Each week, american artifacts takes viewers into historic sites, archives, and museums across the country. Up next, we visit the National Constitution center in philadelphia to learn about the creation of the u. S. Constitution in 1787 and to see several early drafts. Jeffrey welcome to the Constitution Center. I am jeffrey rosen. This is the only institution in america charted by congress. I am so excited to show you a new gallery we have opened. American treasures, which contain the five rarest early drafts of the u. S. Constitution. Not even at the Constitutional Convention were these five drafts displayed in the same place. Now thanks to the Great Partnership of the Historical Society of pennsylvania and David Rubenstein, we have been able to open this gallery and display the stress together these drafts together, and tell the story of the evolution of the text of the constitution into the draft that was ratified in 1787. It is so exciting. I cannot wait to show it to you. Lets go inside and take a look. In many ways, this gallery tells the story of the underappreciated hero of the Constitutional Convention, james wilson. You have all heard of James Madison and Alexander Hamilton the rockstar of the moment and of course president washington. James wilson was the intellectual architects of the idea behind the constitution. That we the people of the United States have the sovereign power. That was the big idea and eventually the preamble of the constitution. It was not the way things started when the delegates came to philadelphia to draft the constitution. They came as representatives of individual sovereign states. Of the people insisted we the people of each state are sovereign. Wilson who had served in the Continental Congress, wanted a stronger Central Government and a strong president elected by the people, insisted that we the people of the United States as a whole are sovereign. Not the people of individual states. And not the whole as in britain. That brilliant idea was what lincoln invoked when he insisted that the south had no authority to secede without the consent of the people of the u. S. As a whole. Even the foundation of the idea in the preamble, in this amazing gallery, we will see the evolution of wilsons draft. Were about to see wilsons draft. I will just tell you a little bit about him. He was born in scotland. He went to Saint Andrews university. He came to america to study at Ben Franklins new college of philadelphia. He served in the Continental Congress where he became concerned that the Central Government did not have Strong Enough powers. He was initially opposed to independence, which got him in trouble with the philadelphia mob, who came to his house to denounce him. He changed his mind and became a strong supporter. He was antislavery. He was a pennsylvania delicate for the convention. Richard beam in his wonderful book, which i would love you to read, plain, honest men, said wilson and madison were the two intellectual members of the convention. Madison believes that the people can degenerate into demagogues and mobs, and popular passions have to be checked in order to ensure direct democracy does not degenerate. Wilson and madison had a big debate. Wilson became a distinguished Supreme Court justice. He died, alas, index, a sad debt, a sad in ending to a heroic career. Were about to see the very first draft of the constitution written by james wilson. Now we are going to see the rarest draft of the u. S. Constitution in American History. The very first draft. Many of us know the copy in the of the constitution in the National Archives. That was the final copy. Every important document has a first draft, and this is it. It was drafted on july 24, 1787. Remember, the Constitutional Convention begins on may 25. I remember that because the address of the Constitutional Center is 525, which is like may 25. Two months later, it was the first time the committee created this draft. How did it end up here . It belongs to the Historical Society of pennsylvania. James wilson died in 1789, the year the bill of rights was proposed. He gave this document and other papers to his son, bird wilson. Bird wilson died in 1869 and gives it to his relative, and she gives it to the Historical Society of pennsylvania. They had it for a long time. Their visionary interim president Charles Cohen said hey, all of these documents are here at these Historical Society, wouldnt it be wonderful if americans across the country could see them . So they are lending them to the Constitution Center to be displayed on a longterm loan. That is what you can come and see them for the first time. Look at wilsons beautiful handwriting, which is still legible. Lets pause for a second and think about how exciting this is, the first time anybody sat down the ideas of because intrusion occurred in this draft. There are significant parts about it. There are is no preamble. It does not begin we the people of the United States. Thanks to wilson, the final drafts would begin with we the people. It is just that the government of the United States shall there are three separate branches of government. Those with the first words of the first draft. We know congress does not have specific powers listed. It says congress can make laws for the general interest of the union. The president ial term is six years. There is a single term for the national executive. That is going to change a bunch of times during the amendment process. We can look at wilsons beautiful handwriting. When you come to the center, we want all of you cspan viewers and all americans to be able to study the evolving text of the constitution. So you can learn from it and see how it evolved. That is why we have created this great online tool. Not now because i am talking, but after you finish watching the show, we have it here on our touchscreen. You can get online at constitutioncenter. Org. This is basically the printed version of each of the texts we display here. We are talking about the july 24 version. We just saw the original. You can now see these are the very first words of the u. S. Constitution written to paper. Resolved that the government of the United States will have three branches. If there is nothing else we know about the u. S. Constitution, lets remember that it has three branches. Number two, that the legislature of the u. S. Consists of two branches. That was a huge struggle. The delegates spent the first two months at the convention disagreeing about whether there would be a unicameral, which is a single legislative body, or a bicameral. Then there was a crucial question about how the two branches would be elected. Representatives of the big statement by virginia said hey, we want popular elections. Representatives of the small states like new jersey said, no, we want each state to have two representatives. Roger sherman, the connecticut compromise, decided to mix and match. You can compare how the drafts change. There is no preamble in this draft. You see also that the infamous compromise that allowed the states who were determined to preserve slavery to accept the constitution, 3 5 of all other persons, to tax the states, thankfully, repealed. Ifsee also a victory infamous of the 3 5 compromise, states that were determined to preserve slavery except the constitution but the framers agreed for representation of the states free inhabitants, plus, three hits of all other inhabitants 3 5 of all other inhabitants. Thankfully, they repealed or were no longer relevant by the path of the 13th amendment, which abolished slavery and this was the 3 5 compromise in the early draft. You can see how it changed a whole bunch of times. Appointse senate Supreme Court justices with no involvement from executives. The president appoints them in the senate confirms. The first draft had only the senate confirming. Process, they do not decide how they are passed, and in the final draft on september 12, they come up with a process to how amend the constitution. Lets look at the last provision. Vetoes oft have the ratification. This is crucial. The framers are proposing a constitution, but it is not until it is ratified in the name of we the people as a whole that it achieves the status of supreme law, and the first draft says there should be ratification and it says that People Choose representatives and that represents wilsons believe that we the people are sovereign and the constitution can only be ratified in our name, and our right to govern comes from god or nature, not from government. We have an unalienable right to alter and abolish government whenever it fails to protect the unalienable rights we retained during the transition and we have the rights of conscience. These are spilled out spelled out in the bill of rights. That is represented by the ratification process. The ultimate contribution of james wilson, the sovereignty of we, the people. It is only july. Lets look at the second draft, and we are going to see for the first time the constitution expresses the idea of we the people. Thewe are going to see second draft of the constitution of the america, this was written by james olson on august third, 1787, after a 10 day break from a break. They came out of the committee of detail, which was a geographically Diverse Group assembling print resolutions. Just amazing to read. Wilson has beautiful handwriting but also to see how dramatically the constitution is evolving. The most important evolution in the second draft of the constitution is wilsons immortal preamble we the people of the states of new hampshire, massachusetts, rhode island and so forth, why did wilson name the individual states . We thell, he believes people of the United States are sovereign. Well, some thought it was a vestige of a time where we the people of the states were sovereign and others think it was just to signal how many states were ratifying. We see the final draft the language of individual states is left out and we become, we the people of the United States. Lets check out the text because it is so exciting to compare the evolution of the preamble. Lets go back over here to the great interactive, you can check it out online at the constitutioncente r. Org treasures. And here is the detailed report. Here is the original preamble we the people of the states of new hampshire, rhode island, connecticut, massachusetts, delaware, maryland, north carolina, south carolina, and declare andain, establish the following constitution for the government of ourselves and our prosperity. It does not have inspiring language about established justice and provide for the common defense. It just says, do ordain, declare and establish the following constitution for the government of ourselves and our posterity. Lets scroll down a little bit. The style of this government, in other words, the name shall be the United States of america. Isnt that exciting . It is the first time we see on paper the words United States of america. Lets see what changes are taking place. We now have the short preamble. Have congressional powers getting specified. Congress has the power to declare war. The early language of making war would have Given Congress more daytoday decisions and later the president took a greater role to this is important to define congress powers. He mentioned the continental andress had specific powers the u. S. Constitution gives congress the flexibility to pass laws necessary and proper to carry out their powers and the scope remains hotly debated today. At the appointment of power, the senate has the power, as well as the ability to appoint Supreme Court justices and the president has no role in these crucial duties. The election of the president , look at this, there is an election but the president is chosen by the legislature. That was james mattis caused James Madisons idea, and he sees the tension between populism and constitutionalism and he fears directly elected president s and he says one would be an invitation to tyranny and demagogues, so he wants a president elected by the legislature. Over James Wilsons objections, we later see they settle and compromise it to be the of pictorial college the Electoral College. Also, the title should be his excellency question mark imagine that today. So excellency t . He first time imagine that excellency . Imagine that today. The president ial term has expanded from six years to seven years, and the president and legislature is limited to a single term. The framers do not want to executive power with angress and the president has term. We begin to see two thirds of state legislatures call another convention, and that is the final version of the constitution and even today, a number of states have called for a convention of the states to call for a balanced budget amendment. That provision was never evoked after the original in American History and part of the constitution, and the final ratification, we have more information about ratification but a blank space required to approve the constitution and the ratification of a certain number of states shall be sufficient for organizing this convention. This is crucial. The constitution, the ratification process, specified even in the second draft, is illegal, according to the ratification articles in the confederation, where they can be amended only with the anonymous consent of all 13 states. This provision says a certain number of states, less than possibly the whole, will be sufficient to ratify the constitution in the name of we the people. It was illegal because the framers, led by wilson, were invoking their natural or unalienable rights to government. Are reverting to that original power and they insisted they could choose the ratification procedure that was illegal, according to the existing methods of gratification ratification. All of that just the second draft, so exciting. August,re just in early lets now move further along in august and see the next draft, that we know and revered today, we the people of the United States. Lets see it now. Welcome to drop three of the constitution and it was september 12, 17 87, 5 days before the constitution is proposed. A lot of crucial changes are being made at the last minute. These changes come out of the committee of style, and it was an elegant name and extraordinarily impressive. Members include Alexander Hamilton, the rap star of the madison,ames recognized as the framers of the constitution, and gouverneur morris, and impressive delicate in pennsylvania, he had a paid leg, and he was responsible for the stylistic change, which was an important change in the u. S. Constitution, which was that in this draft, the committee of style, the preamble for the first time says, we the people of the United States, not we the people of the states of massachusetts, rhode island and so forth. Why was that change made . Some say it was stylistic because the framers did not know exact which of the 13 states with ratified. They hedged their bets by keeping it concise but others disagree and say the change to a week, the people of the United States, was the tangible expression of the belief that we, the people of the United States, as a whole, are sovereign, not we, the people of individual states. There are another series of important changes, congressional power is altered, congress now has the power to declare, rather than make war, and the president ial term is four years and they eliminated the term limits of the sevenyear term. Plus, it is election by the Electoral College, the compromise wilson was not able to get popular election, which is what he wanted. The Electoral College was considered a group of why delegates will who did know the best candidates would be able to exercise independent judgment and choose the finest candidates in the land. That was by the growth of a party system after the election of 1800, which changed the Electoral College from the start. This drop is signed by a delegate from delaware, and it includes his notations and it is article one,o read section eight, the powers of congress, and this draft says, congress, made by joint ballot for the treasurer, and it was scratched out by him and instead, says the Congress Shall have power to lay collect taxes. Isnt that amazing . It is september 12, and theyre cutting and pasting words out . Lets go back to the interactive constitution and look at a couple of the other textual changes. Here we are at the text of the document we just saw. I mean, my goodness. Lets read the preamble, which is evolving to its final form. We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic highquality, provide the general defense, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves, our posterity, to ordain and establish system for the United States of america. This is the draft on september 12, and that is when it was scratched out to the established justice and just says established justice. There are some other fascinating annotations throughout. You can check them out online. The senateidea that tries impeachment on oath and affirmation for the benefit of the quakers and others who were stimulus against swearing oaths , and the time, place and manner of Holding Elections is prescribed in each state. Congress can make regulations and choose senators, that was the last edition. Lets look at other crucial changes. We talk about this crucial change in the preamble, we, the people of the United States, and the aim of forming a more perfect union. President has the power to make treaties and appoint Supreme Court justices, along with the senate. Ladies and gentlemen, that was september 12, a very important addition at the last minute. Almostndment process is will be spelled out. Congress can propose limits with the support of two thirds of each house or state legislature. We do not yet have the provisional two third of the States Convention in the final text but we saw a version in the earlier draft, which is now where it says three quarters of the legislations ratify and ratification says the people of nine out of the 13 states during the field in the blank finally. States. They finally filled in the blank. We are almost there, september 12. Finally, it is time for Constitution Day, september 17. We will see the final draft of the u. S. Constitution. Ladies and gentlemen, it is Constitution Day, september 17, and we have the final version of the constitution, just printed for the delegates to the bates, as well as share with congress and the states. How exciting to think that this printing of which only a handful of copies survive is an arguably more constitutionally significant than the copy in the National Archives because this is the copy that the delegates themselves debated and decided on whether to pass the constitution and ultimately that we, the people, in deciding whether to ratify it. Upstairs in the Constitution Center, we have a copy of the constitution printed in the pernsylvania packet newspa two days after this draft, and that draft was widely circulated among the people and it was the most dramatic expression of the peoples authority to ratify the constitution. A couple of important changes at the last minute, isnt it stunning to think of how much you can do with a deadline, from may 25 to september 17 . The entire constitution is drafted and it is important it is done in secret. There are no leaks, twitter, you cannot undo compromises and you can actually make them because people are able to shift positions because they are not being called out by their parties at every moment. We see some important changes as a result at the last minute. Here are three veto overrides, the number of people necessary to override the president s veto and it is lowered to two thirds of each house and that is how hard it would be. Finally ratified, and they picked up on the early suggestion of burleson. This is important, article five says an amendment can never deny state equal representation in the Senate Without that states can send as an unimaginable provision of the constitution. Law students love having latenight dorm debates about whether or not an amendable constitutional provision is in itself a violation of the peoples natural right to alter and abolish government whenever they want in the constitution, but we will save that for another session. To the text and see the final tweak in the last draft of the u. S. Constitution. Here is the final draft of the u. S. Constitution and a couple of crucial changes at the last minute. We talked about some but heres one have not talked about, representation in congress. Originally, the text says that can be no more than one representative for every 30,000 people in the house, and there was a motion the number be changed to third 40,000 people in the house, and there was a motion to change the number to 30,000. You can go to the Constitution Center or go online to the interactive constitution and you will see this is the First Amendment of the constitution proposed but not adopted in what became the bill of rights where it says there should be one representative in congress for every 30,000 inhabitants and have that passed, how did that passed, there would be more Congress People today. Here it is, the appointments they, framers decide that can directly appoint inferior officers without the senates approval, the source of the president s power to appoint some without congressional approval and nowadays, it would be hard granting president s of either party to get anyone appointed without that. Nowadays, a call for unity. This is to inspire ourselves with this great call. Benjamin franklin on the last day of the convention encourages unanimous support of the constitution and proposes the final text added, which included, by the unanimous consent of the states present, that allow them to save they witnessed what happened in the constitution, and three refuse to sign. You can see who those are going upstairs to assignors hall in the constitution sent signer s hall and there were three, one from massachusetts, with learned was pronounced as gerrymandering. And also, two virginia delegates, randolph and george mason, one of the most underappreciated of the founders, who refused to sign the constitution because it did not contain a bill of rights. Why not . Anduse James Madison, others, said a bill of rights would be unnecessary or dangerous rate unnecessary because the constitution is a bill of rights and gives Congress Numerous powers and since congress has no power to infringe speech, there is no reason to fear if they would breach free speech. And madison said it was dangerous because of people assume a ride was not written down, it was not protected, and the framers believed they come from god or nature not the government and to produce it to a single list would be folly. In the face of objections from the state ratifying conjunction convention, addison changed his mind. He was a practical politician and came to support the adoption of additional amendments to prevent the further abuse of powers. In the final section of this of this gallery, we have seen incredibly rare, prices, early drafts of constitution. We are now going to see the first Public Printing of the bill of rights by David Rubenstein and see how madisons original list of 19 amendments was whittled down to the 12 that were passed. Lets see those now. We are now going to see the first 19 amendments proposed. There were 10 that were ratified in the bill of rights but madison originally proposed 19 and they appeared in the gazette of the United States on october 3, 1789, you can find them online at the interactive constitution this is an amazing online tool that the Constitution Center has launched. 11 million hits since it launched a little more than a year ago, we can click on any provision and see what scholars agree in what they disagree in thend you can also interactive portion, go to any part of the bill of rights and see the revolutionary constitutions. List, heson made the had beside him the state constitution, like george masons virginia declaration of 1776, or the massachusetts one in 1780. They all had the look rights, and madison was drawing on the list and cut and pasted among the most popular to create the original list of 19. There was one amendments on the list madison thought was the most important. Here it is it says, no state shall violate the equal rights of conscience or freedom of the press or trial by jury in criminal cases. This is revolutionary. The final bill of rights passed only applies to congress. The First Amendment does congress will make no law of breaching, it is not say the state shall make no law. Madison. These racing rights of conscience, freedom of the press, were so important that the states and congress should not be able to bridge them. Madison lost the battle. That did not pass, along with several others, there were 19 on the list, and its a the civil war, the bloodiest in American History, to pass the 14th amendment, just been construed as applying the bill of rights against the state, as well as the federal government, for bidding bridging basic rights, including those in this list. Was created in the order in which the provisions were supposed to be inserted in the constitution, so their proposed amendments and first, it says let there be prefix of the constitution of declaration that all power is originally vested in and consequently derived from the people. It goes on to say the government is instituted and ought to be exercised excerpt five for the benefit of the people, which con licks in the enjoyment of life and liberty with the right of acquiring and goofing property and generally of per feeling and obtaining happiness and safety. It goes on to say that people have in doable, unalienable and indisputable rights to reform or change their government, whenever it be found ever or inadequate to the purposes of its institution. Much like the second sentence of the declaration. All men are created equal, they created certain unalienable andts among them rights pursue the happiness, and it is the duty of the people. It is so symmetrical, and we began this 12 amazing documents by recognizing James Wilsons believe of the right to alter and abolish government and here we see that very First Amendment that madison proposed was to declare the right of amendments to the unalienable. It cannot pass but it was embodied in article five in the constitution. Go online, check out the interactive constitution, check out the reports for the treasures, and come to the National Constitution center. It is an inspiring, beautiful place, a place for all to unite around this amazing documents that unites us, the u. S. Constitution. How exciting. What a privilege it is to shock constitutionsrest assembled for the First Time Ever and in one place to show you these rare drafts of the bill of rights, thanks to the Historical Society of pennsylvania, rubenstein, and cspan friends. Happy Constitution Day you can watch this or other american artifacts programs at any time by visiting our website, www. Cspan. Org history. This weekend on American History tv on cspan3, tonight at 8 00 eastern on lectures in history, Stanford University professor on the Environmental Movement in the 1970s. What i want to argue here is that the noble savage environmentalist was a kind of product that was sold to american consumers, like the max or cars like big macs or cars. And then father and daughter, pilots talkirline about their experience during 9 11. We take off, and we had northeast into a serene and peaceful and silent sky. Airborne. O one we head out to the northwest and we never find anything. We were not heroes that day. The passengers on play 93 were the heroes. On sunday at 6 00 p. M. Eastern on american artifacts, through the herriot tubman underground Visitor Center tubman underground Visitor Center in line we think she had of slip see , we think she had epilepsy which allowed her to have amazing visions and she had vivid dreams. It was terrible on the physical side but amazing for her fate. At 7 00 on oral histories, a series on photojournalist continues. Danhat image that shows bartlett, the communication director pointing to the television, that was the first time we started seeing the replay of the second entirety being hit. American history tv, all weekend, every weekend, only on cspan. Where history unfolds daily. In 1979, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Television Cable companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. That was early on. When trump had just announced. And they were worried that he was going to be bad for them in terms of women voters. And i thought, really, you are worried now . [laughter] considering how far back they have had an antiwoman platform, with reproductive rights, equal pay. Sunday night on q a, Washington PostPulitzer Prize telnaes. T ann this is Vice President pence. He was interviewed and he said he never went to washington dinner without his wife. I thought you have no problem voting about a womans personal reproductive choices, which is probably the most personal and intimate thing a woman can deal with, but you will not go to a dinner where a woman, fully thed, isis fully clo at the table. About 10 minutes, we will air an oral history interview with photojournalist frank johnston, who worked for United Press International in the 1960s and for the Washington Post 35 years. We will see his photos and talk about his career covering the vietnam war and the events in texas following president kennedys assassination. Center for American History archived his photos. Next, we learn more about this collection from the centers executive director. On the phone with us here on American History tv is dr. Don carleton, executive director of the university of texas at austins Dolph Briscoe center for American History. Thank you for being with us. Why was it important to create a photojournalism collection . Andcarleton well, news documentaries, while the intent produceoduce news, also valuable historical evidence. These are documents that can b