Weekends on cspan two are an intellectual feast. Every saturday, American History tv documents america story. On sundays, book tv brings you the latest in nonfiction books and authors. Funding for cspan two comes from these Television Companies and more, including buckeye broadband. Buckeye broadband, along with these Television Companies support cspan 2 of a public service. Break last wee good morning ev, welcome to history 3011, the American Revolution. I hope all of you had a great spring break last weekend. I look forward to hearing a little bit more about what you did and in our upcoming discussions. Now, we spent the last two weeks talking about the war of independence. The actual war. And the amazing thing about the revolution is that while war was raging, americans wrote constitutions, and debated how to construct a government that would protect the peoples rights. And facilitate their happiness. This word happiness is not the declaration of dependence, it appears over and over again in discussions around the formation of state constitutions, and in earliest bills of rights. So, you know, we need to think about how emotion and sentiment are part of the goals of the revolution, a really creating a government that is gonna contribute to individual fulfillment, as well as the common good. Both of those goals were intertwined. The fulfillment unhappiness of the individual, that we can all be our best selves, but also, the good of the whole, there the twin goals of this period of creation of the republic. Well were not gonna talk about today is the confederation, because that was a sideshow. That was the National Government. It was not of interest to these contemporaries. They put very little, you know, philosophy, political science, and consideration into its construction. In many ways, they took the existing congress they had and, you know, gave it some rights and powers. The philosophical ideas, all the hopes and dreams, all of the plans for the future, all of the experiments, they were conducted at the state level. Today im gonna talk about three state constitutions that were very influential in the period, they created templates and other states borrowed, templates that influenced our own u. S. Constitution, 1787 1788. They engaged in a radical democratic experiments that some other states followed, some other states thought were a bridge too far, went too far. Or they represented, well we might call a movement, a pushback was against what some call an excess of democracy. In a create a 1776 with a desire to figure out how to maintain the order of the british constitution that they had rejected without creating aristocracy, monarchy, et cetera. Trying to figure out how to create an Orderly Society was important to some americans, while pursuing the greatest degree of democracy was important to others. Democracy is not a shared value in 1776. Many feared it. Particularly in the run up to 1776, and the declaration of independence, many people were not ready to separate from england. This includes people within the Continental Congress and within the state conventions, these assemblies that had emerged in the collapse of the british government. Many people who were colonial officials at the state level were not ready to declare independence. In some ways, we talked about the ways in which the militia service, military service, the arrival of war, forced people to choose, to choose sides. Are they going to come out as loyalist or support the patriot cause . These were more moments of crisis in 1775 and 1776. This call for the creation of State Government was a way to galvanize. It was pushed by the more radical groups within congress and within the colonies, within the state conventions. Hes taken functions, these irregular bodies, the former legislators that were now these ballooned bodies including committees, extra people, had been pushing for creating more formal frames of government. They want to move the revolution forward politically. At the top, there was a resistance. In some colonies, there was resistance. People were not right to declare independence. Pennsylvania, the place where the concept of congress was meeting, its legislator was dragging its feet. It was one of the holdouts in terms of improving independence. In the period between when common sense was written, in american, in england, or in this period, the war has started. In the period between when common sense was written and the declaration of independence, there is a lot of maneuvering around these issues. With an individual colonies, now states, moving into statehood, some groups are like we need to do something in the short term. Lets just use our charter. So, connecticut, which had a Royal Charter dating back to the 17th century, they use that as a framework of government. Some people in massachusetts wanted to do the same. Others, in massachusetts, wanted to take this opportunity to do something new. The virginia convention, they passed laws. They did not know what to do without the royal governor to enact them. Lord dunbar had fled the area. He is on ship. They are antagonistic with him. There is a concern or a concern about, how do we make laws legal . How do we make them binding . How do we make people listen to us. How do we run these governments from our new position at these conventions . We need to figure out what makes this legitimate, how to make the government of function. Replace what we had before, make it better. This is the energy, this is the push. John adams, sam adams, jefferson, other figures who are in this Pro Independence faction within congress felt that once people create a government, had recreated their governments, we are not just using some leftover british model. That would be a true revolution. There would be no going back. This is literally the word that jefferson uses. There would be no going back when people have created these new governments at the state level. Between my tenth and may 15th, Congress Worked on this resolution for the states. They called upon them to adopt such government that shall representative of the people. The best conduces to the can deterrents and to america in general. This is a job for the states. Theres still a notion of the collective of america. At the declaration of independence would, in some ways, invent and create a few months later. Think about it, this comes before the declaration of independence. In fact, it gets in the way of some of the business of congress. Everyone is so excited about this, and what this represents. People want to go back to their home colonies and work on these constitutions. Thomas jefferson is one of those people. A certain accident that he was in philadelphia to be part of the writing of the admiration of independence, he was subletting for his cousin. Payton randolph. He writes about how hes trying to finish, finish, finish, and go back. He comes back, wraps up the decorative independence, and then wants to go back. Jefferson wrote a three draft of the constitution that he tried to get people interested in and get people behind. He was very active and involved in the constitution that virginia did create. So, it is easy in opposition to be united. So they had some notions of what they did not want. They did not want standing armies. They did not want to royal governors who could sit down and shut down their colonial adventures. They do not want to accept its sovereignty over all matters pertaining to local government. They thought that their local government should have a role in this. What did they hold up in opposition to english rule . They were local legislators. This is going to have a lot of interest and a lot of excitement. They know what they do not want. The specifics of what they want, that is where the work had to occur. That process is what really revealed a lot of differences amongst americans. Even those who are united and desiring independence, we are not necessarily united on what they want to see, in terms of government. One thing that people agreed about was that these governments should be republics. In fact, that is what the may 15th resolution called for the creation of republican governments with a small r. This is where the Current Republican Party takes its name from this concept. The word republic comes from the latin, like so many other things to do with government and early america. It means the public thing. In other words, the public interest. The main goal of a republic had to be the achievement of the public interest, the achievement of the common good. There was a role for individual happiness and individual wellbeing within the goal of this republic. They spread the most basic level, representative government. Americans agreed at this point that although they were interested in the greek city states and the pure democracy they engaged in, they would be impossible to achieve or mimic, even in something a small is a colony, to have pure democracy, the do things like in the towns of new england, where they amass to discuss and debate on local affairs. Anything bigger than a little town, it is logistically impossible. His government was going to have to operate by people choosing representatives, and having those representatives acting in their interest. What kind of representation do you think there they are thinking about . You can answer that. [laughs] well kind of representation do they not want . What representation do they want . They do not want the wealthy and the ruling class. Some people might still want that to happen. That is a great point. Some of them. Some of them are going to want some changes. They are looking at themselves, hey, i am on this committee. Ive become politically active. I might be the person who says, i can do that. I want to be a representative. Im also thinking about the conduct of actual representation. Will represent the current interest of their constituents. Do you want residents requirements. And how will you enforce the sort of things . Need to start thinking about this. Who should serve . Is that the elites who dominate political office, even in these really relatively 80 of the adult white men had the vote in new england. They are still picking the lead people for office. Will this change . Should its change . John adams feels that this is a good system. James madison and others think it is a good system. People in pennsylvania coming out of the Militia Committee are thinking something different. They are thinking, like connie said, what about me . I can do this. How do we create opportunities for these people who have been serving these communities, militias, and, war to enter into political service. To get elected. How do we make this happen for them if they do not have this reputation, money, power to get into political office. Who should vote . It is a big question. The other thing that we will have in mind was that, how demanding they were. It demanded a lot of people. They demanded a lot of citizens. Within the british system, did they have to work all that hard to be a citizen . Within the system, you will have to work. The work is laid out in these constitutions. What is this mandate of the citizens at a much greater level. To be politically aware, you have to participate in all sorts of direct and indirect ways. They have to pay taxes. You have to serve in the militia. You are going to have serve in the continental army. The military service, your went out to offer taxes to support the war and all the efforts involved. A level of engagement is going to be required to active citizens. The term that is used a lot is virtue. Virtue is an old word, also latin. It went through some transformation in the 15th and 16th century. Machiavellian in the prince, as the adviser to the rule of florence. Colonists said yes we are aware of those discussions as well. The new ideas about virtue and they knew about these modern ideas about how it should go. Today, we think of virtue as something that is private. We also associated with women and a sexual purity. It is a private quality. For these people it was a public quality. In general, it is a male quality. One thing that revolution is changing is that the change of virtue, quality of virtue, to a broad range of people. This is across gender and ethnicities, then had been employed before the revolution. Its still did have this association of military service and willing to sacrifice once self for the good of the country. There are other ways that americans can engage in some sacrifice. This was going to demand self sacrifice of people. They used disinterested is. They did not mean boredom or withdraw but they meant altruism. The ability to have the good of the whole over the good of the self. Public service itself requires some of this sublimation of the self. You to put your interest aside. Think about other peoples interest. Working those interests. Maybe you lose money on your home farm, maybe you have to support a program that is going to hurt you. That is absolutely requirement for engaging in good citizenship. It is very demanding. Many people in the revolutionary generation thought, in order to have that degree to sacrifice, you need to have something to sacrifice. You need to be invested in society in some ways. There is a Certain Property requirement for the vote. You had to have skin in the game. You have to be invested in some way. You had property at risk things that risk, or you are willing to give up, to exercise those qualities of citizenship, of selflessness and service. This is going to be a big discussion. Remember tom paine and the declaration of independence also talk about equality. For some of the revolutionary generation, equality is not a forefront goal. For others, it was. Another thing that these constitute constitutional writers thought about was how to achieve equality. Short of taking peoples property away, what could you do to achieve it . Should government have power to take away property if traces of wealth were too great or in the name of the greater good. Is that something that is on the table for these Government Systems to suggest . Another question, another problem challenge for this constitutional writing generation is the question is what will hold society together. The british superiority held its back together. The hierarchical change helps to preserve order. What would hold people together after this is taken away . What would generate these feelings of public spiritedness and selflessness and the willing to sacrifice. What would prevent anarchy . Some people are very worried about anarchy. The folks who do not want to create these State Governments, it is because they have a transition period of where anarchy is going to break loose. You are going to have a state of nature. This is what Thomas Hobbes talked about in the 17th century. Your property was stolen, your person will be endangered, security will be gone. Some people do not have faith that they could make this transition. So, there is a lot of discussion about what will hold society together. What many of the framers of the constitution hopes is that the governments themselves will generate morality. They would generate and train people in good citizenship. That, in some ways, they are trying to instill ethics. This is through government. Today, the idea that politics would be the school of ethics is not necessarily the way that you are thinking. This is what john adams called the divine science of politics. That may be through the creation of these wonderful republican governments that you could actually almost achieve moral goals, make people more moral. Well see as we talk about the specific constitutions that they actually put things in the constitutions to create the kind of society they want, and encourage people to engage in moral behavior. There is also hope, you know, we talked earlier in the class about the influence of english enlightenment figures like john locke. But 18th century, the enlightenment had gone through a couple different phases and changes. In the 18th century, it became a continent wide event in europe. Also, other areas within the uk became engaged in enlightenment texts. These text, 18th century, theyre from france, there from scotland, they were just as exciting to Many Americans as locke had been a century earlier. One of these thinkers was montesquieu, he was a french nobleman, he wrote a book called the spirit of laws and 1748. One of the things that montesquieu talked about was the importance of republics being small. That republics, you know, you cant be a perfect greek citystate, we have to have a republic that is small and homogeneous. Then its a lot easier for people to get along, its a lot easier for people to get why the colonists are thinking the state is what its gonna be in the republic. The nation will not really be a republic in quite the same way, its not gonna be, its not gonna be the locus and focus. Other contemporaries are also reading a lot of philosophers coming into scotland in this period. They like these philosophers because the scottish thinkers, they are on the margins of English Society too. Scotland was subject to the stamp act. They were subjected to all sorts of, you know, they got charge for exporting things to england. They were subjected to a lot of disadvantages relationships visavis london, parliaments, so on. They felt it. They were a little bit on the outskirts and outside. The colonists like to read these thinkers. A lot of them were also thinking about emotion and sentiment in ways that people were interested in the 18th century. Remember, tom paines appeal to reason, its also an appeal to emotion. And altruism is an emotional appeal as well. There is a number of scottish philosophers, Francis Hutchinson adam smith who wrote the bible of capitalism, he also wrote a book called the theory on moral sentiment. He didnt, you know, want the market to run society, he also wanted a moral society, a society, you know, where morality and good feeling operated, not, you know, not endless competition and selfishness, but a pursuit of self interest that benefited everybody and, you know, was still also thinking about the ways in which morality could be part of these discussions. So, americans are thinking a lot about what kinds of social emotional relationships are gonna pull people together. Theyre trying to achieve these things and constitution writing, believe it or not. So, anything, this is George Washington resigning his commission as commander in chief at the end of the war. And just wonder some general reactions to this picture . Does anyone see anything that is interesting . There is a lot of women. A lot of them, so washington, martha and the girls, they were mentioned and never caught, as their children were gonna be adults soon. There is a gallery up there. So one thing that well see, our most radical constitution creates, there is an opening of the doors to government. Literally, an opening of doors. The doors will be opened, the people can come and watch. Galleries built in what would be these new state houses. By the public, i mean the public. Now, women are often the most common attendees of a lot of these legislative sessions in the galleries, especially during the day. So, this idea of opening everything to the public, that is why at least some of our constitutions are gonna try to achieve. So, almost all of these adventures and constitution writing have some common features. They tried to put some limits on the executive, you know this fear of the royal governor as the representative of the monarchs. You still need someone to execute laws and manage, you know some of the business of legislator that they might not want to manage. How do you achieve that without continuing one way to do it would be to strip some of the power off of that office that the royal governors could have. You know, superpower legislators, because that was the body that had the defenders of their rights in the colonial period. All these events of the imperial crisis are shaping how people are reacting. So, theyre thinking of the past when they are writing the present. They know they dont want. And, accountability. So, our first significant constitution is the june virginia constitution. This is happening during the writing of the declaration of independence and the votes to separate from england. All of these things are happening at once. With the virginia constitution, it contributed to all subsequent constitutions, it is the declaration of rights. The idea of listing those natural rights that are inherent to all individuals, that are not gifts from government, but our before government. Antigay government, they should come first in the constitution because they are actually not gifts of any political organization, but are inherent to us as people, as individuals. And to enumerate those things so that whatever government they created, its job was to protect those things. And some other state constitution systems adopted the stockman. Some added other things, some might play the language a little bit, well talk about those. And that included many of the rights in the bill of rights in the constitution. It has references, most of them included some reference to speech or press. Most of them had some discussion about religion, although, not all ended up with the point that the u. S. Constitution did. They discussed, you know, trial by jury, rights against search and seizure, the different sorts of Property Rights. Some of them had discussions about bearing arms, virginia, you had the right to bear arms on your own property. Others created, you know, a different take on the right to bear arms. There were rights in this list that are enumerated in u. S. Below rights. Well talk about with some of the more. George mason started this declaration of rights with a broad statement about natural rights. You can see, this is all the same language that is going into the declaration of independence. All are born equally free and independent, certain inherent natural rights, of which they cannot try and compact deprive or divest their prosperity. No constitution can take these rights away. Theyre from the constitution, they cant be taken away or violated by any government. Whenever they are formed. And this became immediately the target of a lot of discussion within the virginia convention, the old house of burgesses, these people were slave holders. George mason was a slave holder. Immediately, people were concerned about whats the effect of that language would be on slavery. On their property in enslaved people insulin. Extended debate over this question. In the end, the convention amended george mason statement an added language that, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot buy any compact or divest their prosperity. They said, enslaved people are not entering into the society with us. They remain apart in a state of nature, they are not part of this process of constituting a government and society and virginia. This is a very explicitly discussed in the debates over this particular clause of the declaration of rights. So, you know, right from the beginning, natural rights and slavery are coming into conflict. People know it. People are very aware of it. I mean, mason knew it when he put this out there. So, you know, we see that there is, for some americans theyre starting to think that, we saw already, anti slavery sentiment had been growing before the revolution broke out. They had petitions from free and enslaved African Americans in massachusetts. We have people freeing slaves. We have some evangelical who talk about the need to get rid of slavery. Theres been some sentiment. Even though george mason was a slave holder, wasnt on whether or not he was in favor of keeping slavery in a National Government . Whats interesting is that he and Thomas Jefferson talk a lot in this period, particularly, about getting rid of slavery. Jefferson, im gonna show you a phrase that jefferson put in his draft constitution. Up through the u. S. Constitution. Yes, they do talk about it. They want government to stop it, but, they dont stop, that they dont free their own enslaved property, people. This is the paradox. This is the compatible moment. It also shows why people are trying to adhere to these beliefs and these ideas and how they are coming against the slave holding system. The individual choices and collective choices that americans are going to make in this moment. Jeffersons drafts on this constitution are fascinating. He called it a new model in government. This is a phrase out of the english revolution. This was a new model army. He says, we are starting over. Jefferson is strangely, interestingly, a radical and elite person. He thought that all positive laws should have a 20year expiration. Every 20 years, all laws should be null and void. One generation does not bind to the next generation. In his constitution for virginia, there was not a governor. It was an executive committee. He stripped away a lot of rights from this position, this collective position. They did not have the right to declare war, they did not have the right to name officers to the militia, they did not have the right to shut down assembly, et cetera, et cetera. He thought very hard about the issue of the dangers that inequality presented to the good social feelings that people want it in the republic. Could you have a republican if half could not qualify for citizenship . Well kind of republic with happy . They are in a society where 40 of the people are enslaved. Jefferson proposed giving everyone who did not have the minimum requirement for the vote, under the constitution, land. Everyone was going to get 50 acres, who did not already have it. If you are a mail over the age of 21. Where do you think this land was coming from . Would it be the indian territory . It wouldve been from the native americans. Jefferson suggested that virginia should buy the land from the americans. Only the state should buy from the north americans. Only the state could buy and enter into that contract, no individuals. It was about protecting indigenous rights. The idea that one group would be in deficit of citizenship by the disposition of another group is a complicated feature. Other constitutions debated giving the vote to native americans and incorporating native americans into this contract. Some talked about gender very openly. We will see that some of the constitutions had gendered language where they speak of freemen, or free males, over the age of 21. Others speak of persons. We thought this was a mistake in that, they did not realize what the implications of these actions were. Again, as we have dug down and found diaries of these debates over the state constitutions and the discussions of the amendment processes, it is clear that people did know what they were doing. In this case, in the case of massachusetts, they took a male, gender pronoun out and put in and went in a more in substitute persons. After a discussion of whether they should exclude women. A lot is on the table. What im trying to convene here is all the possibilities that existed. This is a moment of possibility. Jefferson also exist worked with constitution writers to get rid of what people thought was a source of aristocratic power and wealth, which was leading property to the oldest son and the and telling of the state. Locking up money over generations. Even the heirs cannot unlock. Always passed this property and it stayed intact with the older son. This was a big creator of wealth, and maintainer of wealth and power. Virginia and other states passed laws and put it into their constitution to get rid that the older son could only inherit. To get rid of these and tales and make them illegal. Many the constitutions actually talked about womens rights of inheritance. All children should get equal share. Put this into the state constitutions. This was also one of jeffersons drafts. No person here after coming into this country shall be held to the same in slavery under any pretext whatever. What is that saying . Jefferson trying to say that he wants to keep his lifestyle, but in the future, other people should not do slavery . It is not framing that people are currently enslaved. It is not just stopping the slave trade, either. Anyone brought in after the state, will be free. Think about that, to. This is 1776. Between 1776 and 1785, the legislator debated anti slavery bills several times. They passed the house several times. One characteristic of the actual bill none of these things that jefferson is suggesting made it into the final constitution. Not this cause of slavery, not his give 50 acres to everyone and buy from the indians. The entail and the that they achieve through bills in later sessions. We wanted to create Public Education and have an attempt where children who did well in Primary School would get the state to pay the secondary education and then create an elite of nobility. To bring new people into the elite. This is an interior shot of monticello, by the way. It has mammoth artifacts from George Rogers clark. So, in other words, there was tremendous potential for change in 1776. Even people like mason and jefferson, who are talking about natural rights into the idea of natural rights, where are the implications of natural rights for is the very. We do not want to end slavery in the moment. In later bills, jefferson, mason, and others, propose that they wanted to remove a freed African Americans from virginia. This was going to be a requirement for freedom. The laws were gradual. They did not apply to people who are currently enslaved but only those born after the law. They would be free. They had to serve an apprenticeship until the age of 21, maybe to a 28. They would have to leave upon freedom. They talked about creating a black homeland in the west. Again, out of indian land. This idea of compact, that included the formerly enslaved was not on the table. The free people had to go. This is why one of the reasons you get migration to ohio during and after the revolution. This is a period it was going. They were trying to force people, even those who have been freed for generations, to leave virginia. Virginia shows both incredible potential and also the limits of some of these ideas and rhetoric. And the beginning of the conflicts and discussion over this question of slavery, that would become part of debates in other states. This would lead to laws abolishing slavery in other states. It leads to a debate over the u. S. Constitution and on, and on, through the civil war and up until today. Another important constitution was the pennsylvania constitution. It was also written in may and june of 1776. A lot of action in those months. I already mentioned that pennsylvania had a unique history going into the revolution. A lot less activity around stamp act and these other protests. A lot more activities in the years leading up to the revolution itself. The emergence of radicals like tom paine, they are pushing for independence. This was in december and january of 1775 and 1776. A very robust committee structure. Particularly, of these private militias and associaters that had emerged between in the 1740s and 50s but really took up in the American Revolution. Theres also a place with ethnic and racial diversity. This makes unification difficult. Their challenge for montesquieu. Many of the immigrants are also not a naturalized. They had not achieve naturalization. Some of the colonies required seven years of president s. You had to go for, apply for, it some of the german speaking immigrants often didnt bother and were coerced by the state to do so because they wanted to write a will or file some sort of paper. You have a very diverse community. You have radical energy. You also have a rather conservative legislature that did not want to adopt independence. Theyre dragging their feet, even as theyre in the same building as the Continental Congress. This is driving the radicals in pennsylvania nuts. So, they engage in a kind of coup. In may they call a convention, they basically run an election for delegates to a Constitutional Convention and hold it and write a constitution. They replace the sitting Pennsylvania Assembly with a new assembly. So, the committee in pennsylvania they, literally take over the government of pennsylvania and write the constitution. This constitution is the most distinct, its the most different from our current frame of government and from both the british style and what came after. They got rid of Everything Associated with the british system with aristocracy, with hierarchy. So, no governor. What was the governor except an exemplar of royal power . No senate, because what was the senate except an exemplar of aristocracy . House of lords, those people have their seats by inheritance, because theyre aristocrats. Why would you need an upper house if you are not encoding aristocracy . So, they had a one house legislature. Instead of a governor, they created an executive council, a kind of president , really. People that the house representatives would appoint to advise that person, that person is to execute the will of the legislature. Its super hyper powers itself. The legislature appointed judges, appointed people to office, election of some of these figures, some judicial figures as well. If an elected by the people, the business is being conducted by the legislature. The other interesting thing that the constitution did is that it created a lot of accountability. This is the most people accountable, accountable to the people government created in this period. Elections were to be annual. Every year, youd have a chance to throw the bum out and elect somebody knew. The idea behind annual elections also was that more people would end up serving me. This also informed a desire for term limits. They didnt want an entrenched elite, they dont want the same people in power. So people could only serve four out of every seven years, they were term limited. So, during the colonial period, if youre trying to find out, you know, what went on behind the scenes, and what kind of debates people had within these colonial legislatures, when they were discussing laws or policy, you have to find a diary, you have to find a letter, you have to find some private recording of what went on. In the colonial period, legislatures did not publish any of their, or make public, any of their debates or any of their discussions. They didnt publish roll call votes you could find out the gross numbers of years and years but you didnt know whether you representative voted one way or the other. So the public wasnt allowed in, there was no access to the debates, nobody knew, and no access to roll call votes. Pennsylvania, literally, they said, were throwing open the doors. We are throwing up in the doors, anyone can come, at anytime. On top of that, we are going to publish all of the discussions, on top of that, we are gonna publish votes, so you know how your representative is voting. On top of it, we are going to publish any law that we passed. It wont go into effect until it has been circulated in public, and the public has a chance to weigh in and decide whether they like this law or not, or whether we need to go back to the drawing table. So there was popular consent to new laws, it was built into this constitution. So, you know, this was the most democratic constitution created in this period, arguably. Some say it made pennsylvania the most Democratic Society on the face of the earth. Certainly in the americas or western europe in this period. Thats an achievement. It was put together by people like tom payne, by dr. Benjamin rush, by Charles Wilson peel, the artisan turned artist. Remember peale and paine are both fighting in the American Revolution. Timothy mattlach and the committees, the committee of privates is writing this, theyre helping to write this constitution. This constitution also gave people broad voting rights. So, in pennsylvania, there was no property requirement for the vote. All you have to do is own yourself, if you are a free person, you can vote. So, this excluded the enslaved, it excluded apprentices, so if youre in an apprenticeship or contract like that you are not viewed is totally free. There is a lot of apprentices in the militia. So apprentices really pushback about this. In the end, they reached compromise to exclude them. Thereafter, the motion didnt enroll apprentices, they werent allowed to be in the militia and certain committees. This meant that people of color voted. There was no race or ethnicity mentioned. Pennsylvania also made naturalization easy. You only had to reside in the state for one year to become naturalized. So, this made the vote and participation available to all these fairly recent immigrants, like timothy mattlach, these germans, these people of different ethnicities, scotts, irish, they are now voting. Pennsylvania is also interesting because they really put a lot of hopes and dreams into the constitution. They said, you know, we want people to work hard at their callings. Find a vocation, work hard at it. We want people to be virtuous. We want you to contribute to the state, we demand the contribute to the state. They did criminal justice reform. In the constitution, there are limits on bail, theres, you know, getting rid of debtors prison, getting rid of excessive fines and fees, so, on and so forth. They also got rid of entail, talked about inheritance. They debated, an initially had included a declaration limiting concentrations of property. This was one of the 47, there were 16 rights, and 47 other elements to the constitution. An enormous proportion of property, vested in few individuals is dangerous to the rights and destructive of the common happiness of mankind. Therefore, every free state has the right by its laws to discourage the possession of such property. So, that article did not make it into the final constitution as adopted. It sure shows that people in pennsylvania were thinking about equality, worried about concentrations of wealth, thinking about using the state, if necessary, to do something about those things. So, you know, Property Rights sacred, a quality sacred, sometimes, you know, they are in sync. Would there be a moment where those things might not be in sync . Those moments are going to come, particularly during wartime, in cities like philadelphia. So this constitution really pulled together a Broad Coalition of support. Its sort of broke the existing pennsylvania politics and created new alliances between rural people, who had been immobilized by the revolution, and city people, who before had been opposing factions, opposing sides within the politics of pennsylvania. Dominated by the proprietor, by the penn family, who were anglicans, the church of england, and the quakers. That was one group, and everyone else, all the immigrant groups, all the evangelicals, all the others, they were in the other group. Real people were in the other group. This created a bridge between the city people and the country people of the lowering and middle orders. This was the constitution. So, the last little interesting tidbit about the pennsylvania constitution was this council of sensors. Whats the council of sensors was a judicial review, it was unelected body, and it basically called for the council of sensors to be on it and impeach any official that wasnt doing their job. Who seemed to be a danger to the republic. To keep an eye on the law and make sure that they were as they should be. But also, every seven years, to decide whether the constitution needed to be changed in some formal way. If so, the council sensors could call a Constitutional Convention. So, built into this constitution is the possibility of change and the possibility revision. This constitution was there were so many elements to this constitution that were controversial. The pushback from the groups that have been displaced in the former legislator, people who did not like various sorts like opening up of the assembly, the constitution actually says that you should try to be voting for different people. Not the same old people. You need to run for office and new people need to get there. All these lack of the empowerment of the legislator. The lack of other checks and balances on the legislature, this creates pushback within the state and in other states. Although pennsylvanias influence shaped the vermont constitution, georgia also had an assembly. Pennsylvanias biggest influence in provoking a reaction in other states, were people who saw this democracy and wanted to slow it down. After this burst of constitution writing, there is a slow walk that happens in other states. Things are really radical right now so lets wait a little while. This is john adams in massachusetts others are trying to slow things down a little bit. The result of the slow walk, in a period of consideration. Was the massachusetts constitution of 1780. It began in 1778. John adams drafted this constitution. Youve already written about what government should look like in a pamphlet that was a response to common sense it came out of fema after common sense, in the spring of 1776. Adams was writing to try to reassure people who are worried about independents that americans could create governments that can be orderly. They can have orderly republics. By 1778, adams was also looking at things that had happen in pennsylvania, and things that were going on in his own state of massachusetts. What this popular legislature did in pennsylvania, and basically what the legislature then in massachusetts was doing before this constitution, was a lot of people pleasing things. They were making it hard for debtors to collect debts, while soldiers were away fighting the war. Peoples estate and mortgages were getting behind. These legislators were giving people debt protection. They were controlling the price of food as they skyrocketed in boston, and philadelphia, and other cities. They were doing things that the people wanted. For some, people who were the mortgage holders, who were the sellers of goods, they viewed these acts as infringement on their Property Rights. We will talk about this in a forthcoming lecture. Adams came back at the constitution with a draft that included elements of the old order. They were dressed up in a new republican clothing. He brought back a strong executive. A governor in his constitution had powers that the royal governors did not have. Particularly, veto powers. The ability to veto things coming out of the legislature. The governor, adams also created a senate and which he hoped would be a senate of natural aristocrats. He set things up so yeah governor and the senate would both be drawn from these elite. Groups by creating high property bars to support critical office. Pennsylvania did not have any requirement for serving in office. You had to have in a estate of 1000 pounds to be governor. You have to have an estate of 600 pounds to be in the senate, or to be lieutenant governor. Then you need a 300 pounds to be in the senate. You had to be a person of property to qualify for these offices. You also had to be a trinitarian protestant. This constitution, all of the constitutions, talked about religion. Virginia, george masons initial draft and James Madisons prodding brought a degree of religious freedom to virginia. They retained an established church. It did not get taken away until 1785. Pennsylvania offered complete religious freedom. No taxes would be paid to support the church. Massachusetts retained the church. They offered religious toleration and the ability to protect religion, but gave the state the right to compel particular types of warship or, 13 lead, through tax money, support a particular church the Congregational Church the puritan church. This remained true in massachusetts until the 1820s. The u. S. Constitution says that the u. S. Will not establish a religion, federal government wont, but it did not stop the states from doing it. In fact, there are bills right now in some states to reestablish churches within states. This idea it has been floating around. To return to established religion. Here, adams actually was open to say christian. You need to be christian to be an officeholder. The people of massachusetts wanted protestant, protestant, protestant. The catholics under this constitution was a little vague. There was language that would exclude catholics. It certainly excluded the jews, and technically, it excluded folks who were christian who didnt necessarily believe in the divinity of the trinity and so on. Fewer people can vote under this constitution then in the colonial period. The property bar was 60 pounds. It was higher than it had been. These number of senators was based on the property and tax revenue of particular districts. Areas around boston, salem, commercial cities were highly represented. It was not based on population. It was based on tax rules, it was a number of senators that an area weve got. Some of these western towns werent going to be too able qualify to send representatives to the lower massachusetts house assembly. You also need to have a town that has 125, 150 people. They were still going to do a town based thing. This constitution really represented the interest of the wealthier eastern part of boston. It was creating a lot of order. It was making sure that an elite would still have control over an important order over society in this constitution. It did to one interesting thing. It sent the constitution out for people to consent to. A special election was held for a local conventions to invite representatives from localities to look at the constitution and amend it. And decide what they could live with and couldnt live with. They push back on elements of the constitution. Some things changed. This principle of ratification and of consent was an important principle. Also, when adams did was he offered up a way to think about checks and balances. Of how to create a Senate Without having an aristocracy. He said we need a powerful executive. He went after the taboos that were influencing the generation of 76. He said we need these things. This was also very controversial. It was controversial within massachusetts. In pennsylvania, parties formed around their constitution. Anti constitution parties called themselves republicans. They immediately began fighting the constitution and looking forward to the next senators meaning where they would overturn it. And they did. In africa in massachusetts we are going to see real agitation about this constitution and after the elected officials come in and start changing and getting rid of some of these protections and other important policies during the war itself. They end up in a pretty major role in the insurgency within massachusetts and other colonies in the 1780s. Here is a takeaway. One is that the idea of the declaration of rights, the bill of rights, is one of the most lasting and great contributions of this era. The idea that politics is a potentially moral activity, and the structure of government can be used to change the things you want for society. These are lasting contributions. It is probably one of the greatest contributions to the American Revolution and subsequent revolutions. It influenced the french revolution, haitian revolution. Any of these revolutions. It became the basis of their own declaration of rights. The writing of consultations, even after the former fall of the soviet union, they asked americans to come help them write constitutions. They wanted to put things in their list of rights like the right to housing and the right to health care. In our discussion, we will talk a little bit about that. This is for future discussion. Adams was here talking about the separation of powers, not letting the legislature run the judiciary, not let them run all aspects. Stuff had to be separated out. It is another lasting idea that we will see coming up in our discussions over the u. S. Constitution. For now, we will and and we will take up what kind of societies emerged because of these constitutions. The crisis and concern about what was going on in the states. All of which provided impetus for the creation of a central federal government. That will be the subject of our next class. I will see you then. If youre enjoying American History tv, then sign up for our newsletter, using the qr code on your screen to receive the weekly schedule of our programs like lectures in history, the presidency, and more, sign up for the American History tv newsletter today, and be sure to watch American History tv every saturday, or anytime online at cspan. Org slash history cspan now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of whats happening in washington live and on demand. Keep up with the days biggest events, with live streams from the full proceedings in hearings from the u. S. Congress