the lost democracy part iii

8/14/2019 The Lost Democracy Part III

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Reference and Primer to The Lost Democracy

Part 3 : The Birth of a Nation

Patrick W. Allen


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About The Author

Patrick Allen is a political strategist and lives near Washington, [email protected]

References are itemized at the end of this document.Some material contained in this document has been assembled from the public domain.


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Table of Contents

Prologue......................................................................................................1 The Declaration of Independence................................................................2

The Revolutionary War................................................................................8

The United States Constitution ..................................................................16

Epilogue ....................................................................................................24


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PrologueRelations between the colonies and King George IIIs Great Britain had beendeteriorating since the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763.

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Early in 1775, the British Army consisted of about 36,000 men worldwide.

It was at this moment in time, if the separatists, partisan colonists were toachieve their objective of independence from Great Britain, they held a nu-merical advantage which was not strategically or tactically exploited.

Over the course of the war, Great Britain signed treaties with various Ger-man states, which supplied about 30,000 soldiers. Germans made up aboutone-third of the British troop strength in North America. German soldiersbecame known as "Hessians" to the Americans. Revolutionary speakerscalled German soldiers "foreign mercenaries," and they are scorned as such

in the Declaration of Independence .


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The Declaration of IndepeBackground

By the time the Declaration of Inde-pendence was adopted in July 1776,the Thirteen Colonies and Great Britainhad been at war for more than a year.

Relations between the colonies andthe mother country had been deterio-rating since the end of the Seven Years'War in 1763. The war had plunged theBritish government deep into debt,and so Parliament enacted a series ofmeasures to increase tax revenue fromthe colonies. Parliament believed thatthese acts, such as the Stamp Act of1765 and the Townshend Acts of 1767were a legitimate means of having the

colonies pay their fair share of the costs to keep the colonies in the BritishEmpire.

Many colonists, however, had developed a different conception of the em-pire. Because the colonies were not directly represented in Parliament,colonists argued that Parliament had no right to levy taxes upon them. Thistax dispute was part of a larger divergence between British and Americaninterpretations of the British Constitution and the extent of Parliament'sauthority in the colonies.

The orthodox British view, dating from the Glorious Revolution of 1688, wasthat Parliament was the supreme authority throughout the empire, and soby definition anything Parliament did was constitutional. In the colonies,however, the idea had developed that the British Constitution recognizedcertain fundamental rights that no governmentnot even Parliamentcould violate.


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After the Townshend Acts, some essayists even began to question whetherParliament had any legitimate jurisdiction in the colonies at all. Anticipatingthe arrangement of the British Commonwealth, by 1774 American writerssuch as Samuel Adams, James Wilson, and Thomas Jefferson were arguingthat Parliament was the legislature of Great Britain only, and that the colo-nies, which had their own legislatures, were connected to the rest of theempire only through their allegiance to the Crown.

Congress ConvenesThe issue of Parliament's authority in the colonies became a crisis after Par-

liament passed the Coercive Acts in 1774 to punish the Province of Massa-chusetts for the Boston Tea Party of 1773. Many colonists saw the CoerciveActs as a violation of the British Constitution and thus a threat to the liber-ties of all of British America. In September 1774, the First Continental Con-gress convened in Philadelphia to coordinate a response. Congressorganized a boycott of British goods and petitioned the king for repeal of theacts. These measures were unsuccessful because King George III and theministry of Prime Minister Lord North were determined not to retreat onthe question of parliamentary supremacy. As the king wrote to North in

November 1774, "blows must decide whether they are to be subject to thiscountry or independent".

Even after fighting in the American Revolutionary War began at Lexingtonand Concord in April 1775, most colonists still hoped for reconciliation withGreat Britain.

When the Second Continental Congress convened at the Pennsylvania StateHouse in Philadelphia in May 1775, some delegates hoped for eventual in-

dependence, but no one yet advocated declaring it. Although many colo-nists no longer believed that Parliament had any sovereignty over them,they still professed loyalty to King George III, who they hoped would inter-cede on their behalf. They were to be disappointed: in late 1775, the kingrejected Congress's second petition, issued a Proclamation of Rebellion, andannounced before Parliament on October 26 that he was considering"friendly offers of foreign assistance" to suppress the rebellion. A pro-American minority in Parliament warned that the government was drivingthe colonists toward independence.


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Toward IndependenceIn January 1776, just as it became clear in the colonies that the king was notinclined to act as a conciliator, Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense waspublished. Paine, who had only recently arrived in the colonies from Eng-land, argued in favor of colonial independence, advocating republicanism asan alternative to monarchy and hereditary rule. Common Sense introducedno new ideas, and probably had little direct effect on Congress's thinkingabout independence; its importance was in stimulating public debate on atopic that few had previously dared to openly discuss. Public support forseparation from Great Britain steadily increased after the publication of

Paine's enormously popular pamphlet.

Although some colonists still held out hope for reconciliation, developmentsin early 1776 further strengthened public support for independence. In Feb-ruary 1776, colonists learned of Parliament's passage of the Prohibitory Act,which established a blockade of American ports and declared Americanships to be enemy vessels. John Adams, a strong supporter of independ-ence, believed that Parliament had effectively declared American independ-ence before Congress had been able to. Adams labeled the Prohibitory Act

the "Act of Independency", calling it "a complete Dismemberment of theBritish Empire". Support for declaring independence grew even more whenit was confirmed that King George III had hired German mercenaries to useagainst his American subjects.

Despite this growing popular support for independence, Congress lacked theclear authority to declare it. Delegates had been elected to Congress bythirteen different governmentswhich included extralegal conventions, adhoc committees, and elected assembliesand were bound by the instruc-

tions given to them. Regardless of their personal opinions, delegates couldnot vote to declare independence unless their instructions permitted suchan action. Several colonies, in fact, expressly prohibited their delegatesfrom taking any steps towards separation from Great Britain, while otherdelegations had instructions that were ambiguous on the issue. As publicsentiment for separation from Great Britain grew, advocates of independ-ence sought to have the Congressional instructions revised. For Congress todeclare independence, a majority of delegations would need authorizationto vote for independence, and at least one colonial government would need

to specifically instruct (or grant permission for) its delegation to propose adeclaration of independence in Congress. Between April and July 1776, a"complex political war" was waged to bring this about.


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Draft & AdoptionWhile political maneuvering was setting the stage for an official declarationof independence, a document explaining the decision was being written. OnJune 11, 1776, Congress appointed a "Committee of Five", consisting of JohnAdams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jeffer-son of Virginia, Robert R. Livingston of New York, and Roger Sherman ofConnecticut, to draft a declaration. Because the committee left no minutes,there is some uncertainty about how the drafting process proceededaccounts written many years later by Jefferson and Adams, although fre-quently cited, are contradictory and not entirely reliable. What is certain is

that the committee, after discussing the general outline that the documentshould follow, decided that Jefferson would write the first draft. The com-mittee in general, and Jefferson in particular, thought Adams should writethe document, but Adams persuaded the committee to choose Jeffersonand promised to consult with Jefferson personally. Considering Congress'sbusy schedule, Jefferson probably had limited time for writing over the nextseventeen days, and likely wrote the draft quickly. He then consulted theothers, made some changes, and then produced another copy incorporatingthese alterations. The committee presented this copy to the Congress on

June 28, 1776. The title of the document was "A Declaration by the Repre-sentatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled."

Congress ordered that the draft "lie on the table". For two days Congressmethodically edited Jefferson's primary document, shortening it by a fourth,removing unnecessary wording, and improving sentence structure. Congressremoved Jefferson's assertion that Britain had forced slavery on the colo-nies, in order to moderate the document and appease persons in Britainwho supported the Revolution. Although Jefferson wrote that Congress had

"mangled" his draft version, the Declaration that was finally produced, ac-cording to his biographer John Ferling, was "the majestic document thatinspired both contemporaries and posterity."

On Monday, July 1, having tabled the draft of the declaration, Congress re-solved itself into a committee of the whole, with Benjamin Harrison of Vir-ginia presiding, and resumed debate on Lee's resolution of independence.John Dickinson made one last effort to delay the decision, arguing that Con-gress should not declare independence without first securing a foreign alli-

ance and finalizing the Articles of Confederation. John Adams gave a speechin reply to Dickinson, restating the case for an immediate declaration.


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After a long day of speeches, a vote was taken. As always, each colony casta single vote; the delegation for each colonynumbering two to sevenmembersvoted amongst themselves to determine the colony's vote.

Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted against declaring independence. TheNew York delegation, lacking permission to vote for independence, ab-stained. Delaware cast no vote because the delegation was split betweenThomas McKean (voted yes) and George Read (voted no). The remainingnine delegations voted in favor of independence, which meant that theresolution had been approved by the committee of the whole. The nextstep was for the resolution to be voted upon by the Congress itself. EdwardRutledge of South Carolina, who was opposed to Lee's resolution but desir-ous of unanimity, moved that the vote be postponed until the following day.

On July 2, South Carolina reversed its position and voted for independence.In the Pennsylvania delegation, Dickinson and Robert Morris abstained, al-lowing the delegation to vote three-to-two in favor of independence. Thetie in the Delaware delegation was broken by the timely arrival of CaesarRodney, who voted for independence. The New York delegation abstainedonce again, since they were still not authorized to vote for independence,although they would be allowed to do so by the New York Provincial Con-gress a week later. The resolution of independence had been adopted withtwelve affirmative votes and one abstention. With this, the colonies hadofficially severed political ties with Great Britain.

In a now-famous letter written to his wife on the following day, John Adamspredicted that July 2 would become a great American holiday. Adamsthought that the vote for independence would be commemorated; he didnot foresee that Americansincluding himselfwould instead celebrateIndependence Day on the date that the announcement of that act was final-ized.

After voting in favor of the resolution of independence, Congress turned itsattention to the committee's draft of the declaration. Over several days ofdebate, Congress made a few changes in wording and deleted nearly afourth of the text, most notably a passage critical of the slave trade, changesthat Jefferson resented.

On July 4, 1776, the wording of the Declaration of Independence was ap-proved and sent to the printer for publication.


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Annotated Text of the DeclaratioThe declaration is not divided into formal sections; but it is often discussedas consisting of five parts: Introduction, the Preamble, the Indictment ofGeorge III, the Denunciation of the British people, and the Conclusion.


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The Revolutionary WarOverview

The American War ofIndependence, or simplythe Revolutionary War inthe United States, beganas a war between GreatBritain and the ThirteenColonies, but graduallygrew into a world warbetween Britain on oneside and the newly

formed United States, France, Netherlands and Spain on the other.

American independence was achieved and European powers recognized theindependence of the United States, with mixed results for the other nationsinvolved.

France, Spain and the Dutch Republic all secretly provided supplies, ammu-nition and weapons to the revolutionaries starting early in 1776. By June1776 the Americans were in full control of every state, but then the BritishRoyal Navy captured New York City and made it their main base. The warbecame a standoff. The Royal Navy could occupy other coastal cities forbrief periods, but the rebels controlled the countryside, where 90 percent ofthe population lived.

British strategy relied on mobilizing Loyalist militia and was never fully real-ized. A British invasion from Canada in 1777 ended in the capture of theBritish army at the Battles of Saratoga.

That American victory persuaded France to enter the war openly in early1778, balancing the two sides' military strength. Spain and the Dutch Re-publicFrench alliesalso went to war with Britain over the next fouryears, threatening an invasion of Great Britain and severely testing Britishmilitary strength with campaigns in Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. Spain'sinvolvement resulted in the expulsion of British armies from West Florida,


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securing the American southern flank. The British naval victory at the Battleof the Saintes thwarted a French and Spanish plan to drive Britain out of theCaribbean and preparations for a second attempt were halted by the decla-ration of peace. A long Franco-Spanish siege of the British stronghold atGibraltar also resulted in defeat.

French involvement proved decisive yet expensive, ruining France's econ-omy and driving the country into massive debt. A French naval victory justoutside Chesapeake Bay led to a siege by combined French and Continentalarmies that forced a second British army to surrender at Yorktown, Virginiain 1781. Fighting continued during 1782, when peace negotiations began.

In 1783, the Treaty of Paris ended the war and recognized the sovereignty ofthe United States over the territory bounded roughly by what is now Canadato the north, Florida to the south, and the Mississippi River to the west. Awider international peace was agreed, in which several territories were ex-changed.

CausesThe war was the result of the political American Revolution. The British Par-liament insisted it had the right to tax colonists to finance the colonies' mili-tary defense, which had become increasingly expensive due to the Frenchand Indian Wars. The colonies argued that they already spent much throughlocal government to maintain their place in the British Empire, with Benja-min Franklin appearing before the British Parliament testifying "The Coloniesraised, clothed, and paid, during the last war, near twenty-five thousandmen, and spent many millions." The colonists claimed that, as they wereBritish subjects, imposing laws in Parliament upon the colonists, and particu-

larly taxation without representation, was illegal. The American colonistsformed a unifying Continental Congress and a shadow government in eachcolony, though at first wishing to remain in the Empire and loyal to theCrown.

The American boycott of taxed British tea led to the Boston Tea Party in1773, when shiploads of tea were destroyed. Great Britain responded byending self-government in Massachusetts and putting it under control of theBritish army with General Thomas Gage as governor. In April 1775 Gage

learned that weapons were being gathered in Concord, and he sent Britishtroops to seize and destroy them. Local militia confronted the troops andexchanged fire (see Battles of Lexington and Concord).


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After repeated pleas to the British monarchy for intervention with Parlia-ment, any chance of a compromise ended when members of Congress weredeclared traitors by royal decree, and they responded by declaring the inde-pendence of a new sovereign nation, the United States of America, on July4, 1776. American Loyalists rejected the Declaration, and sided with KingGeorge III; they were excluded from power everywhere.

American attempts to expand the rebellion into Quebec and Florida wereunsuccessful.

American Armies & MilitiasWhen the war began, the 13 colonies lacked a professional army or navy.

Each colony sponsored local militia. Militiamen were lightly armed, hadlittle training, and usually did not have uniforms. Their units served for onlya few weeks or months at a time, were reluctant to travel far from homeand thus were unavailable for extended operations, and lacked the trainingand discipline of soldiers with more experience. If properly used, however,their numbers could help the Continental armies overwhelm smaller British

forces, as at the battles of Concord, Bennington and Saratoga, and the siegeof Boston. Both sides used partisan warfare but the Americans effectivelysuppressed Loyalist activity when British regulars were not in the area.

Seeking to coordinate military efforts, the Continental Congress established(on paper) a regular army on June 14, 1775, and appointed George Wash-ington as commander-in-chief. The development of the Continental Armywas always a work in progress, and Washington used both his regulars andstate militia throughout the war.

The United States Marine Corpstraces its institutional roots to theContinental Marines of the war,formed at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia,by a resolution of the ContinentalCongress on November 10, 1775, adate regarded and celebrated as thebirthday of the Marine Corps.

At the beginning of 1776, Washington's army had 20,000 men, with two-thirds enlisted in the Continental Army and the other third in the various


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state militias. At the end of the American Revolution in 1783, both the Con-tinental Navy and Continental Marines were disbanded. The Marines wouldresurface in 1805 at the battle of Tripoli (modern day Libya).

About 250,000 men served as regulars or as militiamen for the Revolution-ary cause in the eight years of the war, but there were never more than90,000 men under arms at one time.

Armies were small by European standards of the era, largely attributable tolimitations such as lack of powder and other logistical capabilities on theAmerican side. It was also difficult for Great Britain to transport troopsacross the Atlantic and they depended on local supplies that the Patriotstried to cut off. By comparison, Frederick the Great usually commandedfrom 23,000 to 50,000 in battle. Both figures pale in comparison to the ar-mies that would be fielded in the early 19th century, where troop forma-tions approached or exceeded 100,000 men.

LoyalistsHistorians have estimated that approximately 40 to 45 percent of the colo-

nists supported the rebellion, while 15 to 20 percent remained loyal to theCrown. The rest attempted to remain neutral and kept a low profile.

At least 25,000 Loyalists fought on the side of the British. Thousands servedin the Royal Navy. On land, Loyalist forces fought alongside the British inmost battles in North America. Many Loyalists fought in partisan units, es-pecially in the Southern theater.

The British military met with many difficulties in maximizing the use of Loy-alist factions. British historian Jeremy Black wrote, "In the American war itwas clear to both royal generals and revolutionaries that organized and sig-nificant Loyalist activity would require the presence of British forces." In theSouth, the use of Loyalists presented the British with "major problems ofstrategic choice" since while it was necessary to widely disperse troops inorder to defend Loyalist areas, it was also recognized that there was a needfor "the maintenance of large concentrated forces able" to counter majorattacks from the American forces. In addition, the British were forced toensure that their military actions would not "offend Loyalist opinion", elimi-

nating such options as attempting to "live off the country", destroying prop-erty for intimidation purposes, or coercing payments from colonists ("layingthem under contribution").


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British Armies & AuxiliariesEarly in 1775, the British Army consisted of about 36,000 men worldwide,but wartime recruitment steadily increased this number. Great Britain had adifficult time appointing general officers, however. General Thomas Gage,in command of British forces in North America when the rebellion started,was criticized for being too lenient (perhaps influenced by his Americanwife). General Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst turned down an ap-pointment as commander in chief due to an unwillingness to take sides inthe conflict. Similarly, Admiral Augustus Keppel turned down a command,saying "I cannot draw the sword in such a cause." The Earl of Effingham

publicly resigned his commission when his 22nd Regiment of foot wasposted to America, and William Howe and John Burgoyne were members ofparliament who opposed military solutions to the American rebellion. Howeand Henry Clinton stated that they were unwilling participants in the warand were only following orders.

Over the course of the war, Great Britain signed treaties with various Ger-man states, which supplied about 30,000 soldiers. Germans made up aboutone-third of the British troop strength in North America. The Landgraviate of

Hesse-Kassel contributed more soldiers than any other state, and Germansoldiers became known as "Hessians" to the Americans. Revolutionaryspeakers called German soldiers "foreign mercenaries," and they arescorned as such in the Declaration of Independence. By 1779, the numberof British and German troops stationed in North America was over 60,000,although these were spread from Canada to Florida. Initially, several Ger-man principalities offered military support to Great Britain but these offerswere rejected. However, as the war dragged on it became clear that GreatBritain would need the extra manpower of the German states and led to

Great Britain seeking support from German principalities such as Hesse-Kassel and Ansbach-Bayreuth.

The Secretary of State at War Lord Barrington and the Adjutant-GeneralEdward Harvey were both strongly opposed to outright war on land. In1766 Barrington had recommended withdrawing the army from the 13Colonies to Canada, Nova Scotia and Florida. At the beginning of the war heurged a naval blockade, which would quickly damage the colonists' tradingactivities.


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Black AmericansAfrican Americansslave and freeserved on both sides during the war.The British recruited slaves belonging to Patriot masters and promised free-dom to those who served by act of Lord Dunmore's Proclamation. Becauseof manpower shortages, George Washington lifted the ban on black enlist-ment in the Continental Army in January 1776. Small all-black units wereformed in Rhode Island and Massachusetts; many slaves were promisedfreedom for serving. (Some of the men promised freedom were sent back totheir masters, after the war was over, out of political convenience. George

Washington received and ignored letters from the re-enslaved soldiers.)Another all-black unit came from Haiti with French forces. At least 5,000black soldiers fought for the Revolutionary cause.

Tens of thousands of slaves escaped during the war and joined British lines;others simply moved off into the chaos. For instance, in South Carolina,nearly 25,000 slaves (30% of the enslaved population) fled, migrated or diedduring the disruption of the war. This greatly disrupted plantation produc-tion during and after the war. When they withdrew their forces from Sa-

vannah and Charleston, the British also evacuated 10,000 slaves belongingto Loyalists. Altogether, the British evacuated nearly 20,000 blacks at theend of the war. More than 3,000 of them were freedmen and most of thesewere resettled in Nova Scotia; other blacks were sold in the West Indies.

Native AmericansMost Native Americans east of the Mississippi River were affected by the

war, and many communities were divided over the question of how to re-spond to the conflict. Though a few tribes were on friendly terms with theAmericans, most Native Americans opposed the United States as a potentialthreat to their territory. Approximately 13,000 Native Americans fought onthe British side, with the largest group coming from the Iroquois tribes, whofielded around 1,500 men. The powerful Iroquois Confederacy was shat-tered as a result of the conflict; although the Confederacy did not take sides,the Seneca, Onondaga, and Cayuga nations sided with the British. Membersof the Mohawk fought on both sides. Many Tuscarora and Oneida sided

with the colonists. The Continental Army sent the Sullivan Expedition onraids throughout New York to cripple the Iroquois tribes which had sidedwith the British. Both during and after the war friction between the Mohawk


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leaders Joseph Louis Cook and Joseph Brant, who had sided with the Ameri-cans and the British respectively, further exacerbated the split.

Creek and Seminole allies of Britain fought against Americans in Georgia andSouth Carolina. In 1778, a force of 800 Creeks destroyed American settle-ments along the Broad River in Georgia. Creek warriors also joined ThomasBrown's raids into South Carolina and assisted Britain during the Siege ofSavannah. Many Native Americans were involved in the fighting betweenBritain and Spain on the Gulf Coast and up the Mississippi Rivermostly onthe British side. Thousands of Creeks, Chickasaws, and Choctaws fought inor near major battles such as the Battle of Fort Charlotte, the Battle of Mo-bile, and the Siege of Pensacola.

Sex, Race & ClassHistorians have estimated that about 20,000 slaves defected to or were cap-tured by the British, of whom about 8,000 died from disease or wounds orwere recaptured by the Patriots, and 12,000 left the country at the end ofthe war, for freedom in Canada or slavery in the West Indies.

Studies have shown that warfare and the farming culture were sometimesincompatible. Militiamen found that living and working on the family farmhad not prepared them for wartime marches and the rigors of camp life.

Rugged individualism conflicted with military discipline and regimentation.A man's birth order often influenced his military recruitment, as youngersons went to war and older sons took charge of the farm. A person's familyresponsibilities and the prevalent patriarchy could impede mobilization.

Harvesting duties and family emergencies pulled men home regardless ofthe sergeant's orders. Some relatives might be Loyalists, creating internalstrains. On the whole, historians conclude the Revolution's effect on patri-archy and inheritance patterns favored egalitarianism.

Additional studies and research reveal that a grave complication in Virginia'smobilization of troops was the conflicting interests of distinct social classes,which tended to undercut a unified commitment to the Patriot cause. TheVirginia Assembly balanced the competing demands of elite slave owningplanters, the middling yeomen (some owning a few slaves), and landlessindentured servants, among other groups. The Assembly used deferments,taxes, military service substitute, and conscription to resolve the tensions.


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Unresolved class conflict, however, made these laws less effective. Therewere violent protests, many cases of evasion, and large-scale desertion, sothat Virginia's contributions came at embarrassingly low levels. With theBritish invasion of the state in 1781, Virginia was mired in class division as itsnative son, George Washington, made desperate appeals for troops.


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The United States ConstituOverview

The Constitution of theUnited States is the su-preme law of the UnitedStates of America.

The Constitution origi-nally consisted of sevenArticles. The first threeArticles embody the doc-trine of the separation ofpowers, whereby the

federal government is divided into three branches: the legislature, consist-ing of the bicameral Congress; the executive, consisting of the President;and the judiciary, consisting of the Supreme Court and other federal courts.

The fourth and sixth Articles frame the doctrine of federalism, describing therelationship between State and State, and between the several States andthe federal government. The fifth Article provides the procedure for amend-ing the Constitution. The seventh Article provides the procedure for ratify-ing the Constitution.

The Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787, by the ConstitutionalConvention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and ratified by conventions ineleven States. It went into effect on March 4, 1789.

Since the Constitution was adopted, it has been amended twenty-seventimes. The first ten amendments (along with two others that were not rati-fied at the time) were proposed by Congress on September 25, 1789, andwere ratified by the necessary three-fourths of the States on December 15,1791. These first ten amendments are known as the Bill of Rights .

The Constitution is interpreted, supplemented, and implemented by a large

body of constitutional law. The Constitution of the United States was thefirst constitution of its kind, and has influenced the constitutions of manyother nations.


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First GovernmentThe Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the first constitutionof the United States of America. It was drafted by the Continental Congressin mid-1776 to late 1777, and formal ratification by all 13 states was com-pleted in early 1781. The chief problem with the new government underthe Articles of Confederation was, in the words of George Washington, "nomoney."

The Continental Congress could print money; but, by 1786, the currency wasworthless.

A popular phrase of the times chimed that a useless object or person was not worth a Continental, referring to the Continen-tal dollar .

Congress could borrow money, but couldn't pay it back. No state paid alltheir U.S. taxes; Georgia paid nothing, as did New Jersey in 1785. Some fewpaid an amount equal to interest on the national debt owed to their citizens,but no more. No interest was paid on debt owed foreign governments. By1786, the United States would default on outstanding debts as their datescame due.

In the world of 1787, the United States could not defend its sovereignty asan independent nation. Most of the troops in the 625-man U.S. Army weredeployed facingbut not threateningBritish forts being maintained onAmerican soil. Those troops had not been paid; some were deserting andothers threatening mutiny. Spain closed New Orleans to American com-merce; U.S. officials protested, to no effect. Barbary Pirates began seizingAmerican ships of commerce; the Treasury had no funds to pay the pirates'extortionate demands. If any extant or new military crisis required actionthe Congress had no credit or taxing power to finance a response.

The new government of the United States was proving inadequate to theobligations of sovereignty within the confederation of the individual states.That is, although the Treaty of Paris (1783) was signed between Great Brit-ain and the United States and each of the states by name, the various indi-vidual states proceeded blithely to violate it. New York and South Carolinarepeatedly prosecuted Loyalists for wartime activity and redistributed theirlands over the protests of both Great Britain and the Confederation Con-gress. Individual state legislatures independently laid embargoes, negoti-


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ated directly with foreigners, raised armies and made war, all violating theletter and the spirit of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.

During Shays' Rebellion in Massachusetts, Congress could provide no moneyto support an endangered constituent state. Nor could Massachusetts payfor its own internal defense; General Benjamin Lincoln was obliged to raisefunds from Boston merchants to pay for a volunteer army. During the nextConvention, James Madison angrily questioned whether the Articles of Con-federation was a binding compact or even a viable government. Connecti-cut paid nothing and "positively refused" to pay U.S. assessments for twoyears.

A rumor had circulated that a "seditious party" of New York legislators hadopened a conversation with the Viceroy of Canada. To the south, the Britishwere said to be openly funding Creek Indian raids on white settlers in Geor-gia and adjacent territory. Savannah was fortified and the State of Georgiawas under martial law.

Congress was paralyzed. It could do nothing significant without nine states,and some legislation required all thirteen. When a state produced only onemember in attendance, its vote was not counted. If a state's delegationwere evenly divided, its vote could not be counted towards the nine-countrequirement. As a result, Congress had "virtually ceased trying to govern."

The vision of a "respectable nation" among nations seemed to be fading inthe eyes of revolutionaries such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklinand Rufus King. Their dream of a republic, a nation without hereditary rul-ers, with power derived from the people in frequent elections, was in doubt.

Constitutional ConventionOn February 21, 1787, the Articles Congress called a convention of statedelegates at Philadelphia to propose a plan of government. Unlike earlierattempts, the convention was not meant for new laws or piecemeal altera-tions, but for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Con-federation. The convention was not limited to commerce; rather, it wasintended to render the federal constitution adequate to the exigencies ofgovernment and the preservation of the Union." The proposal might take

effect when approved by Congress and the states.


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On the appointed day, May 14, 1787, only the Virginia and Pennsylvaniadelegations were present. A quorum of seven states met on May 25. Even-tually twelve states were represented; 74 delegates were named, 55 at-tended and 39 signed. The delegates arrived with backgrounds in local andstate government and Congress. They were judges and merchants, war vet-erans and revolutionary patriots, native-born and immigrant, establishmenteasterners and westward-looking adventurers. The participating delegatesare honored as the Constitutions Framers.

Drafting the ConstitutionThe Constitutional Convention began deliberations on May 25, 1787.

The delegates were generally convinced that an effective central govern-ment with a wide range of enforceable powers must replace the weakerCongress established by the Articles of Confederation. The high quality ofthe delegates to the convention was remarkable. As Thomas Jefferson inParis wrote to John Adams in London, "It really is an assembly of demigods."According to one view, the Framers embraced ambiguity in the constitu-tional text, since it allows for compromise and cooperation about broad

concepts rather than specific circumstances.

Delegates used two streams of intellectual tradition, and any one delegatecould be found using both or a mixture depending on the subject under dis-cussion: foreign affairs, the economy, national government, or federal rela-tionships among the states. The Virginia Plan recommended a consolidatednational government, generally favoring the most populated states. It usedthe philosophy of John Locke to rely on consent of the governed, Montes-quieu for divided government, and Edward Coke to emphasize civil liberties.

The New Jersey Plan generally favored the less populated states, using thephilosophy of English Whigs such as Edmund Burke to rely on received pro-cedure, and William Blackstone to emphasize sovereignty of the legislature.

The Convention devolved into a Committee of the Whole to consider thefifteen propositions of the Virginia Plan in their numerical order. These dis-cussions continued until June 13, when the Virginia resolutions in amendedform were reported out of committee.

All agreed to a republican form of government grounded in representing thepeople in the states. For the legislature, two issues were to be decided: howthe votes were to be allocated among the states in the Congress, and how


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the representatives should be elected. The question was settled by the Con-necticut Compromise or "Great Compromise". In the House, state powerwas to be based on population and the people would vote. In the Senate,state power was to be based on state legislature election, with two Senatorsgenerally to be elected by different state legislatures to better reflect thelong term interests of the people living in each state.

The Great Compromise ended the stalemate between patriots and na-tionalists, leading to numerous other compromises in a spirit of accommo-dation. There were sectional interests to be balanced by the three-fifthscompromise; reconciliation on Presidential term, powers, and method ofselection; and jurisdiction of the federal judiciary. Debates on the Virginiaresolutions continued. The 15 original resolutions expanded into 23.

On July 24, a committee of five (John Rutledge (SC), Edmund Randolph (VA),Nathaniel Gorham (MA), Oliver Ellsworth (CT), and James Wilson (PA)) waselected to draft a detailed constitution.

The Convention adjourned from July 26 to August 6 to await the report ofthis "Committee of Detail". Overall, the report of the committee conformedto the resolutions adopted by the Convention, adding some elements.

From August 6 to September 10, the report of the Committee of Detail wasdiscussed, section-by-section, and clause-by-clause. Details were attendedto, and further compromises were effected. Toward the close of these dis-cussions, on September 8, a "Committee of Style" of five was appointed. Itsfinal version was taken up on Monday, September 17, at the Convention'sfinal session. Several of the delegates were disappointed in the result, amakeshift series of unfortunate compromises. Some delegates left beforethe ceremony, and three others refused to sign. Of the thirty-nine signers,Benjamin Franklin summed up addressing the Convention,

"There are several parts of this Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approvethem." He would accept the Constitution , "because I expectno better and because I am not sure that it is not the best ."

The advocates of the Constitution were anxious to obtain the unanimoussupport of all twelve states represented in the Convention. Their acceptedformula was Done in Convention, by the unanimous consent of the States

present. George Washington noted in his diary that night, the proposal wasagreed to by eleven state delegations and the lone Mr. Hamilton for NewYork. Transmitted to the Articles Congress then sitting in New York City, the


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Constitution was forwarded to the states by Congress recommending theratification process outlined in the Constitution. Each state legislature wasto call elections for a Federal Convention to ratify the Constitution. Theyexpanded the franchise beyond the Constitutional requirement to morenearly embrace the people. Eleven states ratified initially, and all thirteenunanimously did so a year later. The Articles Congress certified elevenstates' beginning the new government, and called the states to hold elec-tions to begin operation. It then dissolved itself on March 4, 1789, the daythe first session of the First Congress began.

George Washington was inaugurated as President two months later.

RatificationIt was within the power of the old congress to expedite or block the ratifica-tion of the new Constitution. The document that the Philadelphia Conven-tion presented was technically a revision of the Articles of Confederation.But the last article of the new instrument provided that when ratified byconventions in nine states (or 2/3 at the time), it should go into effectamong the States so acting.

What followed was an arduous process of ratification of the Constitution byspecially constituted conventions. The need for only nine states was a con-troversial decision at the time, since the Articles of Confederation could onlybe amended by unanimous vote of all the states. However, the new Consti-tution was ratified by all thirteen states, with Rhode Island being the lastsignatory in May 1790.

Three members of the Convention Madison, Gorham, and King were also

Members of Congress. They proceeded at once to New York, where Con-gress was in session, to placate the expected opposition. Aware of theirvanishing authority, Congress, on September 28, after some debate, unani-mously decided to submit the Constitution to the States for action. It madeno recommendation for or against adoption.

Two parties soon developed, one in opposition, the Anti-Federalists, andone in support, the Federalists, of the Constitution, and the Constitution wasdebated, criticized, and expounded clause by clause. Hamilton, Madison,

and Jay, under the name of Publius, wrote a series of commentaries, nowknown as the Federalist Papers, in support of the new instrument of gov-ernment; however, the primary aim of the essays was for ratification in the


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state of New York, at that time a hotbed of anti-federalism. These commen-taries on the Constitution, written during the struggle for ratification, havebeen frequently cited by the Supreme Court as an authoritative contempo-rary interpretation of the meaning of its provisions. The closeness and bit-terness of the struggle over ratification and the conferring of additionalpowers on the central government can scarcely be exaggerated. In somestates, ratification was effected only after a bitter struggle in the state con-vention itself. In every state, the Federalists proved more united, and onlythey coordinated action between different states, as the Anti-Federalistswere localized and did not attempt to reach out to other states.

The Continental Congress, which functioned at irregular intervals, passed aresolution on September 13, 1788, to put the Constitution into operation.

Preamble : Authority & PurposeThe Constitution consists of a preamble, seven original articles, twenty-seven amendments, and a paragraph certifying its enactment by the consti-tutional convention.

Preamble : We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domesticTranquility, provide for the common defense, promote thegeneral Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to our-selves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Consti-tution for the United States of America .

The Preamble sets out the origin, scope and purpose of the Constitution. Itsorigin and authority is in We the people of the United States . This echoes

the Declaration of Independence. One people dissolved their connectionwith another, and assumed among the powers of the earth, a sovereign na-tion-state.

The scope of the Constitution is twofold:

First, to form a more perfect Union than had previously ex-isted in the perpetual Union of the Articles of Confedera-tion. Second, to secure the blessings of liberty, which wereto be enjoyed by not only the first generation, but for all whocame after, our posterity.


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This is an itemized social contract of democratic philosophy. It details howthe more perfect union was to be carried out between the national govern-ment and the people. The people are to be provided (a) justice, (b) civilpeace, (c) common defense, (d) those things of a general welfare that theycould not provide themselves, and (e) freedom.

A government of "liberty and union, now and forever", unfolds when Webegin and establish this Constitution.

Civic ReligionThere is a viewpoint that some Americans have come to see the documentsof the Constitution , along with the Declaration of Independence and the Billof Rights as being a cornerstone of a type of civil religion.

This is suggested by the prominent display of the Constitution, along withthe Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, in massive, bronze-framed, bulletproof, moisture-controlled glass containers vacuum-sealed ina rotunda by day and in multi-ton bomb-proof vaults by night at the Na-tional Archives Building.

The idea of displaying the documents strikes some academic critics lookingfrom the point of view of the 1776 or 1789 America as "idolatrous, and alsocuriously at odds with the values of the Revolution."

By 1816 Jefferson wrote that,

"some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious rever-ence and deem them like the Ark of the Covenant, too sacredto be touched. "

But he saw imperfections and imagined that potentially, there could be oth-ers, believing as he did that, " institutions must advance also ".

Some commentators depict the multi-ethnic, multi-sectarian United Statesas held together by a political orthodoxy, in contrast with a nation state ofpeople having more "natural" ties.


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EpilogueA new nation, one which stands alone among nations of the world, was cre-ated over a period of years and based principally on the tripod of situations,circumstances and events.

_____________________________

While persons in contemporary times look backward at the founding fathers

as sainted individuals, we have to remember that these were men of differ-ing professions, occupations and ideologies. And as we struggle in moderntimes to find compromise and consensus in our legislative bodies, the foun-ders persisted and succeeded in their efforts to construct a framework ontowhich a more perfect union could be established and evolve.


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The Shadow Research Group

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Continental Congress. New York: Knopf, 1979. ISBN 0-8018-2864-3

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American politics, law, and society since its drafting.

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Bancroft, George . History of the United States of America, from the discovery of the American continent. (185478), vol. 710.

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Fremont-Barnes, Gregory, and Ryerson, Richard A., eds. The Encyclopedia of the American Revolutionary War: A Political, Social, and Military History (ABC-CLIO,2006) 5 volume paper and online editions; 1000 entries by 150 experts, covering alltopics

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Hibbert, Christopher. Redcoats and Rebels: The American Revolution through BritishEyes. New York: Norton, 1990. ISBN 0-393-02895-X .

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87338-546-2 . Militia warfare.

Middlekauff, Robert . The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 17631789 . Ox-ford University Press, 1984; revised 2005. ISBN 0-19-516247-1 . online edition

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Zlatich, Marko; Copeland, Peter. General Washington's Army (1): 177578 (1994)

Zlatich, Marko. General Washington's Army (2): 177983 (1994)

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Levinson, Sanford (1987). "Pledging Faith in the Civil Religion; Or, Would You Signthe Constitution?" . 29 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 113 . Retrieved December 15, 2011.

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Pritchett, C. Herman (1959). The American Constitution . New York: McGraw-Hill.

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Wood, Gordon (1998). The creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 . ChapelHill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-4723-7 .

the lost democracy part iii

Documents