Milford chronicle., 1931-09-18
THE ANNIVERSARY OF
OUR CONSTITUTION


. American should fix his thoughts on
the event which, 144 years ago, made
e possible his very existence as a citi-
:. zen of the United States. On that
v date, we are informed by the United
States George Washington Bicenten-
- nial Commission, nearly a century
and a half ago, George Washington
: transmitted to the President of the
, Continental Congress the new Con-
stitution of the United States of
, America.
t Four years ago, in 1927, there was
published by order of Congress what
is known as House Document No
1898, entitled, Documents Illustra-
tive of the Formation of the Union
of the American States" In this
bound volume of Ills pages is con-
tanned the exact wording of every
step in the building of our govern
ment, from the Declaration and Re-
solves of the First Continental Con-
gress, October IA, 1774, through the
adoption of the Constitution and it's
later amendments.
Every American citizen should go
to his nearest library and spend as
much time as he can over this great
lesson in the history of his country
and its Government, which he will
find in the absorbing pages of this
volume which Congress ordered
printed for such indispensable in
struction of the people.
The Declaration of independence,
which he will find in it, he learned
in his first school years, but much
else in the book, such as the Ar
ticles of Confederation in force from
March l, 1881, until the adoption of
the Constitution will be less familiar
and of absorbing interest. But his
chief interest will center in the la
bOrs of the Convention called by the
Annapolis Convention and the CONT
mental Congress to remedy defects !
of the Federal Government''-t |
Convention presided over by George |
Washington. To remedy those de |
fects," that Convention found it |
necessary to draft a wholly new |
Constitution for the United States
and in this House Document is to
be found an exact reprint of the
manuscript notes kept throughout
the proceedings of the Convention
by James Madison, delegate to the
Convention from Virginia, and one
of the guiding minds in the framing
of the Constitution itself
1t is odd, now, to think that the
members of that Convention COM
planned among themselves of the
length of time they consumed in
shaping the foundation of our dem
Ocracy. The delegates assembled on
May 25, 1887, in the same chamber
in Independence Hall, Philadelphia,
in which the Declaration of Inde-
pendence was adopted and signed. |
At the same desk where President
John Hancock had affixed his flour
sh to the former great state paper,
sat George Washington, victor of
he War of the Revolution, and now
over this assembly to pro-
vide the country with a federal con-
;titution. For a little more than ;
our months the debate over that
instrument went on until, on Sep
ember II, it was ready for trans S
initial to Congress and for ratif- {
.ation by the States. l
The bare notes of this debate COW q
# a thousand pages. We of today, =
ware as we are that the Constitu- &
ion produced by that debate is
early perfect governmental instru- &
nent, destined to outlast the ages, &
nay marvel that it took so brief a q
ime and cost so little difference of
pinion. Yet the distinguished dele 4
ates to the Convention became so q
oncerned over their wrangles and | &
yer the time they were consuming 4
hat Madison records Benjamin {
rankin as rising at one point to 8
eg leave that henceforth prayers q
nploring the assistance of Heaven, 6
nd it's blessings on our delibera- y
ons, be held in this Assembly every q
forming before we proceed to bust (;
ess, and that one or more of the Ss
lergy of this City be requested to q
ificiate in that Service" <:
The motion was promptly second d
|, but Madison reports that "Mr. q
proposed in order to give &
favorable aspect to ye measure, "a
lat sermon be preached at the re- *
lest of the convention, on the 4th Ss
July, the anniversary of Inde- IH
,ndence." u
What the delegates urged and fj
gued, the ballots they took, how SS0
ey put together line by line, this GS
of ours, as faithfully 81
ported by the great eyewitness 20,
d participant, Madison, reads like G1
nat it is-one of the dramas of his ~
ry. u,
Finally on Septmeber II, 1887, the %
esident of the Convention and the Ax
IN soon to be first President of the u,
lited States, was able to send to q
2 President of the Continental 2
ngress this letter which sums up %
t only the Constitution itself but g
! efforts that went into its MAX AZ
g. SSp
In Convention, SPIT. II, 1887. g
r: A1S
We have now the honor to sub &p
to the consideration of the Unit *
States in Congress assembled, M
It Constitution which has ap- &
lred to us the most advisable. *
The friends of our country have %
g seen and desired, that the pow sc
of making war, peace, and treat fS
that of levying money and reg S0S
ting commerce, and the corre- X
ndent executive and judicial au g
rites should be fully and effect NS
ly vested in the general govern SS
nf Of TTDiO0. h,1f -