|
  
The Charters of American Liberty include the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, which together comprise the organic laws of the United States of America.
Although the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, and the U.S. Constitution signed in 1787 and ratified by 1789, the principles and philosophical underpinnings of these documents were based on the then-commonly held beliefs of the American people. These beliefs were deeply rooted in the English Common Law and in Judeo-Christian theological understandings of anthropology, the nature of Almighty God, law (as expressed in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy), and the proper role of civil government. Secondary influences included writings about the rights of man, which were gaining adherents in Europe.
These basic foundational American principles, which are incorporated into the Charters of Liberty, are unchanging: they remain as valid for Americans today as they did for our forefathers over two centuries ago.
Following is a quick historical tour about the development of these beloved Charters of Liberty. You will view photographs of historical sites where our history was made, as well as images of the actual original founding documents, which are on display inside The National Archives of the United States in Washington, D.C. Learn and enjoy! And may you pass on what you learn to your children and grandchildren, so that the flame of liberty will always burn brightly in the United States of America, the "land of the free and the home of the brave."
 
"The true principles of the Constitution itself, the principles that allow us to understand the why and wherefore of the structure and organization of this form of government, those principles are not stated in the Constitution any more than the laws of the thermodynamics and engineering that govern an architect's drawing are stated in the drawing itself.
"Those principles are stated and were acknowledged by the Founders to have been stated in the document wherewith they proclaimed the independence of this nation in the first place. And that document not only sets forth, in clear terms, the political foundations of this nation's life, they set forth, as well, the moral authority by which the people of this country claim to govern themselves. And that is not the authority of the Constitution. It is not the authority of successful military enterprise. It is not the authority of successful economic endeavors. It is the authority of the Creator, God, that we claim as the basis for our rights!"
—Alan Keyes, Ph.D., former U.S. Ambassador, appointed by President Ronald Reagan
_______________________________________________________________
The Declaration of Independence
Delegates to the Continental Congress from the 13 original Colonies met in 1776 at Independence Hall (below), then known as the Pennsylvania State Meeting House, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They formed the new nation, the united States of America, by declaring independence from Great Britain and its monarch, King George, III. In 1776, the Liberty Bell hung from the central bell tower (below), where upon the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 8th, it would signal forth the glad tidings of America's newly declared independence.
 
Pictured below is the beautifully appointed room inside Independence Hall, in which the delegates met to debate and discuss America's national future. Delegates from the 13 states would sit at the various desks with the green tablecloths, their work illuminated by candlelight when sessions ran late. The presiding officer of the Continental Congress sat in the chair on the raised dais in the front of the room. George Washington, although he was not present in 1776 (he was with the Continental Army), would many years later prior to becoming America's first President, preside over the Constitutional Convention of 1787, sitting in this same room and chair. Washington was, perhaps, first present in this room in 1775 when he was selected by Congress to be commanding General of the Continental Army.
Thomas Jefferson (center below), a Virginia lawyer and wordsmith who is generally known as the author of the Declaration of Independence, actually worked in committee with Founding Fathers Benjamin Franklin, of Philadelphia, and John Adams, of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman, of Connecticut, and Robert R. Livingston, of New York, to craft the stirring words of liberty, which have meant so much to generations of Americans, and for which many have given their lives. While working in Philadelphia, Jefferson stayed in a second floor room at the Graff House (left) and sat in this replica chair (right) as he drafted the words of the Declaration of Independence.
  
Below is Mr. Jefferson's actual draft of the first page of the Declaration of Independence. Note all of Jefferson's handwritten corrections and changes:
Because of his many contributions to our nation as author of the Declaration of Independence, and for his service as our nation's third President, Thomas Jefferson is immortalized in Washington, D.C. in the beautiful Jefferson Memorial (right) and in its inner Rotunda (left). (NOTE: Whenever you visit our nation's capital, be sure to see the Jefferson Memorial at night, not just during the daytime. The dramatic night lighting at this and other national memorials and monuments creates a very striking memory that viewers will never forget.)
 
Members of the Continental Congress (below left) officially voted on July 2, 1776, to separate from the mother country, Great Britain. After the vote, a hush fell over the room, as the delegates contemplated what they had done. John Hancock of Boston broke the silence: "Gentlemen, the price on my head has just doubled!" he exclaimed.
Samuel Adams, of Boston, the ideological leader of the movement for independence, explained their action in deeper, theological terms: "We have this day restored the Sovereign, to Whom alone men ought to be obedient. He reigns in Heaven and ... from the rising to the setting sun, may His Kingdom come!"
The Liberty Bell (right)
was rung at the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 8th. It is inscribed with the words from Leviticus 25:10 "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."
The Liberty Bell is, of course, known for its famous crack (shown center). The bell first cracked during testing, shortly after it was cast in 1751. The crack had widened significantly by the time the bell rung out the news of the death of the nation's fourth Chief Justice of the United States John Marshall in 1835. The final use of the Liberty Bell was on February 22, 1846, when the bell was sounded to herald what would have been George Washington's 114th birthday. The Liberty Bell now resides in a pavillion directly across from Independence Hall (shown in the background), where millions of visitors can see the bell close-up each year.
 
Here is a chronology of events surrounding the creation of the Declaration of Independence:
June 7, 1776 — Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, receives Richard Henry Lee's resolution urging Congress to declare independence.
June 11 — Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston appointed to a committee to draft a declaration of independence. The American army retreats to Lake Champlain from Canada.
June 12-27 — Jefferson, at the request of the committee, drafts a declaration, of which only a fragment exists. Jefferson's clean, or "fair" copy, the "original Rough draught," is reviewed by the committee. Both documents are in the manuscript collections of the Library of Congress.
June 28 — A fair copy of the committee draft of the Declaration of Independence is read in Congress.
July 1-4 — Congress debates and revises the Declaration of Independence.
July 2 — Congress declares independence as the British fleet and army arrive at New York.
July 4 — Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence in the morning of a bright, sunny, but cool Philadelphia day. John Dunlap prints the Declaration of Independence. These prints are now called "Dunlap Broadsides."
July 5 — John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, dispatches the first of Dunlap's broadsides of the Declaration of Independence to the legislatures of New Jersey and Delaware.
July 6 — Pennsylvania Evening Post of July 6 prints the first newspaper rendition of the Declaration of Independence.
July 8 — The first public reading of the Declaration is in Philadelphia.
From the Pennsylvania State Meeting House, the Liberty Bell peals forth the good news of independence across the city.
July 9 — General George Washington orders that the Declaration of Independence be read before the American Army in New York—from his personal copy of the "Dunlap Broadside."
July 19 — Congress orders the Declaration of Independence engrossed (officially inscribed) and signed by members.
August 2 — Delegates begin to sign engrossed copy of the Declaration of Independence.
As noted above, in the days before rapid communication, soldiers and town criers across the new nation read the Declaration of Independence to citizens (below left), who had gathered at government buildings and in taverns (the restaurants of the day) to hear the good news. On July 9, General George Washington orders that the Declaration of Independence be read to soliders in the Continental Army.
About July 2nd, the day Congress voted for independence, John Adams, in Philadelphia, wrote to his wife, Abigail: The day of the vote, he said,
"ought to be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore."
John Adams was wrong. As you know, it is July 4th—not July 2nd—which is celebrated each year as Independence Day in the United States of America. July 4th is recognized for the national celebration since July 4th is the day on which the members of Congress first officially adopted Jefferson's committee's wording of the Declaration of Independence, which had just been approved in principle in Congress two days prior.
 
Christ Church of Philadelphia, known as the Nation's church, (below left) was the principal church in which the Founding Fathers and members of the Continental Congress worshipped God during their time in Philadelphia.
At one time, the church had a beautiful stained glass window, known as the Christ Church Patriots 1790 Window, which showed many of the Founding Fathers at church and in prayer.
The Christ Church Patriots 1790 Stained-glass Window was permanently removed to storage in the basement of The Neighborhood House, the parish house of Christ Church, in September, 1986. It is no longer on public view. See image of the window (below right).
 
The Dunlap Broadside (below) of the Declaration of Independence was printed by Philadelphia printer John Dunlap on July 4, 1776. Twenty-four copies are known to exist, two of which are in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. One of these was George Washington's personal copy.
On July 9, General George Washington (below left) ordered that the Declaration of Independence be read before the American Army in New York — from his personal copy of the "Dunlap Broadside."
On August 2, at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, congressional delegates from the 13 original Colonies begin to sign the official, engrossed copy of the Declaration of Independence.
The famous painting, Declaration of Independence, (below right) by John Trumbull has hung in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol since 1826. It features the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence—John Adams, Roger Sherman, Thomas Jefferson (presenting the document), and Benjamin Franklin—standing before John Hancock, the president of the Continental Congress. Robert R. Livingston, one of the committee of five that drafted the Declaration of Independence, was not present at the signing on Aug. 2. The painting includes portraits of 42 of the 56 signers and 5 other patriots. The artist Trumbull sketched the individuals and the room from life. He completed the painting in 1819.
Signing the Declaration of Independence was a dangerous act. To call the king of England a tyrant—especially in such a public and eloquent way—was high treason, punishable by death.
John Hancock was the first to sign the historic document. He signed his name prominently and in very large script. "There," he said; "King George should be able to read that without his spectacles."
After he signed the document, Benjamin Franklin, the leading humorist of the day, quipped, "We must all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately."
In support of the Declaration of Independence, and with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, the 56 signatories mutually pledged to each other their lives, fortunes and sacred honor.
 
The original Declaration of Independence, signed on August 2, 1776, is displayed and held in strictest security inside the National Archives of the United States Building in Washington, D.C. (below left). The Charters of Liberty, also including the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, are displayed to the general public inside the Great Rotunda of the Archives Building (below right) and are guarded 24-hours-a-day.
 
Below is a high resolution image of the original signed Declaration of Independence, which is on public display inside the Archives Building.
You immediately notice that, after over two and a quarter centuries of weathering and aging, and despite the best efforts at document conservation, the words and signatures on the Declaration are clearly fading. That is why patriotic Americans must place the words of the Declaration of Independence upon our hearts, so that our nation might continue to live in liberty, under God, forevermore:
Perhaps the most famous version of the Declaration of Independence is the Stone Engraving (below). This engraving of the Declaration of Independence was printed by William J. Stone in 1823, during a time of renewed patriotism when the young nation was approaching its 50th anniversary. Stone's engraving is the image most illustrated in history books, formerly displayed in public schools and libraries, and sold as souvenirs:
The Declaration of Independence, the founding document of the United States of America, which some historians today mistakenly assert was adopted by secularists and Deists, contains these telling phrases:
"the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them. . .
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. . .
"[A]ppealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions. . .
"[W]ith a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence. . ."
Consider and ponder their meanings.
In actual truth, the vast majority of our nation's Founding Fathers were committed Christians from various denominations. According to Rick Green, with Wallbuilders in Aledo, Texas, 24 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence actually had post-graduate seminary degrees.
As Mr. Green says, "That's pretty good for a bunch of Deists and secularists!"
To learn much more about the Declaration of Independence, please visit the Resources section of this Web-site. There, you will find OFPC-recommended books and DVDs about American History and the Declaration of Independence/U.S. Constitution/Bill of Rights.
  
Pictures and images, while important icons of our national history, can never convey the real power evoked by the actual words of the Declaration of Independence. Imagine that it is the fall of 1776: you are King George, III, sitting inside Buckingham Palace in London, reading, for the first time, the words of your disloyal subjects. Or, better yet, imagine that you are a Son or Daughter of Liberty in colonial Boston, who only yearns to live free of the many abuses of the Crown, in political, economic, and religious Liberty, and subject only to the commands of Almighty God.
The Declaration of Independence (Transcript)
Following is a transcription of the original document:
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
[The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:]
Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton
_______________________________________________________________
The United States Constitution
You may be surprised to learn that t he U.S. Constitution was not the first governing document of the new nation. Shortly after independence from Great Britain was declared in 1776, and while the war was still being prosecuted, the Second Continental Congress began its work on Articles of Confederation, which would allow the various states to govern themselves and work together as the united States of America.
The Articles of Confederation were in effect for eight years—from 1781, when they were ratified, to 1789, when the present U.S. Constitution became the Supreme law of the land.
Articles of Confederation
Title page from a 1777 popular edition of the Articles of Confederation (below):
Original Articles of Confederation, ratified 1781, page 1 (below)
Under the Articles of Confederation, the Congress had power to regulate foreign affairs, war, and the postal service and to appoint military officers, control Indian affairs, borrow money, determine the value of coin, and issue bills of credit. In reality, however, the Articles gave the Congress no power to enforce its requests to the states for money or troops, and by the end of 1786 governmental effectiveness had broken down.
Nevertheless, some solid accomplishments had been achieved: certain state claims to western lands were settled, and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established the fundamental pattern of evolving government in the territories north of the Ohio River. Equally important, the Confederation provided the new nation with instructive experience in self-government under a written document. In revealing their own weaknesses, the Articles paved the way for the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and the present form of U.S. government.
About the Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation were in force from March 1, 1781, to March 4, 1789, when the present Constitution of the United States was finally ratified by the various states. During those years the 13 young states were struggling to achieve and practice their independent status, and the Articles of Confederation stood them in good stead in the process and exercise of learning self-government.
The Articles created a loose confederation of independent states that gave limited powers to a central government. The national government would consist of a single house of Congress, where each state would have one vote. Congress had the power to set up a postal department, to estimate the costs of the government and request donations from the states, to raise armed forces, and to control the development of the western territories. With the consent of nine of the thirteen states, Congress could also coin, borrow, or appropriate money as well as declare war and enter into treaties and alliances with foreign nations.
There was no independent executive and no veto of legislation. Judicial proceedings in each state were to be honored by all other states. The federal government had no judicial branch, and the only judicial authority Congress had was the power to arbitrate disputes between states. Congress was denied the power to levy taxes; the new federal government was financed by donations from the states based on the value of each state's lands. Any amendment to the articles required the unanimous approval of all 13 states.
Weaknesses
In attempting to limit the power of the central government, the Second Continental Congress created one without sufficient power to govern effectively, which led to serious national and international problems. The greatest weakness of the federal government under the Articles of Confederation was its inability to regulate trade and levy taxes. Sometimes the states refused to give the government the money it needed, and they engaged in tariff wars with one another, almost paralyzing interstate commerce. The government could not pay off the debts it had incurred during the revolution, including paying soldiers who had fought in the war and citizens who had provided supplies to the cause. Congress could not pass needed measures because they lacked the nine-state majority required to become laws. The states largely ignored Congress, which was powerless to enforce cooperation, and it was therefore unable to carry out its duties.
After the Colonial victory in the Revolutionary War, it became obvious to the Founding Fathers that the original attempt would not be equal to the task of providing the equitable law which they sought.
Congress could not force the states to adhere to the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1783 ending the American Revolution, which was humiliating to the new government, especially when some states started their own negotiations with foreign countries. In addition, the new nation was unable to defend its borders from British and Spanish encroachment because it could not pay for an army when the states would not contribute the necessary funds.
Leaders like Alexander Hamilton of New York and James Madison of Virginia criticized the limits placed on the central government, and General George Washington is said to have complained that the federation was "little more than a shadow without substance."
On February 21, 1787, Congress called for a Constitutional Convention to be held in May to revise the Articles of Confederation. Between May and September, the Constitutional Convention wrote the present Constitution for the United States, which retained some of the features of the Articles of Confederation but gave considerably more power to the federal government. The new U.S. Constitution provided for executive and judicial branches of government, which were lacking in the Articles, and allowed the government to tax its citizens.
Constitutional Convention of 1787
Again, delegates from the 13 states gathered at Independence Hall in Philadelphia (below), the site of so many historic events in the nation's young history.
 
Below is Howard Chandler Christy's famous painting, Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States (on September 17, 1787).
This painting, which was completed in 1940, now hangs in the east Grand Stairway in the House wing of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Christy personally visited Independence Hall in the 1930's to conduct research for his painting. He wanted to get the lighting of the room just right. Compare this painting to the photograph of the actual room at the very top of this page. Although the drapes are open in the painting, in 1787, they were actually closed to insure privacy for the delegates in their deliberations.
Christy painted the faces of each of the men from their official portraits. These portraits used to be on display inside Independence Hall in Philadelphia. You will not see them today; they were removed when the building was undergoing rennovation to restore its original appearance, just prior to the celebration for the Bicentennial of the United States in 1976.
George Washington, the presiding officer of the Constitutional Convention (and later first President of the United States under the Constitution they adopted), stands on the raised dais on the right. Notice his chair, which is the same one you see in the actual room today. Behind Washington are a drum and four flags, the most prominent of which is the one sewn by Betsy Ross, herself a Philadelphia resident, in 1776.
In the front center section of the painting, you will recognize several Founding Fathers:
Benjamin Franklin, James Madison (the "Father of the Constitution" and the nation's fourth President), Alexander Hamilton, Governeur Morris, Robert Morris (the financier of the War for Independence), and James Wilson.
To the left, the men raising their hands toward Washington are covering the faces of two signers,
Pierce Butler of South Carolina and Thomas Fitzsimmons of Virginia. Christy was unable to find official portraits of these men, so he had members of the South Carolina delegation cover their faces with their arms.
At the very center of the painting is William Jackson. Interestingly, Mr. Jackson was not a delegate or signer of the Constitution; he was the clerk who recorded all the various resolutions and votes during the Convention. Mr. Christy portrays him as centrally important because he recorded all the official deliberations.
When you visit Washington, D.C., be sure to look for this very large and famous painting in the House wing of the United States Capitol. A legend map is available at the Capitol to identify each of the Constitutional Convention delegates for you.
At the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin (shown at different ages below) was a delegate from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and at age 81, the oldest man there (in an day when living to an advanced age was quite uncommon). By 1787, Dr. Franklin was, arguably, the most famous person in America after George Washington.
 
On Thursday, June 28, 1787, Benjamin Franklin delivered what is, perhaps, his most famous speech ever. His remarks came at a time in which the delegates were hopelessly mired in confusion and inactivity. Tempers were flaring, factions and state interests appeared to be winning the day to prevent agreement, and the delegates seemed to be no closer to writing a new Constitution for a great nation than they were when they had first started in May.
Like some of those who had gone home in disgust, Dr. Franklin had had his "fill" of the sorry proceeding. As the close of business approached, he could hold his peace and ignore the problem no longer. The "sage" of the convention caught the attention of George Washington and asked to be heard.
Dr. Franklin, the elder statesman, rose to his feet and said:
"Mr. President: [addressed to the presiding officer, George Washington]
The small progress we have made after four or five weeks close attendance and continual reasonings with each other—our different sentiments on almost every question, several of the last producing as many noes as ayes, is methinks a melancholy proof of the imperfection of the Human Understanding. We indeed seem to feel our own wont of political wisdom, since we have been running about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient history for models of government, and examined the different forms of those Republics which having been formed with the seeds of their own dissolution now no longer exist. And we have viewed Modern States all round Europe, but find none of their Constitutions suitable to our circumstances.
In this situation of this Assembly groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings? In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the Divine Protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a Superintending Providence in our favor. To that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? or do we imagine that we no longer need His assistance.
I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that "except the Lord build they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall be become a reproach and a bye word down to future age. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human Wisdom, and leave it to chance, war, and conquest.
I therefore beg leave to move—that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of this City be requested to officiate in that service."
"Mr. President, I second the motion," said Roger Sherman of Connecticut.
Alexander Hamilton noted that, perhaps, such a resolution might have been more appropriate when the delegation had first convened the previous May, but indicated that the public might now perceive "the embarrassments and dissensions within the Convention" which had led to the measure.
"Mr. President, I second the motion," said Roger Sherman of Connecticut.
Edmund Randolph suggested that a sermon be presented on July 4th, just six days away, and that from that day forward prayers be read in the Constitutional Convention every morning. Benjamin Franklin seconded the motion, which was accepted without a vote.
It is somewhat unclear to what extent the delegates followed Dr. Franklin's motion. But, we can have no doubt that Providence heard Franklin's plea and the prayers of the delegates in Philadelphia that hot summer.
For, just two and a half months later, the Constitutional Convention adjourned having successfully drafted a document for a form of government unlike anything in human history, the United States Constitution.
For more information from Wallbuilders about the controversies surrounding Franklin's speech, visit: http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=98
To learn much more about the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and the United States Constitution itself, please visit the Resources section of this Web-site. There, you will find OFPC-recommended books and DVDs about American History and the Declaration of Independence/U.S. Constitution/Bill of Rights.
The United States Constitution
Below are four high resolution images of the actual, original pages of the United States Constitution, which was signed September 17, 1787. Like the other Charters of Liberty, the U.S. Constitution is on display inside the National Archives of the United States.
You will notice that, like the Declaration of Independence, the words of the world's oldest existing Constitution are fading with age. May our veneration for this document, the safeguard of our God-given form of constitutional government, never fade from our hearts and minds.
The actual text of the Constitution is given below:
The United States Constitution (Transcript)
Following is a transcription of the original document as adopted in 1787 and ratified in 1789 (corrected to reflect today's spellings):
The United States Constitution
PREAMBLE
We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, 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.
ARTICLE 1.--SECTION 1.
1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
SECTION 2.
1. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several States; and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature.
2. No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.
3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by each State shall have at least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three; Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one; Connecticut five; New York six; New Jersey four; Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one; Maryland six; Virginia ten; North Carolina five; South Carolina five; and Georgia three.
4. When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.
5. The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker, and other officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment.
SECTION 3.
1. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote.
2. Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided, as equally as may be, into three classes. The seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one-third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen, by resignation or otherwise, during the recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.
3. No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.
4. The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.
5. The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the office of President of the United States.
6. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside; and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present.
7. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit, under the United States; but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according to law.
SECTION 4.
1. The times, places, and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof, but the Congress may, at any time, by law, make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators.
2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.
SECTION 5.
1. Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members; and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties, as each House may provide.
2. Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member.
3. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either House, on any question, shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.
4. Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn to more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.
SECTION 6.
1. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. They shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to or returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place.
2. No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no person holding any office under the United States shall be a member of either House during his continuance in office.
SECTION 7.
1. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments, as on other bills.
2. Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the person voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each House respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.
3. Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary, (except on a question of adjournment,) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or, being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.
SECTION 8.
The Congress shall have power--
1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts, and excises, shall be uniform throughout the United States:
2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States:
3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes:
4. To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States:
5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures:
6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States:
7. To establish post offices and post roads:
8. To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing, for limited times, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries:
9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court; to define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations:
10. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land water:
11. To raise and support armies; but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years:
12. To provide and maintain a navy:
13. To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces:
14. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions:
15. To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress:
16. To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of Government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased, by the consent of the Legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings: and
17. To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any department or office thereof.
SECTION 9.
1. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight; but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.
2. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it.
3. No bill of attainder, or ex post facto law, shall be passed.
4. No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken.
5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State; no preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one State over those of another; nor shall vessels bound to or from one State be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another.
6. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time.
7. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States, and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
SECTION 10.
1. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts; or grant any title of nobility.
2. No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net produce of all duties and imposts laid by any State on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States, and such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.
ARTICLE II.--SECTION 1.
1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be elected as follows:
2. Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress; but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.
3. The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each; which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately choose, by ballot, one of them for President; and if no person have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said House shall, in like manner, choose the President. But, in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. In every case, af ter the choice of the President, the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them, by ballot, the Vice President.
4. The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the United States.
5. No person, except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.
6. In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President; and the Congress may, by law, provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what officer shall then act as President; and such officer shall act accordingly until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.
7. The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the United States, or any of them.
8. Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation:
9. "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the United States."
SECTION 2.
1. The President shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several States when called into the actual service of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices; and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.
2. He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law. But the Congress may, by law, vest the appointment of such inferior officers as they think proper in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.
3. The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session.
SECTION 3.
1. He shall, from time to time, give to the Congress information of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and, in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed; and shall commission all the officers of the United States.
SECTION 4.
1. The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
ARTICLE III.--SECTION 1.
1. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the Supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior; and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.
SECTION 2.
1. The judicial power shall extend to all cases in law and equity arising under the constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to which the United States shall be a party; to controversies between two or more States; between a State and citizens of another State, between citizens of different States, between citizens of the same State claiming lands under grants of different States, and between a State, or the citizens thereof, and foreign States, citizens, or subjects.
2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a State shall be a party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations, as the Congress shall make.
3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury, and such trial shall be held in the State where the said crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.
SECTION 3.
1. Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.
2. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason; but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted.
ARTICLE IV.--SECTION 1.
1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.
SECTION 2.
1. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States.
2. A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice and be found in another State, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime.
3. No person held to service or labor in one State under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor; but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.
SECTION 3.
1. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State, nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned, as well as of the Congress.
2. The Congress shall have power to dispose of, and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular State.
SECTION 4.
1. The United States shall guaranty to every State in this Union a republican form of Government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and, on application of the Legislature, or of the Executive, (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic violence.
ARTICLE V.
1. The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this constitution; or, on the application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of this constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress: Provided, That no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.
ARTICLE VI.
1. All debts contracted, and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this constitution as under the confederation.
2. This constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any thing in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.
3. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.
ARTICLE VII.
1. The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be sufficient for the establishment of this constitution between the States so ratifying the same.
Done in Convention, by the unanimous consent of the States present, the seventeenth day September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the independence of the United States of America the twelfth. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names.
GEORGE WASHINGTON,
President and deputy from Virginia.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
John Langdon,
Nicholas Gilman.
MASSACHUSETTS.
Nathaniel Gorham,
Rufus King.
CONNECTICUT.
William Samuel Johnson,
Roger Sherman.
NEW YORK.
Alexander Hamilton.
NEW JERSEY.
William Livingston,
David Brearly,
William Patterson,
Jonathan Dayton.
PENNSYLVANIA.
Benjamin Franklin,
Thomas Mifflin,
Robert Morris,
George Clymer,
Thomas Fitzsimons,
Jared Ingersoll,
James Wilson,
Governeur Morris.
DELAWARE.
George Read,
Gunning Bedford, Jun.
John Dickinson,
Richard Bassett,
Jacob Broom.
MARYLAND.
James McHenry,
Daniel of St. Tho. Jenifer,
Daniel Carroll.
VIRGINIA.
John Blair,
James Madison, Jun.
NORTH CAROLINA.
William Blount,
Richard Dobbs Spaight,
Hugh Williamson.
SOUTH CAROLINA.
John Rutledge,
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney,
Charles Pinckney,
Pierce Butler.
GEORGIA.
William Few,
Abraham Baldwin.
Attest, WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary.
_______________________________________________________________
Pictured below, citizens gathered in a New York tavern (i.e., a restaurant) read their newspapers to learn about the specific details of the proposed United States Constitution, the emerging ratification arguments pro and con, and prospects for a Bill of Rights.
The new U.S. Constitution, which had begun to circulate among the 13 states for ratification, provided a blueprint for how the national government would function, but it did not contain a section specifically outlining the rights of individual citizens. A public debate quickly arose.
Advocates of the draft constitution argued that guarantees of individual rights were not needed.
Others, however, aware of the explicit rights guaranteed in earlier documents such as the British Bill of Rights (1689) and the Virginia Declaration of Rights in 1776, believed that some specific provision stating the rights of individuals was necessary.
Patrick Henry, of Virginia, the lawyer who delivered his famous "Give me liberty or give me death" speech prior to the start of the War for Independence, was one of those adamantly opposed to ratification of the new Constitution unless it included a Bill of Rights.
At the height of the debate, in December 1787, Thomas Jefferson, then serving as ambassador to France, wrote a letter to his friend James Madison, one of the chief authors of the new constitution. "A bill of rights," Jefferson wrote, "is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference."
Jefferson's position gained advocates, and a compromise was reached. State legislatures agreed to ratify the draft document with the understanding that the first national legislature meeting under the new constitution would pass amendments guaranteeing individual liberties. That is precisely what occurred. By 1791, these 10 amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, had become part of the Supreme law of the land.
_______________________________________________________________
The Bill of Rights (Amendments 1-10)
The high resolution image of the original Bill of Rights, on display inside the National Archives of the United States, is below:
The transcript of the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution follows:
The Bill of Rights – Amendments 1-10 (Transcript)
Below is a transcription of the original document:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
_______________________________________________________________
To learn much more about the Bill of Rights, please visit the Resources section of this Web-site. There, you will find OFPC-recommended books and DVDs about American History and the Declaration of Independence/U.S. Constitution/Bill of Rights.
The National Archives of the United States
Whenever you travel to Washington, D.C., be sure to visit the National Archives of the United States to view the Charters of Liberty for yourself. The National Archives Building is located at the top of the Federal Triangle and is serviced by The Metro, Washington, D.C.'s excellent subway system.
 
For more information, visit the National Archives' Web-site: Charters of Freedom — The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, The Bill of Rights.
_______________________________________________________________
| 
