Constitution Of The United States (1955)

the people of the United States are governed by the rule of law a body of law that rests on a single document the Federal Constitution this the Constitution of the United States stands as the fundamental law of the land law that defines both the form and the power of the national government law that was created by a stroke of political genius in one of America's Darkest [Music] Hours in 1783 Americans had won their independence but they faced a new responsibility the task of creating a nation out of 13 states but hard times were stalking the land the people were plunging deep into death in Massachusetts the courts were confiscating farmers lands for payment of their deaths this led to Rebellion your honor the defendant has admitted his death to my client in such a case the law is clear we call upon the court to render judgments and to order the sail of the defendants lands in satisfaction of our claim ince I order that this court be cleared no you're not going to do that we're here to get Justice Captain Daniel Shas you are in contempt of court I will see you jailed for this Oh no you're not going to judge me or any other man in this County you'll adjourn this court or we'll clear you out now this is unlawful Rebellion against the sovereign state of Massachusetts what you will judge we're not going to stand by and watch the people lose their homes see you take away their lands the long the government won't help us we've got to change the law in the [Applause] [Music] government the rising of farmers in Western massach came to be called Shay's Rebellion it shot the country but it was not an isolated incident it reflected the Deep distress of farmers and Frontiers men throughout the land in the towns and cities men spoke with alarm of Anarchy and complained of their own grievances Merchants were hotly resentful of Acts of the states that hampered trade oh here's one more item Mr Hardwick I see here that you have 100 of these kegs of Nails in transit from New York to Connecticut now the Tariff on these the Tariff on those how can the state of New York Levy a tariff on na nails to be sold in the state of Connecticut I'll have to pay Connecticut the Tariff besides I sir but these nails were discharged as Cargo in New York the law says you'll pay look here my friend do you know what your government and the other state governments are doing to the people of this country you're wrecking our trade and ruining our industry and not only with these tariffs either look here look at all this money and every bit of it worthless Continental money H not worth a continental I suppose no indeed they aren't sir and if these evils burden us much longer my trade won't be worth a continental e so be that as it may sir perhaps tariffs and worthless paper money were only two of the evils plaguing the nation 3,000 M away in London an American representative was facing another evil next question Lord Sheffield I have the note of my government respecting regulations of your government excluding American shipping from certain British ports ah yes Mr Adams my government has studied the note with great Attention our great attention I assure you but we do not choose to reply at this time permit me to say again your Excellency that these regulations have virtually closed British Markets to Amer American person shipping this has brought great hardship on our people Mr Adams when your government as you call it of Paris then we shall be disposed to discuss this matter your Excellency let me assure you again that my government the Congress is doing all it can to persuade the states to observe the terms of the treaty but not one shilling has been paid to British citizens to compensate their loss of property in the war Mr Adams I have to tell you that my government finds it quite impossible to deal with an animal that has 13 fists and no [Music] head back home in Philadelphia the feeble Congress of the Confederation delayed and squabbled under the Articles of Confederation there was no executive Congress was a loose assembly of Representatives of independent Sovereign States Congress had little power beyond making war and conducting Foreign Affairs it had no power to raise money except through grants from the states this made the Congress wholly dependent on the goodwi of state governments in the face of quarrels at home and threats abroad congressmen were unable to act military force sir Shay and his Outlaws should be put down by military force I fancy the authorities of Massachusetts obain to that but the state may not be able to put down the Outlaws alone very possibly but you won't see the states giving Congress the means to do it no the states keep their money at home so many states have refused to a our requisition lately that this government can scarcely pay its bills and the states are right a standing army is a threat to Liberty how easy for ambitious men to turn it against the states and the people oh sir you fear strong government too much if elds of these days are not soon remedied we'll have no government I don't agree while some men feared strong government others were alarmed as the States became embroiled in quarrels over lands boundaries and commerce a dispute broke out between Maryland and Virginia over navigation on the pomac river this led to the calling of a convention to meet at Annapolis in September 1786 to this meeting other states were invited Shay's rebellion was still at its height and some farseeing leaders saw in the meeting an opportunity to take action before the convention assembled they gathered at Mount Vernon to plan a bold undertaking General Washington another such outbreak as this Massachusetts Affair and we shall have Anarchy I foresee trouble in other places also yes Colonel Hamilton there are combustibles in every state that a spark might set fire to but who besides a Tor or a Britain would have predicted this quite true General Madison and I have been talking over a plan of action we feel that no halfway measures will do no General no use to talk of amending the Articles of Confederation what is your plan about this meeting at Annapolis General with your influence and the support of others we might use this meeting to make a general appeal for Action toward a new framework of government we must not let this opportunity slip away General under Washington's leadership the plan succeeded delegates from five states met at Annapolis to send out a call for a convention to revise the Articles of Confederation in May 1787 the Old State House in Philadelphia saw the Gathering of delegates for this convention it was a meeting almost unique in history seldom before had men assembled for the expressed purpose of drafting a written Constitution for a nation but but these men held in common with other Americans that the powers of government should be bound by written [Music] law when the meeting began the delegates faced one question had they come to amend the Articles of Confederation or to Fashion a new framework of government as Madison recorded in his journal this was the major issue when Virginia's Governor Randolph Rose to propose a wholly new plan of federal government this the Virginia Plan called for a government that was National in power the plan provided for a legislature in which representation would be based on population this touched off the bitterest debate how the members of the federal legislature were to be chosen speaking out for popular election and a strong government was Pennsylvania's James Wilson I must insist upon drawing the most numerous branch of the legislature immediately from the people I am for raising the federal pyramid to a considerable altitude and for that reason wish to give it as broad a base as possible no no the election should be by the state legislators I hold the people should have immediately as little to do as may be about the government the people want for information and are constantly liable to be misled Roger Sherman of Connecticut had spoken for a group of delegates from the small smaller States the debates quickly became a struggle between this small state faction and The Advocates of strong government who came chiefly from the larger States as heated argument continued the small state were a counter plan by Patterson of New Jersey if Randolph's plan prevails we may take ourselves home Maryland will never give up her Freedom nor will Connecticut Mr Martin my state will never stand by I to see Pennsylvania and Virginia rule the country neither will New Jersey now here is a plan I have made a proposal to bring the convention back to its senses you'll see I've enlarged the revenue powers of the Congress but maintain the principle of equal representation for every state I am particularly pleased with this your proposition that the executive shall be appointed by the Congress and not by the people yes and to let the state legislatures continue to appoint the members of Congress gentlemen if the convention goes further than this we shall be opening the door to [Music] tyranny Patterson's small state plan retained the weak structure of the Articles of Confederation but it offered one proposal that was to become the Cornerstone of the Constitution resolved that all acts of the United States in Congress shall be the supreme law of the respective States despite this proposal the small state plan met violent opposition days and weeks of bitter debate followed tempers flared charges of selfish interest lust for power flew back and forth AS nights and days went by there seemed little hope of agreement no man could forell what the convention would do with both factions stubbornly holding on feeling mounted Higher and Higher and the convention seemed about to dissolve in confusion till suddenly they heard a moving appeal from Washington no gentlemen if to please the people we offer what we ourselves disapprove how can we afterwards defend our work let us raise a standard to which the highest and the honest can repair the event is in the hands of [Music] God as the deadlock dragged on through the long nights and long days of argument the conflict turned into deeper bitterness some came to feel they faced an irreconcilable dilemma James Madison declared gentlemen I fear that the two extremes before us are a perfect separation into independent states or a perfect incorporation of 13 States into one [Music] nation then a committee appointed to review the issue had a brilliant flash of Ingenuity it reached what came to be called the Great Compromise on the question of representation it appears to me gentlemen that the states may be regarded in two different aspects in the first as districts of people composing one political Society in the second as so many political societies I agree with Dr Johnson and I believe this settles the matter once and for all both the people and the states can have representation in Congress will you please read your statement again so the committee will have the proposal clearly before it first that in the first branch of the legislature each of the states now in the union shall be allowed one member for every 40,000 inhabitants all right second that in the second branch each state shall have an equal vote do we all agree this broke the deadlock the delegates determined to give the states equal representation in the Senate and to base representation in the house on population the way was open for agreement on other issues but controversy continued all in agreement I any [Music] [Applause] [Music] opposed at last in September 1787 the draft of the Constitution was ready for [Music] action the delegates had done their work well they had devised a remarkable innovation political ideas a government that was both National and Federal in form and power gentlemen we the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union establish justice ensure domestic tranquility provide for the common defense promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity do ordain establish this constitution for the United States of America General Washington may I see a words to delegates I have often in the course of the session and in the vicissitudes of my own hopes and fears looked on that behind the president without being able to tell whether it was a rising or a Setting Sun but now at length it is my happiness to know that it is a Rising Sun and not a setting [Applause] son on the last day they gathered to put their names to the great document but the struggle was just beginning a number of delegates refused to sign they went home to lead the opposition fast rising against the Constitution public opinion was fiercely divided throughout the country some men feared monarchy others attacked the Constitution for its lack of a Bill of Rights the sentiment of the Massachusetts convention was voiced by Amos Singletary these lawyers and Men of learning and moneyed Men expect to be managers of this Constitution and get all the power and all the money into their own hands and then they will swallow up all Us Little Folks like the great Leviathan yes just as the whale swallowed up Jonah to meet this attack the friends of the the Constitution offered a compromise they proposed that the convention ratify the Constitution on condition that a Bill of Rights be added as soon as the new government was formed this overcame the opposition in Massachusetts resolve further that this convention recommend the drafting of a Bill of Rights to be incorporated in a set of amendments to be ratified by the several States but the outlook for ratification was still dark in a number of states the Federalist leaders labored feverishly to explain to the people the principles underlying the new framework of [Music] government what do you say to this language Mr Hamilton the proposed Constitution is in strictness neither a national nor a Federal Constitution but a composition of both Keen argument Mr Madison but to little use everyone reads the Federalist Papers but few are persuaded by them you are right I fear certainly Governor Clinton and his faction are going to make things hot for you in New York Clinton is is a dangerous demagog but we will defeat him even if we have to threaten to withdraw the city of New York from the rest of the state I regret that we have no such weapon as that in Virginia Yes Virginia is in danger too with both Mason and old Patrick Henry thundering against us and Henry cannot be won over he calls the Constitution a conspiracy to set up a monarchy a fire brand how will you answer him as I see it there is but one workable answer and that's the one reached in Massachusetts the Federalist in every state must agree to a Bill of Rights I suppose it is the answer but it will not win over such men as Clinton and Henry no but it offers us our last best chance to save the Constitution Madison's strategy of compromise succeeded as the state conventions gathered the opposition was powerful and the debates were long and bitter but slowly by a narrow margin the Constitution won the day one by one the states ratified the document and took their places in the new nation North Carolina voted no then joined reluctantly Rhode Island did not ratify until after the new government was formed but at last they stood together 13 states bound into a firm Union a union founded on the rule of written law the Constitution of the United States that down through the years of amendment and interpretation has proved a firm foundation for the growth of government by the people