature of such State as well as of the General Legislature.”

View Post »

By Center for Civics Education
Posted on 8/29/2020 - 4 minute read

For several days the Convention has been reviewing the report of the Committee of Detail article by article and section by section, making good, if often punctuated, progress. Of the twenty-three articles in the report, fifteen of them have been approved, albeit with numerous amendments as well as postponement of some parts.

View Post »

By Center for Civics Education
Posted on 8/28/2020 - 4 minute read

Today, Articles XI through XV of the report of the Committee of Detail were approved in almost rapid-fire fashion. Fundamental principles having generally been decided, few details of the plan are generating serious division. However, the report contains twenty-three articles, leaving ample opportunity for the entire project to be derailed.

View Post »

By Center for Civics Education
Posted on 8/27/2020 - 5 minute read

Letters from delegates to their friends and family throughout the States are predicting their work will be done by mid-September. While there is still work to be done and compromises to be made, cautious optimism is growing. However, one outspoken critic is Elbridge Gerry. Often the contrarian and on the losing side of votes, his persistent, probing questions and relentless opposition to a powerful national government have helped to better refine propositions before the Convention. They have also formed the foundation of opposition to the new Constitution should the plan be submitted to Congress.

View Post »

By Center for Civics Education
Posted on 8/26/2020 - 5 minute read

After a week of acrimony and division, Sunday provides a respite from the painstaking, but critically important, task of creating a government such as never before been attempted. This morning, George Washington “rode into the country for exercise 8 or 10 miles,” then “dined at the Hills and spent the evening in my chamber writing letters.”

View Post »

By Center for Civics Education
Posted on 8/25/2020 - 5 minute read

The migration or importation of such persons as the several States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Legislature prior to the year 1800 – but a Tax or Duty may be imposed on such migration or importation at a rate not exceeding the average of the Duties laid on Imports.

View Post »

By Center for Civics Education
Posted on 8/24/2020 - 5 minute read

Today’s entry into the official Convention Journal begins simply with: “The honorable Mr. Livingston, from the Committee of Eleven to whom were referred the two remaining clauses of the 4th section, and the 5th and 6th sections of the 7th article, informed the House that the Committee were prepared to report.

View Post »

By Center for Civics Education
Posted on 8/23/2020 - 5 minute read

The last two days have been tense behind the closed doors and shuttered windows of the East Room in the State House as delegates to the Convention contended strenuously over an issue that could disrupt the union – slavery.  The rule of secrecy has been effective.  Their deliberations have remained confidential. The absence of information makes it easier for public pronouncements about the meeting to remain optimistic. Today, The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser carried this tidbit:

View Post »

By Center for Civics Education
Posted on 8/22/2020 - 6 minute read

From the beginning of the Convention’s deliberations, slavery has been relegated to the edges and shadows of debates designed to amend the Articles of Confederation, to render them “adequate to the exigencies of government and the preservation of the Union.” The word itself has seldom been uttered. Slavery has been hidden, almost invisible - until yesterday, when men who had risked their own “lives, fortunes and sacred honor” for freedom fiercely defended the enslavement of others. They are willing to risk the Union they are attempting to preserve if slavery is threatened.

View Post »