Malcolm Rivera
The United States Constitution was written by a committee of five at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which was called to revise the Articles of Confederation. The committee members were Edmund Randolph, James Wilson, Nathaniel Gorham, John Rutledge, and Oliver Ellsworth. The committee's work was influenced by the country's experience under the Articles of Confederation, the English Bill of Rights, and the writings of European Enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke and Montesquieu. The Convention debated the draft Constitution for five weeks before appointing Gouverneur Morris, later known as the penman of the Constitution, to prepare a final version.
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What You'll Learn
The Committee of Detail
The committee's work was based on the original Virginia Plan, the decisions of the convention on modifications to that plan, and other sources. The first draft included many details that had not been previously debated or included in any other plan before the convention, such as powers given to Congress. Most of these were uncontroversial and went unchallenged, so much of what the committee included in this first draft made it into the final version of the constitution without debate. The committee decided mostly on issues that hadn't been deliberated but weren't likely to be contested.
The report of the committee conformed to the resolutions adopted by the convention, though on many clauses, the members of the committee left the imprint of their individual and collective judgments. For example, the committee added the phrase "giving them aid and comfort" to the section on treason to narrow the definition from more ambiguous phrases that had been proposed in the convention.
In preparing its draft, the committee referenced state constitutions, the Articles of Confederation, plans submitted to the convention, and other available material. The committee sought to create a balanced government of checks and balances to serve the long-term interests of the people of an independent nation. The two preliminary drafts that survive, as well as the text of the Constitution submitted to the convention, were in the handwriting of Wilson or Randolph.
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The Constitutional Convention
While the convention was initially intended to revise the Articles of Confederation, leading proponents, including James Madison of Virginia and Alexander Hamilton of New York, sought to create a new frame of government. Madison, who had studied republics and confederacies throughout history, arrived in Philadelphia eleven days early and set the convention's agenda with his document, "Vices of the Political System of the United States." This document offered solutions to the weaknesses of the American political system, and his blueprint for constitutional revision became the starting point for the convention's discussions.
The convention was presided over by George Washington, former commanding general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War, and a proponent of a stronger national government. The delegates to the convention created a model of government that relied on a series of checks and balances by dividing federal authority between the Legislative, Judicial, and Executive branches. They debated the role of the executive, including whether executive power should be divided among three people or vested in a single chief executive, how a president would be elected, the length and number of presidential terms, what offenses should be impeachable, and whether judges should be chosen by the legislature or the executive.
Another contentious issue was slavery, with delegates debating the insertion of a fugitive slave clause, the potential abolition of the slave trade, and whether slaves would be counted in proportional representation. The convention ultimately debated and ratified the Constitution of the United States, making it one of the most significant events in American history. The Constitution came into effect in 1789 and has served as the basis of the United States Government ever since.
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The Articles of Confederation
Under the Articles, the national Congress was empowered to make war and peace, negotiate diplomatic and commercial agreements with foreign countries, and resolve disputes between the states. However, the central government had limited power to regulate commerce, levy taxes, or set commercial policy. It also lacked the power to effectively support a war effort.
The limitations of the central government under the Articles of Confederation became increasingly apparent in the years following the Revolutionary War. By the late 1780s, many American leaders, including James Madison and George Washington, feared that the country was on the brink of collapse due to these limitations. As a result, the Constitutional Convention assembled in Philadelphia in May 1787 to revise the Articles of Confederation and address the flaws in the country's governing document.
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European Enlightenment thinkers
The United States Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, and its creators, the Founding Fathers, were profoundly influenced by the European Enlightenment. The Enlightenment took hold in most European countries and inspired nations globally, often with a local emphasis. The ideas of European Enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Locke, Hume, Bacon, Newton, and Montesquieu, were embraced by the Founding Fathers and are evident in the US Constitution.
The Enlightenment thinkers' emphasis on reason, justice, and the intrinsic rights of individuals is reflected in the US Constitution. The Founding Fathers' commitment to these principles helped create a resilient republic grounded in the ideals of liberty and equality, a legacy that continues to define the trajectory of American democracy. The concept of a mixed government, combining elements of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, was also heavily advocated by Enlightenment thinkers. This idea of a balanced government structure to prevent tyranny and protect individual liberties was philosophically refined by Montesquieu and others. Montesquieu suggested dividing government authority among three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial, to prevent any single branch from dominating.
Rousseau, another influential Enlightenment thinker, advocated for direct democracy, where laws are made directly by the vote of all. In "The Social Contract," he proposed that true political authority lies with the people and that government should reflect the general will. While the American Founding Fathers did not fully embrace direct democracy, Rousseau's ideas about the importance of the collective will and civic freedom influenced American political ideology, emphasizing a government that serves its people.
Other European Enlightenment thinkers who influenced the American Founding Fathers include Hume and other Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, who developed a "science of man." This movement, which included authors such as James Burnett, Adam Ferguson, John Millar, and William Robertson, merged a scientific study of how humans behaved in ancient and primitive cultures with an awareness of the determining forces of modernity. Modern sociology largely originated from this movement, and Hume's philosophical concepts directly influenced James Madison and the US Constitution.
The influence of Enlightenment thought on the American Founding Fathers is also evident in the works of individuals such as Benjamin Franklin, who visited Europe repeatedly and brought new ideas back to Philadelphia. Franklin embraced Enlightenment ideas of reason and empiricism and contributed to the drafting of the Constitution and the Constitutional Convention. Thomas Jefferson, who incorporated Enlightenment ideals into the Declaration of Independence, was also influenced by European Enlightenment thinkers like Locke, Bacon, and Newton, and developed his ideas on religious tolerance and the importance of individual conscience.
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Iroquois Confederacy political concepts
The Iroquois Confederacy, also known as the Five Nations (and later the Six Nations), was a confederation of five (later six) Native American tribes across upper New York state. The Confederacy was likely formed between 1142 and 1660, but there is little consensus on the exact date. The five original Iroquois nations were the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. In 1722, the Iroquois-speaking Tuscarora people were accepted into the confederacy, after which it became known as the Six Nations.
The Confederacy was politically united until the American Revolution, when the League was divided by conflicting views on how to respond to requests for aid from the British Crown. The Iroquois political system was based on the concept of liberty and equality, banning all forms of servitude and superiority within their territories. The League's Council of Fifty ruled on disputes and sought consensus, although the confederacy did not always speak for all five tribes, which often acted independently.
The Iroquois Confederacy has been characterised as one of the world's oldest participatory democracies. It used ritualized systems for choosing leaders and making important decisions, fostering a tradition of political sagacity based on ceremonial sanction rather than individual leaders. The Confederacy's government was stable and long-lasting, handling conflict between the Nations with minimal loss of life through intricate and emotionally meaningful rituals.
The Iroquois Confederacy has been said to have influenced the political structures of the United States. Scholars Donald Grinde and Bruce Johansen claim there is "overwhelming evidence" that Iroquois Confederacy political concepts influenced the U.S. Constitution, although this viewpoint has been criticised by other historians and anthropologists.
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Frequently asked questions
No one person wrote the American Constitution. The authors of the Constitution were heavily influenced by the country’s experience under the Articles of Confederation, which had attempted to retain as much independence and sovereignty for the states as possible. The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was called to revise the ailing Articles of Confederation, but the Convention soon abandoned the Articles, drafting a new Constitution with a much stronger national government.
The Committee of Detail was appointed to draw up a draft constitution. The committee included Nathaniel Gorham of Massachusetts, John Rutledge, Edmund Randolph, James Wilson, and Oliver Ellsworth. Gouverneur Morris, later known as the "penman of the Constitution", did most of the work on the committee of style that prepared the final version.
The writers of the Constitution were influenced by the political philosophers Hume, Locke, Edward Coke, William Blackstone, and Montesquieu. The English Bill of Rights (1689) was also an inspiration, as were the writings of Enlightenment rationalists and English common law. The writers were also influenced by the Magna Carta and the concept of the separation of powers.
The framers of the Constitution were especially concerned with limiting the power of government and securing the liberty of citizens. The doctrine of legislative, executive, and judicial separation of powers, the checks and balances of each branch against the others, and the explicit guarantees of individual liberty were all designed to strike a balance between authority and liberty.
