Transcripts For CSPAN3 American Artifacts 20240622

That exact moment. Curtis reflects on it by saying something to the effect of this is a lead ball for which we cant yet for measure the calams effect. The autopsy is completed and some fragments of lincolns skull were retained by surgeons who assisted at the autopsy and in one case some fragment was stuck on some of dr. Curtis tools and as he was cleaning his surgical kit later that day he found a bit of lincolns skull fragments stuck in one of the saws. We also have on display a bit of lincolns hair removed from the site of the wound during the autopsy. Several locks of hair are accounted for in the notes from those hours before lincoln died and during his autopsy. These are just a few of those that were cut and given away to different people. Another object, though, thats on display relates again to dr. Curtis. Edward curtis, a staff on the medical museum was an assistant at the autopsy. When he got home that night, the 15th of april, after the autopsy, he discovered that his undershirt sleeve shirt cuffs were stained with the president s blood. And mrs. Curtis cut the shirt cuffs off and put them into an envelope when they signed and endorsed and this is one of the two shirt cuffs. Both shirt cuffs are in the museums holdings. Just this one is on display. Many of these objects had an interesting and diverse history. The bullet was used at the trial of the conspirators. The fragments of bone and hair were in the care and holdings of others for many years and most were collected in the early 1950s by an Army Medical Museum curator named helen hurdle and for the most part have been on display for many decades. Its important to note that 2015 will mark the 150th anniversary of the assassination of president Abraham Lincoln. We hope you enjoyed this visit to our exhibit on civil war medicine and the artifacts related to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln here at the Natural Museum of health and medicine. Its important for us to share these artifacts that convey the lessons and the history of military medicine with 150 years ago, and thats the inspiration for much of the work that the museum does today to carry on that mission and legacy of military medicine today and into the future. We hope youll consider visiting the museum if youre in the washington, d. C. Area sometime soon. You can watch this or other american artifacts programs at any time by visiting your website, cspan. Org history. Here on cspan3 thursday, a look at issues on aging. Our programs include a Senate Hearing in efforts to fight alzheimer alzheimers, thats thursday, 1 00 p. M. Eastern here on cspan3. Florence harding once said that she had only one hobby and that was warren harding. She was a significant force in her husbands presidency and adept at handling the media, despite hardships, scandals, her husbands infidelities, his death in office, and her own poor health, he would help define the role of the modern first lady. Florence harding on first ladies influence and imaging, examine the public and private lives of first ladies. From Martha Washington to michelle obama, sundays at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan3. Each week, American History tvs american artifacts visits museums and historic places. Next we travel to Independence National historical park in philadelphia to visit the Assembly Room inside Independence Hall where both the declaration of independence and the u. S. Constitution were debated and eventually signed. This Program Featuring National Park Service Ranger Matthew Ifill is about one hour. We are in a building that is built in the 1730s, about 40 years before there was any such thing as the United States of america. And at that time, of course, pennsylvania was a british colony. And this was its Capitol Building. They would make laws for pennsylvania. Each of the 13 enclose colonies has its own governments. These are the issues that will lead to the creation of the United States, most of which is going to happen in this room because the colonies as time goes forward or at least many people of the Political Class in these colonies will start to grow dissatisfied with the way the British Government is treating them, is affecting their lives locally and one of the other side issues is americans living in the colonies do not get to vote in british elections. When the parliament in london makes laws for americans, of course the most famous being various taxes and such that you all get to learn about in school, were going to say this is taxation without representation. And its that idea that youre not getting the voice. Thomas jefferson would right in the declaration of independence about government existing without the consent of the governed and americans are feeling like they arent getting that consent. When it starts disappearing locally as well as connected with the home country in london and britain, that they are really going to get this growing dissatisfaction. So this room is long in use by pennsylvania, but by 1775, pennsylvania will essentially be inviting the Continental Congress into their space. The Continental Congress met in philadelphia about a year earlier, although they chose not to meet here at Independence Hall that year. They met down the street at carpenters hall. The first set of meetings, the first Continental Congress is the first real sitdown of these different colonies and this idea of expressing to the British Government what would be under british sort of constitution bill of rights at that time. This notion of redressing grievances that wed have as british subjects and ultimately go right to the king and say, look, we are loyal british subjects here in america, but these things are happening that we have these grievances over, this loss of rights, this loss of our connection with the government. The fact that theyre taking away some of our local government, theyre closing down our local courts. They are giving us these rules to follow that we have no say. So they write this letter to the king which perfectly within your rights under british law, and they also agree as a group on an association that these 13 colonies will kind of Work Together in future on these big issues. So whats going to happen is they go home after that meeting in the fall of 1774 because obviously communicating across the ocean in the late 1700s is going to take a little while. So theyre not going to come back to philadelphia until the spring of 1775. However, things have changed in those few months in the area of boston, youll have battles at lexington and concord in april. So when congress is coming back here to philadelphia, this is sort of the news. Theyre actually finding out in some way about some of the conflict that has begun. Suddenly things being a lot more serious leads to a lot more serious circumstances when Congress Starts to meet in this room in may. The first big thing theyre going to tackle is this notion of working as a group, but the idea of maybe fighting for those rights, of actually taking that militia Minuteman Army up around boston and making it an american army. The continental army. In june of 1775, one of the first really big steps as far as changing the world is going to be creating this continental army. This american army. 13 separate colonies that have always run their lives separately and for years had not necessarily resisted working together but it never particularly worked out that they all wanted to Work Together at the same time. Theyd finally create this army, june 14th, 1775, taking the beginnings of the army up in boston, that had thought against the british already, making it the american army, and to me, most importantly, picking George Washington to be the commander of that army. That is really one of the most important decisions made in this room. If you think about the way this war will go for the young United States, its 8 1 2 years. George washington will be the only commanding general well have for all of those years. At the end, he will succeed. Back in 1775, they are still figuring out what they are fighting for. That leads to one last letter to the king. We call this one the olive branch petition. Like theyd done before, starts off with the idea were loyal british subjects fighting for our rights. Again, going, following the chain of command in britain to the king to ask that he assist us in redressing these grievances. The other thing theyll write is a declaration of the causes and necessity of taking up arms. Both of these will be written in july, putting out there to the world what we are looking to do to correct this situation that we feel has gone against us and that our rights are being threatened or taken away. Unfortunately, the British Government in london will decide that theyre not going to really communicate with the Continental Congress. The king himself will announce theres this rebellion in america, and the British Government will essentially issue this letter to americans that says if youre going to be involved in this rebellion, were going to view you as a traitor. And the crime of trean trees treason, could very well lead to a death penalty. So by early 1776, that news gets to philadelphia. So were now half a year plus into the war, and its getting very clear that negotiating, talking, isnt particularly solving anything. And you do have this very radical bent of men that are in this room that are pushing more and more towards this idea of independence. And finally you get the last big push which is Thomas Paynes book common sense published here in philadelphia, selling tens of thousands of copies through the colonies. And paynes simple argument is we dont need those guys. We can run america better than the british ever could. And so this idea of independence kind of swells through that spring. By june, virginia introduces a resolution for american independence. But they decide to not address it right away in june. They are going to want to consult their home governments, their colonies or states, if we want to start calling them that because were getting to that point. At the same time they want to put something on paper. So while they are each consulting home to see what home says they should, do they are also going to form this fiveman committee. John adams of massachusetts, who is probably in a lot of ways one of the most significant guys in congress those early days. Hes really pushing for that creation of the army in 1775. Also the navy in the fall of 1775. Hes pushing in the spring of 1776 that each of the colonies write its own constitution which is again another step towards independence that each colony sort of getting rid of that old charter they had from the British Government. Their old constitution sort of speaking and creating a new independent constitution. Hes one of the leaders in a lot of this movement. Also on the committee is Robert Livingston of new york who goes back ten years to the meetings held over the stamp taxes. You have a man from connecticut named Roger Sherman who is going to end up signing not only the declaration of independence, but also the articles of confederation. Only two men who can make that claim. Benjamin franklin from right here in philadelphia, which is far and away the most famous american at the time. 70 years old. Oldest man in congress. And then one of the younger guys in congress, thomas jefferson. 33 years old. The growing reputation for his writing and his political thought. And the committee sit, deciding what to say, decides jefferson should be the writer. He works for about 17 days on the declaration of independence, and he will especially go to john adams and Benjamin Franklin for some of their ideas and critiques of his writing. But generally its his work. Hes building on a lot of other things that he and others had written. Some of the grievances theyd already been talking about make up a big bulk of that declaration of independence. By june 28th, the declaration is sort of back here in the Assembly Room. But thats a friday. Theyll wait until the next monday to start debating. July the 1st begins debate on independence. The first thing theyll debate is not the declaration but the idea. Theyll start discussing, is this really the best idea for us to do. Should we become these free and independent states . Most of the men in the room are at that point theyre ready to make this step. But there are others that arent loyal. Theyll not have loyalists in the Continental Congress. They wouldnt want anything to do with it. But they are men that are more conservative saying this may not be such a good idea. John dickinson is probably the most important of them. Years earlier, the author of the letters of a pennsylvania farmer, which is again against some of those various taxes and acts, stamp taxes and so on. Hes probably one of our best known political writers of the day. Hes sort of pulling back saying the idea is how are we going to win a war against the british . This doesnt seem like the best idea to declare our independence because this cuts off any chance of negotiating with the british. Others might look at the idea we dont really have anybody helping us. Britain is one of the great powers of the world. America is maybe 3 Million People and certainly a good chunk of them remaining loyal to the crown. There will be battles in this war with just americans on both sides. So theres some saying maybe we should slow down but most of the men are ready to move forward. On july 1st, theyll hold a nonbinding committee of the whole vote. The vote is on the question of being free and independent states. Heres how voting works in the Continental Congress. You have 13 states or colonies, depending on your time period. Each gets an equal vote. One vote per state. They have different numbers ever of men at each table. Some states allow their delegates to decide amongst themselves. Some states will give their delegates specific instructions. Here in the room on july 1st, youre going to have nine of the delegations voting why that we should be free and independent states. Two will vote no, and two will be either divided or not voting. New york is still waiting for their formal instructions from home so theyre not going to technically vote at all. Delaware is divided. They have two of their delegates in the room. One for, one against. So theyre divided. Pennsylvania and South Carolina are going to vote no. So on the rest of the first and into the second, because the second is the day they want to take the binding vote, the politicking is we want to try to make this unanimous. New york theyre going to sort of ignore because they havent gotten any instructions. New yorks going, we have to wait until they tell us what to do. Delaware has a third delegate. Hes at home. They call for him to get here. He rides overnight through the storm. If you did the state quarters, delaware has a guy riding on a horse, his name is caesar rodney. So he gets up here from delaware on the 2nd to vote and break the tie and make delawares vote a yes for independence. Then pennsylvania and South Carolina. South carolina has three delegates. We assume that its 21 and they manage to get one of the guys to switch his vote. South carolina will be on board. And pennsylvania is more complicated. Theyve got one of the bigger delegations. When that vote goes south for pennsylvania, theyll convince two of the guys to sort of walk away when theyre ready to make the final vote so it can be unanimous. They dont have to vote against how they feel. John dickinson is one of those who will not vote amongst the pennsylvania delegates. So instead of a onevote loss, it becomes a onevote win and now its 120. We ignore new york at the moment. July of 1776 theyll vote more or less unanimously with new york waiting to approve the notion of being free and independent states. Thats a day john adams would write to his wife and say, this is what we should celebrate with parades and fireworks and speeches. Sadly for poor july 2nd is never gets remembered because the rest of that day, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th are the days of debating on the declaration of independence. The declaration is about four pages long. Theyll go through more or less every word. Theyll make a significant number of changes, but theyll not change the basic nature of a lot of what he writes. Theyll add some words here and there. The most famous part for most of it is the opening paragraph or two. Most of that remains intact. The early listing of grievances, the things weve been talking about for several years as far as what were worried about the british doing. Most of that remains intact. Probably the most famous section that gets changed is the section about the slave trade. Slave insurrections is another part of that. One of the big arguments is that virginia makes is, their good afternoon had essentially said in the leading days of the war is that slaves should basically kill their masters and seek their own freedom, which for a slaveholding state is slave insur ekz is a very frightening thing. Thats very much on the mind of jefferson. This idea of slave insurrections, bringing more slaves into america becomes more of that. We dont want more slaves we have to worry about in these kind of days. So he goes after the slave trade, blames the king for importing these folks, and that is a bit controversial in this room. You have a fair number of slave holders and slave Holding States that kind of dont want to talk about this. It does get put aside. Slave trade and some of these things were worried about the british doing that would affect lives in america. So at any rate as you get into july 4th, they are going through pretty well every bit of that declaration of independence, but they finally take a little out, adding words here and there. They get to something that all of the men in this room representing all of the 13 states can agree. And they are ready to vote. On the 4th its 120 with again new york waiting and so july 4th becomes, for americans, our day of independence because its the day we literally had something concrete to hold up to the world. This was the day we said, heres what were fighting for. Theres a long list. And again, when we look at the declaration of independence, we focus on that top, that opening section. All men are created equal. The idea of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Its that list of reasons they were doing this. Justified independence. It justified a war against their own government, which essentially is what this started out being. And it basically said its the british fault for this. This is all the things they did that are really not legal by the british constitution and british bill of rights. Were just acting the way we have to act because we cant we divot we got to this point where we cant stay under this rule anymore. They had something on july 4th they voted yes and voted right away to send it out. We want this to go to states and the army and let people know what were fighting for. Thats really what they needed. If you pull back to the big picture in the summer of 1776, were not winning the war. The british army is invading new york. That summer, massive invasion. Hundreds of ships, tens of thousands of men sweeping down through long island into manhattan and new jersey. By fall of 1777, the british army is sitting in this very room. They capture philadelphia. Washington and his army spend their winter at valley forge. So those early years, those early days are not good ones for the young United States. But we had a declaration of independence we can hold and announce to the world what were fighting for. And we had a general in washington that would keep going in those difficult days. An army that managed to survive those bad winters at places like valley forge and we managed to keep ourselves going. Long enough that we can make changes. Before we get to that, one other thing about our declaration of independence about this room that people expect is that i will tell you they sign the declaration of independence right behind me on the 4th of july. Sadly, they didnt. It probably, the simplest explanation is nobody thought about it that day. They hadnt gotten to the point of preparing a nice fancy handwritten one. They wanted the words agreed to. They wanted it voted on and they wanted people to read it. They sent it to a printer. The oldest are printed on a Printing Press and have no names on them. One of the men here in july will make a proposal that we the word they use is engross the declaration of independence. Make a formal written version and then it be signed by the delegates. Im sure most of the men said, why didnt we think of that sooner . Thats a really good idea. Well have it handwritten and by the beginning of august, its done and checked over. They make sure its all right. Theyll start signing. About 50 guys sign it on august 2nd. A few more over the next couple of weeks. One guy might not be for a couple more years because he wasnt here for a while as a member of congress. Thats the one if you go to washington, d. C. , national archives, thats the one most of us think of as the declaration of independence. But its one that we, like everything theyre going to do in this room is one that we get to by process rather than by some master plan at the beginning. They are making it all along as they go along and figuring it out as they go. The other big thing thats going to happen late that year of 1776, Benjamin Franklin is going to go to france. And he is going to be the guy thats going to help convince france to come into the war on our side. And while the british army is in this room, in early 1778, Benjamin Franklin is signing a peace treaty with france. Thats changing the whole nature of the war. The british suddenly find they have to worry about a french navy. The United States doesnt have much of a navy to threaten the british fleet, but france does. So they have to worry about that. The british have to worry about being invaded. Guys like Benjamin Franklin working with lafayette in france work on the king to try to get some invasion of england going. Youll have to worry if you are Great Britain about islands in the caribbean, youll be fighting in asia, africa, all over the world. So a lot of resources suddenly arent coming here to north america which makes George Washingtons life easier. Well get money from france. Well get supplies from france. Well get french troops, plus that french navy. If you think of our victory at york town, probably the biggest of the war, were probably not going to get that victory without the french navy. Eventually the war slowly, and it is slowly, turns in our favor. 1783, back in paris, john adams and Benjamin Franklin sign a peace treaty. Its really back in 1783 that the Continental Congress can finally breathe that sigh of relief and know that we have achieved this american independence which would be nice if thats the end of our story, but theres more to do. Go back 1776. Each state writes its own constitution. Each one is different. Each one has its own sets of government and laws. Ill use pennsylvania. Pennsylvania decides to write a constitution thats so radical for its day they get rid of the position of governor. Theyll not have really a chief executive for pennsylvania anymore. Theyll have a fairly democratically run onehouse legislature as opposed to the standard two houses that most of the states are going to use, that the United States knows throughout its history. Pennsylvania has a very different setup. It proves to be too radical to work. And its only going to last about 17 years. Theyll have to redo it and go to the traditional governor, two houses of legislature setup. In 1776, each of these states is going to start itself over. Now the problem is, being all a little bit different, and one of my colleagues loves to talk about that today. We still have differences from state to state as far as speed limits and little rules for driving are going to be different. And so we still have some of those vestiges there. Now what do we have in the way of government . State governments, very much hold the cards. There is our Continental Congress. Now the articles of confederation sets the rules for the Continental Congress. Thats an idea that comes into this room with Benjamin Franklin. At the very beginning of the war, its an idea he dusted off from the 1750s during the french and indian war. This idea of confederation between the colonies to Work Together to defend themselves against enemies such as france. He dusts off the old ideas. Rewrites this first version of the articles of confederation. The day after they chose the committee to write the declaration of independence, they also chose a committee with a member from each of the states to write the articles of confederation. The main writer, another pennsylvanian, John Dickinson. Again, dickinson would be famous for kind of trying to slow us down for independence. At the same time hes making those arguments hes writing the articles of confederation. An agreement between how the United States is going to operate. Where essentially the congress would run the war, run foreign policy, the states would run their internal, but they would cooperate with each other. You wouldnt have to pay taxes and tariffs as you went from state to state. The first problem with the articles of confederation and what dooms is, you can see by how it is signed. The signing will take place when the Continental Congress comes back to philadelphia after the british have left in 1778. Back to washington after the the british leave philadelphia in june. Congress is back meeting here in july. And on july 9th, they are ready to sign the articles of confederation. The way the signing of that one works is different. The declaration of independence is signed by the delegates and most of them signed it on the same day. The articles of confederation is signed as each state approves it. Their delegates will sign it. They are waiting for their the states to make their decision. Half sign the first day and over the next week, most of the rest will sign. Now ultimately, one state, maryland, will hold out for close to two years. So the signing will begin july 9th and wont finish until march the 1st of 1781. Two and a half years. For most of that time, its maryland by itself saying no. Technically this cannot go into effect until all 13 states have agreed and signed. Maryland is feuding with mainly virginia, their neighbors, over land to the west. When the revolutionary war comes to an end we go from our old colonial boundaries which would be about the appalachian mountains, although the colonies each figured they kept going. Now we end at the mississippi river. Thats a lot of new land. Think of all the states between the east coast and mississippi river. All the old states and colonies are looking at that land saying that would be great as part of my state. Maryland and virginia are arguing over who gets the Potomac River and things like that. Maryland is going, i dont want to sign this until everything is settled. Theres your issue that arises. And there will be others. Theres a bill at one point trying to pass through this room to raise money on essentially imports. Take money from imports, like a tax tariff and put that to paying the soldiers. Seems logical. Why would you not want to raise money to pay the Army Fighting for independence. 12 of the states agreed. Seems like a good idea. One, which happened to be rhode island, the smallest of the states said no, and the vote failed. The states individually have a lot more power and sometimes one can defeat 12. A lot of people start thinking, this isnt working so well, including members of the congress. By the end of the war, you have members of the congress writing letters to officers in the army as the war is winding down saying, you know, maybe the army should try to throw their weight behind putting something more strong together here in philadelphia because this isnt really working between the states. Maybe we need the strength of that army. George washington, of course, is very much a believer in this idea of civilian control. Thats one of the great principles weve embraced in American History from our beginning points and George Washington is a big part of that. One of what a lot of people would look at as one of his greatest moments, at end of the war up in newburg, new york, hes going to call a meeting together of all his officers as this word of, you know, maybe the army trying to change government a little bit. And hes against it. He calls a meeting, puts some of the guys he feels are behind a lot of this talk in charge of the meeting. Hes not going to be there. He wants them to talk amongst themselves. Then he shows up. Washington is not a public speaker. This is not a man who wants to stand up and make speeches. If he can avoid it hes going to do it. But he comes and he starts making a speech. And he wants to read this letter. He pulls out a pair of glasses and puts them on and said ive not only grown gray but half blind as well. Hes talking about this idea of what they fought for together for eight years. And that it not be ruined by rash actions at the end. Hes got guys in tears. And the whole thing sort of what we call the newberg conspiracy kind of goes away. And even though the problems hadnt been solved, this idea of military intervention in our civilian government, fortunately, fades out of view. But still washington does believe that something stronger is needed, but he is one of those guys who is going to go through the proper channels. George washington is a virginian. His state is fighting with their neighbors in maryland. What can George Washington do about that . He can have a meeting at his house and invite virginians and marylanders to sit together. Hell do that after the war ends. He has this mt. Vernon conference. And theyll sign an agreement together solving essentially years of problems between maryland and virginia which then leads to a meeting in maryland, where theyll invite more states. Theyll get five states to meet in annapolis. The annapolis convention. And again, the big result is its going to lead to a bigger meeting. Theyll go. Now our friend John Dickinson is going to the Continental Congress with a letter hes written saying we want a big meeting in philadelphia back in the same room. We want to really talk about the future, and we want everybody to come. Theyll sit down starting in may of 1787, what we today call the constitutional convention. Theyll sit in this same room and address these issues plaguing the young United States. Its going to start with about 11 states. New hampshire will show up late. Unfortunately, rhode island will never attend these meetings. Now, this time theyre not about to let one state keep them from getting something done. Theyll pretend theres only 12 of them. And not only that, but when they vote, theyll go to the people in each state. Let the people vote on a special convention and then the special conventions will approve or not approve the constitution for each state, and then you need nine states, threequarters of them, to put this new constitution into effect. These are guys trying to engineer something because they know something needs to be done to hold these states together. They know as separate entities, you go back to Benjamin Franklins design, the snake cut in pieces. That Benjamin Franklin had put together during the french and indian war, join or die. A snake put in pieces is going to die. A lot of men are embracing that summer of 1787. The questions theyll face in this room is what exactly is it that we want. So the first days of meetings are these very esoteric debates about the nature of federal government, national government, whats the difference, what do we want . Theyre getting deep into these things. They are saying we want this national government. And then they start saying, well, then what is it going to be . Well, virginia had come very organized. James madison is going to get credit for putting together a lot of the virginia plan thats submitted by Edmond Randolph, who is eventually our first attorney general. Another virginian is chosen by nomination from pennsylvania to sit in the back of the room and lead the constitutional convention. And that will be George Washington. The big hero of the day, of course, equal now to franklin as far as american fame goes, and so washington will take the lead in the constitutional convention. And the very chair in the back of the room behind me is the chair in which washington sat which, interestingly, is the only item in this room that we today have in this room that we know for certain was here as a part of those events. That chair was made in 1779 after the british left philadelphia. A lot of things were gone between the americans coming and going, british coming and going. We just dont have all the contents of the building anymore. Pennsylvanias government has to make new furniture, including that chair for the speaker of pennsylvania. So that was in the room on that spot when washington took that position in 1787. So the virginia plan, three branches of government, somewhat familiar to us today, heres some of the issues that are going to face that plan as far as when you start debating. Other plans are going to get thrown out by other men. One of the biggest things is this notion of voting based on american people. Seeing the states at artificial. Everybody in all the states is americans. So whenever we do things, we should just be americans. Why be virginians or somebody from massachusetts or delaware or anywhere else. Lets be americans. Well, naturally, the other side of that coin, as some of the states would look, is that virginia happens to have more people than any other state. Voting by people is definitely good for virginia. So a small state like delaware pretty much embraces one idea and thats the idea that every state be equal. Every state get an equal vote. Delaware is going to refuse to anything that doesnt involve equality amongst the states. You get the small states naturally liking delawares idea. The big states, virginias idea. Thats a debate that will go on for a month off and on. Virginias idea of congress is that we have these two houses. Upper house, lower house. What becomes our senate and house of representatives. Its based on population. But as you start debating it, you have others saying, base it on states. So eventually when it seems like theres no answer to be found, it would be connecticut that would make the compromise. What we call the connecticut compromise or great compromise, would give us this question of how about a senate where every state is equal, house of representatives where we base things on people. Both sides getting some of what they want. Eventually, of course, thats exactly how it would go. But not Everybody Loves that. So you arent sure if everybody is going to go for that, about but thats pretty much how they slot in for congress. Now the president. Theres another one. Theres multiple ideas of president , of executive. The virginia plan, as they start working through it, is ultimately a sevenyear executive elected by congress. So a little bit different system obviously than were used to today. The another plan, Edmond Randolph of virginia, says how about having three president s at once . Hes talking about three regional president s. Then you have Alexander Hamilton of new york who wants a very strong executive. How about president for lifetime which, needless to say having gotten rid of a king a few years ago was not overly popular to these men. They settle on a president for four years at a time. Then that level of Electoral College. We get a lot of questions about that. Why would they do that Electoral College . Probably several reasons. One is simple distance. The idea of having states that are days and days and weeks apart of each other from georgia to New Hampshire with not a lot of great roads and travel can be difficult, so having this notion of sending people together to vote makes a lot of sense. Mechanically. Then also you have this idea that with the Electoral College youre making sure the smaller states have a certain amount of say. Youre trying to balance a lot of different things. And talking about that, again, one of the things that will plague the young United States is something that does come up in this room that summer of 1787. This is the idea of slavery. Is this the time to make that big step and do away with slavery . Unfortunately, it wasnt. The Southern States, obviously, are fairly attached to it. They dont particularly want to talk about it. The only slavery, the word doesnt even make it into the constitution. You have one little notion of the slave trade, which they talk about in 20 years, maybe we can discuss doing away with the slave trade, importing slaves from africa. But thats about all the mention you get. Of course, anyone thats antislavery, which there are guys in this room decidedly so, is not very happy we put this off for 20 years. The entire discussion let alone any action. And, of course, Southern States would look at, in 20 years this is going to come up again. Because we didnt put it away forever. You have a lot of people looking at sections of this constitution that arent very happy. Now who writes the constitution . Declaration of independence, thats easy. Thomas jefferson was on the committee but basically wrote it. Constitution, theres really not going to be that one obvious writer. Youll have a fiveman committee called the committee of detail, which name is exactly what it sounds like. The guys putting in the details of what this government is going to be. Three of the five will be on the United States supreme court. One will be our first attorney general. So thats the kind of men youll have on there. The very much legal minded men. Probably the main guy who puts together most much their reports is james wilson from pennsylvania. He is one of the signers of the declaration of independence as well. Hell end up on the United States supreme court. And more than likely, he came up with the three words, we the people at the beginning of the constitution. Thats the beginning of the committee report. We the people. Nothing else that would be recognizable to us today but he does start out with we the people. Now as they go thu this committee of detail report, eventually they get to a point they worked out how they want it to be. They form another fiveman committee. This is the committee of style. Heres where some of your heavy hitters are going to be. Alexander hamilton and James Madison on this committee. The guy who probably will take up the pen and do most of the writing is a pennsylvanian named guvernor morris. A man with a wooden leg. But another one of these men very gifted with the pen. And morris is a friend of George Washingtons. Theres a story that comes from that summer with morris and Alexander Hamilton basically theres a bet made that hamilton makes with morris because morris says ill just go up and slap George Washington on the back and say, how are you doing kind of thing. Washington is this very formal guy who doesnt even like to shake hands. He prefers to bow. He can be a bit on the aloof side, especially in public. So hamilton is like, youre never going to do that. Ill bet you dinner youll not do it. Of course, morris goes and does it and washington gives him one of his glaring looks. Im sure hamilton is standing in the corner laughing like mad. Morris is the one thats going to write the we the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, the famous preamble we know. So at the end of the day, you have this constitution. By september 15th, 1787, four pages. Thats all it is, four pages. Theres no bill of rights at that time. They kind of talked about it. Alexander hamilton would say we dont need one. The whole things kind of a bill of rights. The government is only going to have the power we give it. Why do we even need it . Wed like to see Something Like that there. So again, even by the time they are finished you have guys that look at parts or the whole and say, theres this i dont like, that i dont like. I dont like this senate because it gives too much power to the little states. The president is too strong, not strong enough. We didnt deal with slavery. Theres no bill of rights. You come in the last day and its not at all certain everyone is going to agree. They are signing it to send it out for their states to vote on it. So its important to the group as a whole to try to have everyone on board because these are the guys that have to sell this new constitution to the people, to that we the people, so it will be put into effect. So youre going to have Benjamin Franklin come in the very last day of meetings. Franklin is 81. There are days that hes literally being carried in and out of these meetings, can hardly walk. Fortunately hes still the great sage, the elder statesman. On the last day he brings in a speech in which he says there are things in this constitution i do not approve but then he said, at present, im old enough to know im not perfect. My ideas arent perfect. Nobody in this room is perfect. And we should all basically put aside our doubts and sign our names to this thing. He says we should all doubt a little our own infallibility. A typical franklin phrase. Anyway, he says one of his great famous statements in the room. He says we should all sign because i do not expect anything better than this. In fact, i am not sure this is not the best. To me one of the most famous triple negatives in American History. Im sure some of the guys in the room are scratching their heads. What did he say, did he say to sign it . In the end, its hard to argue with franklin. 41 men are in the room that day. 38 men will sign 39 names. Theres a little bit of a story to that one. John dickinson, who actually refused to sign the declaration of independence, again, not that he was loyal to the british particularly, but that he was saying this isnt the right time, this is a bad idea, were rushing too much, so he never signs the declaration of independence. Hes sick the day the constitution is going to be signed. He tells his fellow delegates from delaware, george reed, look, i want you to put my name on that thing when you sign it. George reed signs twice. Once for himself, once for John Dickinson. 39 men signed the constitution. Three would not. Different issues. Elbridge sdwrer jerry of massachusetts who made a speech that last day, saying there was an excess of democracy which we called the worst of all political evils. Fear of democracy at that point in history is made evident a few years later in the french revolution when the new government went to the point of renaming and cutting off 6,000 heads and thats the fear of democracy that leads to some sort of chaotic anarchy. They went back to rome and saw the same things happening. Democracy was tempered here and britain which is where we get the ideas of having that mix. Have a mix of states and people and a congress. Its the idea that theres no one place where it has too much strength. Jerry is a little afraid the democracy will overrun, so he wont sign it. Randal ends up supporting it when virginias voting on it, because hes afraid that guys like Patrick Henry will go against him because he knows Patrick Henry is one of those guys that doesnt think its a great idea. And the other one, george mason is looking at the idea of the bill of rights and kind of wants to see that. Hes not crazy about it. A lot of the guys from the big states like massachusetts or virginia dont like the senate. Theres all kinds of issues. Most of these men will put aside their doubts and sign their names. September 15 17th, 1787. At that point, franklin looks at the chair where washington sits and says look behind washingtons head. This carving of a half sun on the back of the chair. He said all summer ive been trying to determine if that sun is supposed to be rising or setting, and i could not make up my mind. Until now. Now at length i have the happiness to know that is a rising and not a setting sun. He felt good. Hes been working for this until since the 1750s this unity of the american states, and he finally sees it happening. One of the Great Stories that comes afterwards, hes supposedly asked what kind of a government was created here in philadelphia and he said its a republic if you can keep it, his last warning to us. Think about the United States. One of the things i like to finish with is this idea were still using that same constitution and same government but its also allowed us not quickly but definitely allowed us to improve because ultimately, slavery in the United States doesnt end by the civil war, technically, its the constitution. 13th amendment. The 15th amendment gives equality in voting by color. 19th amendment gives equality in voting by gender. Through the years we have faced every issue thats came up and our constitution has allowed us to solve things and continue to move forward. Again, i always think back to franklin and the rising sun and thats exactly what weve seen through the years. This little humble room is really everything that the United States has been and will be. Its going to grow from events that happen over about a 1011 year period in this room and its amazing when you think of this humble place and the men that sat here and the things they did, its really incredible the things that have grown from this space. The Pennsylvania State house is a real name of independence. It was pennsylvanias capitol until 1789. Pennsylvania moves its government west to ultimately the center of the state, to harrisburg. Well, at that point the building, theyre using space in the building and renting it out. Its not the Capitol Building anymore. But the city of philadelphia had started building buildings here on the block and by the earl 1800s, essentially the city is going to buy this building and this whole block is going to serve as our city hall. So through the 19th century, this is city hall. The second floor of the building holds meetings for philadelphia. But the first floor is probably one of the first places in the United States that becomes an historical place. By the 1820s, 30s, 40s, people are coming to visit. It gets the nickname Independence Hall. Probably this room, in fact. Was Independence Hall before the whole building became Independence Hall. One of the most famous incidents, a triumphant trip through the United States, the 1820s, very few of the Founding Fathers and soldiers from the army that are left. Every town that