The other Charters of Freedom

I recently wrote about the Declaration of Independence being on display in the rotunda of the National Archives here in Washington.

I hope you will be able to visit and see it in person, if you haven’t already. The other two Charters of Freedom, the Constitution of the United States and The Bill of Rights are also preserved under glass in cases next to the Declaration. 

As I indicated before, the signed parchment copy of the Declaration is far from pristine, having been handled and displayed over many years.  However, copies of it were made so we know exactly what it looked like. 

According to the Archives website, “The Constitution of the United States contains a preamble and seven articles that describe the way the government is structured and how it operates.

The first three articles establish the three branches of government and their powers: Legislative (Congress), Executive (office of the President,) and Judicial (Federal court system).         
A system of checks and balances prevents any one of these separate powers from becoming dominant.

Articles four through seven describe the relationship of the states to the Federal Government, establish the Constitution as the supreme law of the land, and define the amendment and ratification processes.  

The state delegates approved the draft of the Constitution on September 15, 1787. The signing was set for the very next Monday.

Jacob Shallus, the assistant clerk for the Pennsylvania General Assembly, agreed to engross (copy in a fine, clear hand) the document.

Over the course of about 40 hours, he created an accurate transcription of the draft. He was paid $30 for his efforts. On September 17, the document was ready for signing. 

Thirty-nine of the 42 men present signed the Constitution. George Washington was first, followed by each state delegation descending from north to south. George Mason, Elbridge Gerry, and Edmund Randolph refused to sign because the Constitution lacked a bill of rights.           Thomas Jefferson and John Adams did not sign because they were on diplomatic missions in Europe during the convention.” 

The four-page document, on permanent display at the Archives, is very still legible.  You can easily read, in very large, dark letters, “We the People…” All of the text that follows is clearly readable, as well. 

The final Charter of Freedom is the Bill of Rights.      

The website states, “On September 25, 1789, the First Congress of the United States proposed 12 amendments to the Constitution. The 1789 Joint Resolution of Congress proposing the amendments is on display in the Rotunda in the National Archives Museum. Ten of the proposed 12 amendments were ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures on December 15, 1791.

The ratified Articles (Articles 3–12) constitute the first 10 amendments of the Constitution, or the U.S. Bill of Rights. In 1992, 203 years after it was proposed, Article 2 was ratified as the 27th Amendment to the Constitution. Article 1 was never ratified. 

“The Constitution might never have been ratified if the framers hadn’t promised to add a Bill of Rights. The first ten amendments to the Constitution gave citizens more confidence in the new government and contain many of today’s Americans’ most valued freedoms.” 

William Lambert and Benjamin Bankson, engrossing clerks for the House and Senate, made 14 handwritten copies of the proposed amendments, which were signed by Speaker of the House Frederick Muhlenberg, Vice President John Adams, Clerk of the House of Representatives John Beckley, and Secretary of the Senate Samuel A. Otis.

President George Washington sent a letter enclosing one to each of the 11 existing states and to Rhode Island and North Carolina, which had not yet adopted the Constitution.” 

The document is not pristine but is still legible. The Charters of Freedom, our most important and cherished documents, are still preserved for posterity in the National Archives. 

Happy 250th, America! 

Contact Rick at dave@tri-citytimes.com