This book is included in the US Government: Educational, Informational & Motivational section.
Introduction
THE purpose of this book is to tell the story of the
incentives, making, ratification and amendment of our
Constitution. The plan is, first, to narrate something
of those conditions in England which influenced the
political sentiments of early American colonists and
the significant events in the founding of the Colonies,
in order that readers shall have in mind what character
of political bodies united under the Constitution.
Next is shown the growth of the idea of union, the
causes which strengthened and spread it and the forms
in which it was expressed in famous documents. This
carries the narrative through the period of government
under the Articles of Confederation up to the
time when public opinion resulted in the call for the
Philadelphia Constitutional Convention. Then something
is told of the men who met in the Convention,
how they worked, contended, compromised and finally
submitted the Constitution they had framed to the
people; of the struggle for its ratification, the early
demand for the first ten Amendments, and the election
of Washington as the first President under its provision.
Finally the story tells what were the causes
which led to the further amendment of the Constitution,
and what it is to-day as developed by custom and
interpreted by courts.
No pretense is made that any hitherto unused material
is used in this book: its claim for usefulness
rests upon its scope and plan, the selection of material
and the sequence and manner of presenting it. Its
facts are taken from a multitude of works telling
either much more or much less; works ranging from
leaflets on a single minor event, to ponderous histories
having so much more ground to cover that the one
story told here in full is there necessarily but sketched.
The author's observation has convinced him that the
want of a plainly told story of our Constitution is responsible
for the lack of general knowledge of what
he here seeks to impart. If this book give to only a
few people a little more knowledge about our Constitution
the author will be repaid if it stimulate a
further search in the rich storehouse of American
history he will be more than repaid.
EDWARD WATERMAN TOWNSEND.
Montclair, New Jersey, 1906.
CONTENTS
Chapter I.
BEGINNINGS OF STATES
Stuart Kings' influence in shaping American destiny - Political training of the early Colonists - Bred in struggles for political liberties - First settlers in Virginia - Prompt protests against misgovernment - Proprietary government in Maryland - Connecticut's Constitution inspired by Hooker - All Colonies secure some degree of representative government - Three successful Colonies founded by Liberals banished from Massachusetts - New York's turbulent beginning - Carolina founded for poor debtors - Government in all Colonies gradually assumes similar forms - Ideas of political freedom develop fast.
Chapter II.
BEGINNINGS OP UNION
The Mayflower compact - Its political importance questioned - Hooker's sermon inspiration for first American Constitution - An early government by the people in Connecticut - First Confederation of Colonies in New England - "Leister's Congress" of 1690 - Sovereign, but short-lived - Penn's suggestion for consolidating the "Provinces" - Jefferson proposes a plan of union - Adopted by the Albany Congress, but rejected by British Government - Strain on relations between Colonies and Great Britain - James Otis and Patrick Henry speak for Independence - Stamp Act Congress - The 1765 Declaration of Rights - The tea tax - Committees of Correspondence - Non-importation - The Boston Tea Party - The Congress of 1774 - Parliament refuses to hear Franklin - War begins - The Continental Congress gives Washington command of the army - Issues the Declaration of Independence - Frames the Articles of Confederation.
Chapter III.
A STRONG GOVERNMENT DEMANDED
Washington's army gains independence for Colonies - Which Great Britain acknowledges by the treaty of 1783 - The Continental Congress lacks popular support - Political quacks disturb the States - Washington urges the States to form an indissoluble union - The Articles not adequate for their purpose - The drift toward anarchy - Movement for a Constitutional Convention - Delegates appointed - A notable company of statesmen and patriots - Washington made president of convention - Pen-pictures of the delegates - The roll-call - Intense political interest - Proceedings behind locked doors - But Madison reports for history - Randolph submits a groundwork plan - Why Rhode Island alone was not represented - How the delegates worked - Sentiment for strong Federal government - Washington's immortal speech.
Chapter IV.
BEGINNING THE STRUCTURE
Worship of the Constitution - Gladstone's famous comment - Marshall and Bryce - The enacting clause - Purposes of the Constitution - Legislative powers - House of Representatives - Short and long term arguments - Qualifications of Representatives and direct taxes - Slavery a question - The first great Compromise - Dr. Franklin suggests prayers - The Senate - Equal representation - The Vice-President - Impeachments - Congress regulates election of its members - Each House is judge of qualification of its members - Pay of Congressmen - Salary "grabs" - Separating the legislative from the executive departments.
Chapter V.
THE BUILDERS TOIL ON
The House originates revenue bills - A concession to the large States - How the President may approve or veto legislation - The most important grant to Congress - Taxing for "protection" and taxing for revenue - Direct taxes seldom laid - The income tax - Once collected, later declared unconstitutional - The borrowing power - Paper bills unintentionally made legal tender - A natural power of government not prohibited is permitted - Commerce regulation, foreign and interstate - A brief clause with tremendous consequences - Result of another Compromise - To regulate commerce - New England agrees to slavery - Authority for naturalizing foreigners, to coin money, to conduct postal affairs - Great economic value of the patent system - Congress controls the army pay - Providing for the seat of government - Implied powers of Congress - Their vast scope, aided by the "general welfare" clause - How the Constitution has developed.
Chapter VI.
THE STRUCTURE ASSUMES SHAPE
Limiting the powers of Congress - Importation of slaves - Period of permission limited - The habeas corpus - Derived from Magna Charta - Bills of attainder and ex post facto laws prohibited - What they are - Direct taxes shall be in proportion to population - Export duties prohibited - Preference for domestic ships - Congress holds the purse-strings - Fear in 1787 of titles of nobility - Limiting the rights of the States - Nearly all sovereign powers denied to them - The nation to be not only a federation Also to be a consolidation - Some rights expressly granted, some implied - Convention working with greater facility - The Chief Executive - Varied ideas concerning the Presidency - Thirteen different lengths of term suggested - The puzzle how to elect - Electoral College slow of adoption - First successful working of the plan - Its failure - Its amendment - The electoral commission of 1876 - Qualifications for the Presidency - The succession after the Vice-President - President's duties and powers - Greatness of the office.
Chapter VII. THE BUILDERS' WORK DONE
Instituting the Federal courts - Great influence of the Supreme Court in determining character of our Government - Its broad construction of the Constitution - Inferior Federal courts - Circuit and district - Extent of the power of Federal court Checked by an early amendment - The Bill of Rights amendments affect judicial powers - Treason - Giving comfort to an enemy - States must give credit to each other's acts and records - Requisition of fugitives from justice - From slavery - A clause which helped toward the Civil War - New States Convention knew many would apply - The great domain to be ruled as Territories - How and when Territories are admitted to Statehood - The national guarantee of Democracy - By a Republican form of government - Hamilton's undemocratic views - His later change of opinion - When Federal troops give aid to States - The Constitution is the supreme law of the land - State officials must be bound by oath to support it - No religious test for office - Signing the convention's finished work - A Bill of Rights not thought necessary - A pleasant close to their long labor.
Chapter VIII. RATIFICATION AND AMENDMENTS
Old Congress receives new Constitution - Objections to it - Madison to its defense - It is proposed to the States - Washington's letter transmitted with it - Antifederalists oppose it as a party - Its friends rally
as the Federalists Faults which were alleged - General demand for Bill of Rights - Excitement throughout the country - Madison's powerful aids in Virginia - Delaware first to ratify - Patrick Henry's plan for Southern Confederacy Defeated
by Georgia's ratifying - Massachusetts' strong convention - Samuel Adams' uncertainty - New Hampshire the ninth and deciding
State - Famous Fourth of July, 1788 - Hamilton's hard fight in New York - Old Congress calls for the new - Washington elected President of United States - First Congress proposes Bill of Rights amendments - Resemblance to English Bill of Rights of 1689 - Other amendments - Conclusion.
Chapter IX. SOME IMPORTANT INSPIRATIONS
Magna Charta (1215) - Plymouth Compact (1620) - Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639) - Bill of Rights (Parliament, (1689) - Franklin's Plan of Union (1754) - Declaration of Rights (Colonial, 1765) - Declaration of Independence (1776) - Ordinance for the Northwest Territory (1787).
APPENDIX
ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION - CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - STATISTICS OF THIRTEEN ORIGINAL STATES
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