Radio Script #1311

Little Talks on Common Things
April 25, 1982

Last week we called attention to some little known facts

about the Declaration of Independence. Today we turn to the Constitution

of the U.S.

In l78l~ before the Revolution was over~ the Continental Congress

adopted what were called Articles of Confederation. They gave

no supreme power to a central government. but they did provide for a

loose kind of concentration among the colonies and they did use the

word “union”. The articles were indeed given the title “Articles

of Confederation and Perpetual Union.” They provided that each state

should have one vote on all issues presented to the Continental Congress.

Expenses of the central government were to be paid by contributions

from each state on the basis of its own tax vaulation~ not on

the number of inhabitants. Important was the ceding by the states to the

central government of the management of coastal waters and certain lands

not then within anyone state. The name of the central legislative

body was then changed from “Continental Congress” to “The United States

in Congress Assembled.”

Between 1781 and 1787 several attempts to amend the Articles of

Confederation had little effect. Alexander Hamilton led a group that

insisted on a convention to examine the entire question of the

relation of the 13 states to a central government. They succeeded in

getting consent to a constitutional convention which assembled in Philadelphia

on May 25. 1787. The delegates ranged in age from Jonathan

Dayton of ~ew Jersey. 26 years old, to Benjamin Franklin. aged 8l.

Highly respected ,Jere Franklin and ‘i.Jashington. but the active leaders proved

to be James Madison and George ~Iason. both from Virginia.

The major issue was whether to amend the existing Articles or

Confederation. or set up a wholly new foro of government. After more

than a week of heated debate, it was decided to scrap the old articles

and begin anew. As a start they agreed to consider a plan presented by

Edward Randolph known as the Virginia Plan of Cnion.

The plan called for a bicameral government, with both houses

having representation from the states a~cording to population. The lower house

would be elected directly by the people, the upper house by the state

legislatures. The president would be elected by Congress. A judiciary would

consist of a supreme court and inferior courts. A council composed of

the President and members of the Supreme Court would have veto power over

Congressional legislation.

Objections were quickly voiced to several parts of “the Virginia

Plan. Some of the delegates wanted to retain the existing policy of

having each state entitled to a single vote. Others preferred a single

house to a bicameral legislature. Many were opposed to a council with

veto power, feeling that such power should be given to the President alone.

As debate went on, it became clear that those who preferred a

strong central government were going to prevail over those who wanted almost

all power left to the separate states, though the states rights group

proved strong enough to win many concessions before the final draft was

approved. That sharp division of opinion led to the formation of the

nation’s first political parties, the Federalists led by John Adams and

Alexander Hamilton, and the Democratic-Republicans led by Jefferson and

Madison. As the Democratic Party, the latter would later come under the

leadership of Andrew Jackson.

It was Robert Sherman of Connecticut who proposed the plan of

representation that was eventually adopted, whereby the lower house was

elected from the states in proportion to population, while the states

rights principle was protected by having each state, regardless of

population, have two members in the upper house, the Senate.

In counting population, a problem arose regarding Negroes. The

slaves had no rights as citizens and were regarded as property, like

land or buildings. Should they be counted as people? A compromise

resulted in counting five Negroes as equal to three whites, so that to

its white population each state could add three-fifths of its slaves

to reach the total on which representation in the House of Representatives

would be based.

 

It took two weeks to resolve other matters. Representatives

were to have two-year terms, senators six years. The President’s term

would be four years. Only Congress, not anyone state, could regulate

interstate and foreign commerce. No state could set up barriers of

trade against any other state. Only the central government could declare

and wage war, and to it alone was given the power to coin money.

When all points had been decided, Governor Morris of Pennsylvania

was appointed to make the final draft of the new constitution. On

September 12, 1787, the Congress began to take up Morris’ draft clause

by clause. After five days of intense debate the matter of adoption

of the Constitution came to a vote on Septe~ber 17, 1787. Of the 45

delegates, 42 voted in favor. The three dissenters were Randolph and

Mason of Virginia and Gerry of Massachusetts.

Then the Constitution had to be ratified separately by the states.

The first nine to ratify were in order, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Georgia,

Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire and

New Jersey. By the end of June 1788, New,York, Virginia and North Carolina

had approved. The only state actually to vote against the Constitution

was Rhode Island, and it did not change its position until 1790.

Congress proceeded at once to set up the new government. The

national capital was fixed as New York City and February 9, 1789 was set

as the date for electors from the 13 states to choose a President and

a Vice President. They made unanimous choice of George Washington as

President and John Adams as Vice President. The first Congress to

convene under the constitution met on March 4, 1789 and Washington was

inaugurated on April 30. He delivered the nation’s first inaugural

address in the new Federal Hall in New York City.

In September 1789, James Madison presented ten amendments based

on the Virginia Bill of Rights. They were speedily adopted and

became the Constitution’s first ten amendments, what we now call our

national Bill of Rights.

Besides setting up the new government itself and providing

for election of its personnel, what did the Constitution actually do?

First, it set up three distinct branches to be checks on each

other; legislative, executive and judicial. That third branch became

very important. Its purpose was to see that the Constitution was

-.

never violated by state laws or by Congress itself. Congress could

pass a law, the President could sign it, but the Supreme Court could

overturn it if the Court decided it violated the Constitution.

Certain powers were taken from the states and conferred on the

federal government. Only the Congress could establish post offices.

Besides having exclusive power to make war, it could, in emergency,

call the state militias into federal service.

The Constitution contained a number of important negatives.

The habeas corpus act could not be repealed except in case of rebellion

or invasion. No tax or duty could be levied on goods transported

from one state to another. No port in any state could be closed to

vessels from another state. No title of nobility could be conferred

on any Amer, ican citizen. No person holding office could accept from

any king, prince or foreign potentate, a gift of any kind without

consent of Congress. No state could enter into any agreement with a

foreign power.

Little was specifically said in the Constitution about the rights

of states, except to assure equal representation in the Senate regardless

of the state’s size. However, a broad, general provision did protect

the states. It said: “The U.S. shall guarantee to every state in this

union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them

against invasion, and on application of the state legislature or its

chief executive. shall protect the state against domestic violence.”

Because there has recently been much controversy about extending

the date for ratification of ERA, the Equal Rights Amendment, it may

be ~,.rell to see t .. hat the Constitution says .:lbout the process of amendmente

The wording is: “Con~ress. whenever the two-thirds of both

hOUSeS shall det!!’l it necessary. shall prepare amendments to the Constit~:

ion. or 0n applic.:ltion of the legisl.:lturcs of two-thirds of the

states, shall call a convention for the purpose of preparing amendments,

which in either case shall become valid when ratified by the legislatures

of three-fourths of the states.”

Thus, the Constitution does not say how long a time must be allowed

for three-fourths of the states to ratify. That matter was left for

Congress to decide on each specific amendment or group of amendments.

In recent years it is not the original Constitution, but its

first ten amendments that have excited most controversy. Let us see

what some of those controversial amendments actually said.

The much debated First Amendment was worded: “Congress shall

make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting

the free exercise thereof, or abridge freedom of speech or of the press,

or the right of people peaceably to assemble and petition the government

for redress of grievances.”

The first clause of that amendment brings up the age-old issue of

the relation of church and state. In recent years the Supreme Court

has given it a strict interpretation, barring religious exercise from the

public schools. It is questioned whether the framers of the amendment

intended such an interpretation, but that rather they meant to protect

the nation from dominance by anyone sect, as had happened under the

Congregationalists in Massachusetts and under the Church of England in

Virginia.In 1982 that basic issue is by no means yet settled.

The tenth amendment has also aroused controversy. It says:

“Powers not delegated to the states by the Constitution. or prohibited

by it to the states, shall be reserved to the states themselves or to

the people.” What is meant by “the people?” Is it the people of a

state or the people of the entire nation?

All of these uncertainties show the wisdom of the founding

fathers in settin~ up a Supre~e Court. At any particular point in time.

every clause in the Constitution means what the existing Supreme Court

says it means. But a subsequent Supreme Court may, in a later time.

completely reverse a decision. That happened in the Dred Scot case more

than l~5 years ago. The Court declared a ~e~ro to be property. not a

person; but ten years later that decision was reversed.

Sincere, devout people who today do not like the Court’s

decision on prayer in the schools, must’respect and obey that decision,

but they have every right to urge its reversal by some later Supreme

Court or even a Constitutional amendment that would reverse it.