This famous painting of the signing
of the Constitution on September 17,
1787, was commissioned by Congress
and completed by Howard Chandler
Christy in 1940. It is a 20 3 30-foot
oil on canvas and hangs in the U.S.
Capitol. (Only part of the painting is
shown here.)
General George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette visit suffering soldiers in
the encampment of the Continental Army at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, during the
winter of 1777–1778. Congress’s inability to provision the army with adequate food
and clothing undermined the war effort.
On January 25, 1787, Daniel Shays and his rebels attacked the armory at
Springfield, Massachusetts, which was successfully defended by local militia.
This violent effort to undermine lawful authority prepared the public mind for
a stronger national government.
FIGURE 2-1 The United States was the first constitutional democracy. In most of the world at the time, the people had little say in how
they were governed.
The Assembly Room of the Pennsylvania State House, later renamed
Independence Hall, is where the Second Continental Congress debated and
approved the Declaration of Independence in July 1776, and where the
Constitutional Convention fashioned the Constitution in the summer of 1787.
Sometimes called the “Father of the Constitution,” James Madison
of Virginia is more responsible than any other single person for
replacing the defective Articles of Confederation with a more
powerful and effective national government. His efforts were vital
to the calling of the Convention, to the drafting of the Constitution
at Philadelphia, to the success of the ratification contest, and to the
addition of a sound Bill of Rights.
Alexander Hamilton, a brilliant 32-year-old lawyer and former aide
to General Washington in the Revolutionary War, gave a famous
speech at the Constitutional Convention on June 18 calling for
a central government even stronger than that proposed in the
Virginia Plan. Later, he worked tirelessly to secure ratification by
New York by writing most of the Federalist essays and leading the
pro-Constitution forces in the state ratifying convention.
James Wilson of Pennsylvania, an eminent expert on law, was
a signer of the Declaration of Independence, highly influential
member of the Constitutional Convention (perhaps second only to
Madison in importance), and one of the six original members of the
U.S. Supreme Court. He became the nation’s second professor of
law at an academic institution.
Although not well known to modern Americans, Gouverneur Morris
of New York and Pennsylvania was one of the most influential
members of the Constitutional Convention. He gave the most
speeches, was a vigorous proponent of a strong national executive
power, and as a member of the Committee of Style was responsible
for giving the final form and polish to the Constitution. He is
credited with drafting the Constitution’s now famous Preamble.
The British House of Commons wields the effective lawmaking power in the British
Parliament, with the House of Lords limited to advising and proposing amendments to
legislation. In the House of Commons, the opposition parties sit facing each other, with their
leaders in the front row. Nonleaders are called “backbenchers.”
This is the chair in which George
Washington sat while presiding over the
Constitutional Convention.
This is how the famous Federalist 10 essay appeared in the New
York Daily Advertiser on November 22, 1787.
FIGURE 2-2 Of the four possible ways to amend the Constitution, two have never
been used, and another has been used only once. Under the Constitution, Congress
decides on the method of ratification.
This newspaper advertisement for newly arrived slaves from Africa
appeared in the South Carolina Gazette in the 1740s.