{"id":4466,"date":"2022-08-29T13:27:27","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T13:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/?page_id=4466"},"modified":"2026-02-24T13:58:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T13:58:20","slug":"us-constitution","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/course-syllabus\/us-constitution\/","title":{"rendered":"US Constitution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Image Gateway:\u00a0 September 17, 1787<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aoc.gov\/explore-capitol-campus\/art\/signing-constitution\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3485 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-20-at-12.39.45-PM-1024x430.png\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 940px) 100vw, 940px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-20-at-12.39.45-PM-1024x430.png 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-20-at-12.39.45-PM-300x126.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-20-at-12.39.45-PM-768x323.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-20-at-12.39.45-PM-1536x645.png 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-20-at-12.39.45-PM-2048x860.png 2048w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-20-at-12.39.45-PM-500x210.png 500w\" alt=\"Christy painting\" width=\"940\" height=\"395\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Signing of the Constitution&#8221; by Howard Chandler Christy (1940).\u00a0 View <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-211constitution\/files\/2022\/08\/Christy-Painting-Key.pdf\">this key<\/a> to the figures in the painting, which hangs in the US Capitol.\u00a0 Where is John Dickinson?<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4522\" style=\"width: 230px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2022\/09\/Madison.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4522\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4522\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2022\/09\/Madison-220x300.png\" alt=\"Madison\" width=\"220\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2022\/09\/Madison-220x300.png 220w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2022\/09\/Madison.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 220px) 100vw, 220px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4522\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">James Madison in 1783 (age 32) (Library of Congress)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/press-pubs.uchicago.edu\/founders\/tocs\/toc.html\"><strong>Original US Constitution (A Summary)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Nearly 4,500 words<\/li>\n<li>Seven articles\n<ul>\n<li>Article I &#8211;Legislative<\/li>\n<li>Article II &#8211;Executive<\/li>\n<li>Article III &#8211;Judiciary<\/li>\n<li>Article IV &#8211;States<\/li>\n<li>Article V &#8211;Amendments<\/li>\n<li>Article VI &#8211;Authority<\/li>\n<li>Article VII &#8211;Ratification<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>One fundamental charter<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>\u201cEvery word \u2026 decides a question between power &amp; liberty.\u201d<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>\u2013James Madison,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/founders.archives.gov\/documents\/Madison\/01-14-02-0172\">January 18, 1792<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div id=\"attachment_4520\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2022\/09\/Constitutional-Text.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4520\" class=\"wp-image-4520\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2022\/09\/Constitutional-Text-300x146.png\" alt=\"Text\" width=\"600\" height=\"292\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2022\/09\/Constitutional-Text-300x146.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2022\/09\/Constitutional-Text-768x374.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2022\/09\/Constitutional-Text-500x243.png 500w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2022\/09\/Constitutional-Text.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4520\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Final engrossed copy of the Constitution, September 17, 1787<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4521\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2022\/09\/Constitutional-Errors.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4521\" class=\"wp-image-4521\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2022\/09\/Constitutional-Errors-300x269.jpg\" alt=\"Errors\" width=\"400\" height=\"359\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2022\/09\/Constitutional-Errors-300x269.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2022\/09\/Constitutional-Errors-768x690.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2022\/09\/Constitutional-Errors-334x300.jpg 334w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2022\/09\/Constitutional-Errors.jpg 891w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4521\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sample errors in the final text, by clerk Jacob Shallus<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>&#8220;Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in earthly honours, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the Charter; let it be brought forth placed on the Divine Law, the Word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America the law is king.&#8221;\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>&#8211;Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Timeline:\u00a0 Forging a Constitutional Republic<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1775\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.battlefields.org\/learn\/revolutionary-war\/battles\/lexington-and-concord\">Lexington &amp; Concord<\/a>\u00a0\/\/\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.masshist.org\/revolution\/congress2.php\">Second Continental Congress<\/a><\/li>\n<li>1776\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/billofrightsinstitute.org\/primary-sources\/common-sense\">Paine\u2019s Common Sense \/<\/a>\/\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/avalon.law.yale.edu\/subject_menus\/constpap.asp\">State constitutions<\/a><\/li>\n<li>1776\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/founding-docs\/declaration-transcript\">Declaration of Independence<\/a><\/li>\n<li>1781 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/milestone-documents\/articles-of-confederation\">Articles of Confederation<\/a><\/li>\n<li>1781\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.battlefields.org\/learn\/revolutionary-war\/battles\/yorktown?ms=googlegrant&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw4qCKBhAVEiwAkTYsPKQUwJYaw6VU-xQSUleDbGcnQmAc9nA8sQeFoJAR-_P32OfKlG5xURoCOZIQAvD_BwE\">Battle of Yorktown<\/a><\/li>\n<li>1783\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/2017\/01\/20\/treaty-of-paris-1783\/\">Treaty of Paris<\/a> \/\/ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dickinson.edu\/info\/20048\/history_of_the_college\/1404\/the_dickinson_story\">Dickinson College charter<\/a><\/li>\n<li>1786\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.masshist.org\/object-of-the-month\/may-2013\">Shays\u2019 Rebellion<\/a><\/li>\n<li>1787\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/avalon.law.yale.edu\/subject_menus\/debcont.asp\">Constitutional Convention<\/a>\u00a0\/\/\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/press-pubs.uchicago.edu\/founders\/tocs\/toc.html\">Founders\u2019 Constitution<\/a><\/li>\n<li>1789\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/history.house.gov\/Historical-Highlights\/1700s\/The-first-inauguration-at-Federal-Hall-in-New-York-City\/\">Washington inaugurated in New York<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Critical Period<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe evils issuing from these sources [of state legislative instability and majoritarian threats to individual liberty], contributed more to that uneasiness which produced the Convention, and prepared the public mind for a general reform, than those which accrued to our national character and interest from the inadequacy of the Confederation to its immediate objects.\u201d (<a class=\"docref\" title=\"jump to referenced document\" href=\"https:\/\/founders.archives.gov\/documents\/Madison\/01-10-02-0151\">James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, October 24. 1787<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Discussion Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>During the 1780s, why did Madison (and so many other American leaders) seem more worried about signs of broken democracy at the state level than about the obvious deficiencies of the Articles of Confederation?<\/li>\n<li>Why did the debate about states and their \u201cexcesses of democracy\u201d become such an existential crisis for the revolutionary ideology of republicanism?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/founders.archives.gov\/documents\/Madison\/01-09-02-0187\"><strong>Madison\u2019s List of 11 Vices of the US political system<\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Handouts<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-211constitution\/files\/2022\/09\/Handout-Washington-on-Leadership.pdf\">Handout \u2013Washington on Leadership<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<div class=\"mceTemp\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mceTemp\"><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<hr \/>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-211constitution\/files\/2022\/09\/Screen-Shot-2022-09-10-at-8.27.01-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-339\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-211constitution\/files\/2022\/09\/Screen-Shot-2022-09-10-at-8.27.01-PM-1024x692.png\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-211constitution\/files\/2022\/09\/Screen-Shot-2022-09-10-at-8.27.01-PM-1024x692.png 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-211constitution\/files\/2022\/09\/Screen-Shot-2022-09-10-at-8.27.01-PM-300x203.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-211constitution\/files\/2022\/09\/Screen-Shot-2022-09-10-at-8.27.01-PM-768x519.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-211constitution\/files\/2022\/09\/Screen-Shot-2022-09-10-at-8.27.01-PM-1536x1038.png 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-211constitution\/files\/2022\/09\/Screen-Shot-2022-09-10-at-8.27.01-PM.png 1586w\" alt=\"Powel\" width=\"640\" height=\"433\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image Gateway:\u00a0 September 17, 1787 &#8220;Signing of the Constitution&#8221; by Howard Chandler Christy (1940).\u00a0 View this key to the figures in the painting, which hangs in the US Capitol.\u00a0 Where is John Dickinson? Original US Constitution (A Summary) Nearly 4,500 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/course-syllabus\/us-constitution\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":373,"featured_media":0,"parent":11,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-4466","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/373"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4466"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5207,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4466\/revisions\/5207"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}