Welcome back. For our first substantive hour in this online course on, the, on constitutional law, we're going to focus on the first sentence of the constitution. Conventionally known as the preamble. I'm going to have a couple of 20 minute lectures, and then for our third session in this hour, we'll do something a little more conversational and interactive. So let's start with the words. This is how the written text, the terse text begins. We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. One sentence. And this, my friends, this one simple sentence, changes everything. It's the pivot of world history, the hinge of history. Before this sentence, you have self-government, democracy, existing almost nowhere on planet earth. In 1786, let's say the year before these words were, were, first, printed up You have, who, who governs themselves, across the planet? Well, to an extent, the British. They have the House of Commons, after all. But they also have an hereditary monarch, and an aristocratic House of Lords. But there's some self-governance in Britain. You have a few sheep herders and goat herders in Switzerland who largely manage to govern themselves. And that's partly, partly because all the neighbors basically, you know, leave them alone because it's hard to charge up the hill and, once you get to the top, there's nothing there. There's just, as I said, a few sheep and goats. so, but the Swiss are self-governing to some extent and the British And, that's about it across the globe outside of the United States. The rest of the world is ruled by, basically by thugs, by tyrants, kings, emperors, czars, sultans, mo-gal lords, tribal chieftains. And so it had always been for millenni of recorded, millennia of recorded history. Self-government really had not been the dominant mode of of, of a society. You had, in ancient Greece, a few tiny city-states that, like Athens, that for a moment, for a brief period of time, had managed to govern themselves, champion the idea of democracy pre-imperial Rome, but these City-states typically had, had not been able to defend themselves militarily. They had, they had, they had, the, the democracies, these republics had blanked out after time. And even when they existed, they existed only over a, a pretty small geographic area. People often meeting face-to-face. Lived in a city, in a polis. Together, they worshiped the same god or gods, they spoke the same language, they had a common climate and culture. So, very little democracy, in 1786. And in the history of the world up to 1786. Now, think about today's world. The world of 2013, 2014. Democracy, self-government, this idea reigns over roughly half the planet, by populataion and, and geography. You have, India, a billion people. Largely self governing, they've got a constitution and they've got elections and free speech and religious pluralism. You've got Eastern Europe you've got Western Europe. Now, where did this idea come from that people across an entire subcontinent? There's lots of languages and Indian religions ethnicities. And that an entire continent or subcontinent could actually be governed democratically. It wasn't true of India in 1786. It's, it's controlled by the, by the British. Crown by, by an unelected king. And today, it's governing itself billion people. And, as I said, look at Western Europe. France is governing itself. That wasn't true in 1786. They had pretty much you know, an absolutus monarch on the throne. Look at Germany. Look at Italy. They were not Poland, self governing in 1786, and they are self governing today. What happened? My claim is what happened, is the United States Constitution happened. A constitution that was born and an, an extraordinary democratic process. Up and down a continent in 1787 and 1788, we. The people of the United States did ordain and establish a constitution, they did it democratically and continentally, as I said people up and down a vast continent getting to vote on the basic ground rules of their society. They got to decide whether they were going to adopt this constitution or not. Ordinary farmers got a chance to read this short document, short so that an ordinary farmer could read it. In 1787 88. Think about it, talk with his. his neighbors and decide whether he was for it or against it. That's the dramatic story of the Preamble of the United States. We the People. Of the United States ordaining and establishing a Constitution for our posterity. Never before in world history had so many people gotten to vote and talk about how they and their posterity would be governed. And the world would never be the same. It's the hinge of human history, at least secular history. If you happen to be a Christian, you think that the world is divided between B.C. and A.D., that, that's the hinge. From a secular point of view, you can also talk about B.C. and A.D., before the constitution and after the document. This. Document. The United States Constitution gives us our modern world, a democratic world, a, pluralistic world. The world in which the idea of self government is, is now on the ascendancy. We won, we, the American idea of self government won the last century, the twentieth century. And I like our odds in the twenty first century. But that wasn't for or ordained. In 1786, as I said, there's not very much democracy on the planet. And there hadn't been for, in recorded history. Today there's a lot and it's because of the United States Constitution I believe, and it's because in particular of the story told in the first sentence of the Constitution. That's why we're going to actually spend a whole hour on a single sentence. The preamble. That first sentences, that announces this epic constitutional project. We the people. That's the story for todays session. so, I've encouraged You to think about images. The pictures, the images that are associated with each of these lectures. Each of these pictures is taken from the book America's Constitution a Biography. Each chapter that begins with a picture. You have the picture on your screen of, of, of, of the we have the image associated with the, the preamble. Let's, let's look at this together and think what the themes here are. What how this picture tells a story. Worth a thousand words. This picture is taken from the newspaper, The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser. It's taken from September 19th, 1787. That is two days after the Philadelphia Convention has ended. I begin my story, I want us to begin our, journey through through the Constitution after the Philadelphia Convention has ended, in a way. Why then? Why do we start our story then on September 19th rather than that long, hot summer in Phildelphia you've heard so much about from May through September with these delegates lead by Geprge Washington who presided. Ben Franklin was there, James Madison was there, Alexander Hamelton was there for, for some of it. For some of the most important parts of it. You've heard about that long, hot summer in Philadelphia, and that's not quite where we are starting our story. We're starting our story on September 19th. Why? Because that's when the Constitution went public. When this proposal that was hashed out behind closed doors in Philadelphia by a small group of people, mainly lawyers. but, but, but what happened in Philadelphia over that summer was just a plan, a proposal that was, that was put together, but it wasn’t yet public. It wasn’t yet the law. What made it the law was we, the people of the United States, over the next year agreeing to ordain and establish it, to vote for it, to make it binding law. And that process, that year, a year that changes everything in world history begins on September 19, 1787 when for the first time, the document goes public. It's published by a publisher A newspaper publisher. Many across the continent. And the word publish, to make public, is the same root word as people. The same root word as republican government. It's an idea of people power. Making something public. Making it available to the people. And the publishers don't have to, they, they get to decide what they publish. They are, we have a free press. And they think this is big news, and they publish the whole plan, the proposal. And what do they do? They highlight. The Pennsylvania Packet is actually published in Philadelphia. And they print this proposal because it's short enough to be printed in a newspaper. Short enough for ordinary people to be able to read it from start to finish. And the publishers understand that that preamble is important. See how they put it in bigger type? They see the headline. Publishers are good, they understand what the headline is. And the headline is we, the people we're going to get to decide whether we ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States or not. This is way more democratic than anything that's previously happened in world history. That's the main, the main theme of today's Talk of this, of this lecture. We the people indeed. Yes, in deed they are, are actually doing something. We the people of the United States, dot, dot, dot, do ordain and establish this constitution. Well, what did they actually do? Here's what they did. They talked and they voted over the next year. Beginning in September, mid September, 1787. 13 individual states had special elections, state by state. Creating these special conventions of the people, these special assemblies of the people. And each assembly had one task only. These conventions. To discuss the Constitution, and at the end, decide whether they were going to vote for it or not. And it wasn't going to go into effect unless nine of the 13 states said yes. We do. now, who and that's, that's the dramatic story of the Preamble. The people actually ordained the Constitution. That's news. Why is that news? Because that hadn't happened before in world history. Even the few democracies, republics, self-governing societies that had existed Before 17, before the American Revolution let, let's say. Even though Ancient Athens had a democratic constitution and indeed a written one, the Clystanic Constitution. It had not, that constitution, hadn't been adopted, in this dramatically democratic way. Hadn't been put to a, a broad popular vote. Until the American Revolution whatever self-governing societies existed, they didn't have written constitutions at all. They just had traditions and customs that sort of evolved. Or, if they did have a written document it hadn't been put before the people for them, ordinary farmers, for them to, to vote on it. in, in Athens, for example. The lawgivers solon hands down the law to the people. It's not voted for as a piece of paper by the Athenians. So, never in the ancient world was there a de, a fully democratic constitution making process. And, the American Revolution in 1776, the Declaration of Independence wasn't put to a popular vote. And none of the state constitutions in 1776 as the former British colonies became independent states. None of those was put to a popular vote in 1776. The British constitution had never been so called, it's not a written document. It's not one, and the British constitution is all the customs and practices and traditions and institutions that had never reduced to one single document and adopted by Parliament much less The British people. So, so this is a pretty new idea under the sun to put all the basic ground rules into a single document that an ordinary person could read, and then put it to in effect, a special vote. And the publishers understand that's a big deal. They, they see it from the beginning, and they, and they highlight the, the words of of the preamble. now, in 1780, the Massachusetts Constitution had been put to a pop popular vote, and, and in 1784. New Hampshire had done the same. But now what's being done is, this is being done on a continental scale. So these little dress rehearsals, in Massachusetts and, and New Hampshire are now being, being imitated on a continental scale. And here's A big point and the text doesn't quite tell you this that you need to know some history. In eight of the thirteen states, that ratified, eventually ratified the Constitution, that ordained and established it. In eight of the thirteen ordinary property qualifications were lowered or eliminated. So, people ordinarily couldn't vote for state legislature were allowed to vote for convention delegates, or people weren't ordinarily allowed to serve in state legislatures were allowed to serve in, as convention delegates. So a much broader participation base than ever before. and, It's explosive. It creates really as I say the modern world. Think about it. Up and down the continent people getting to vote. And not just vote! But talk. They deliberated for you. This is in the press. Some people are for the thing, some people are against it, and no one is shut down. You can criticize George Washington if you like. You can support George Washington if you like. A massive outpouring of freedom of speech, an embodiment of freedom of speech. That hadn't happened in 1776, really. But you, in 1776, the British crown monarch had, had, had sent already 30,000 troops, over to to America. They were about to land. And And you were either for the revolution or you weren't, for independence or you weren't. And if you weren't, basically you were told to shut up or leave. Because this, this wasn't the philosophy seminar, this was war. And, and you either, you know, had to sort of be for independence or fade away. No one who opposed independence in 1776 Goes on to be an important political figure in independent America, you're sort of voted off the island. But in 1787-88, in this year that changed everything, this preamble year, there were people who opposed the constitution, vigorously, and they weren't voted off the island. Some of them would later become presidents of the United States. James Monroe, Vice-President, George Clinton, Albritch Jerry, justices on the Supreme Court, Samuel Chase. So its, its an extraordinary deed, this we the people of the United States do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. The fix wasn't in. In some states the Constitution was actually voted down. North Carolina votes it down initially in this year. Rhode Island votes it down. When George Washington takes office as the first President of the United States, only 11 states have said yes. We do, and the other States would join later after a Bill of Rights. Where did we get the idea of a Bill of Rights for example after a Bill of Rights had been purposed we get it from these 13 ratifying conventions because when you bring people together and you allow them to talk your in effect crowd sourcing that, that, that the Philadelphia draft that had emerged and, and it effected people State by State by State looked at this piece of paper and said Dudes, where are the rights? You forgot the rights. The bill of rights comes from this preamble process, we the people up and down a continent deciding whether we're for it or against it. And yes we're for it but we can improve it, it needs to get better, we need to add a, a bill of rights. And the bill of in effe-, it's, it's almost like a wiki or something a version 2.0. The constitution is crowd sourced. In the ratification process. And the Bill of Rights that emerges is a Bill of Rights that will feature the words the people in no fewer than five of the 10 amendments. You'll see that phrase, the people, in the first amendment. The right of the people to petition and assemble. And in the second amendment, the right of the people to keep and bear arms. And in the Fourth Amendment, and the Ninth Amendment, the Tenth Amendment, why is it saying, the people, the people, the people, the people, the people, in the Bill of Rights? Because it's coming from the people. It's coming from this Preamble process, a process that was radically inclusive and democratic for its Age. Now, yes there were some exclusions, and I'm going to talk about those in the next lecture. Try to put them in some context. There were some property qualifications in some places. Of course women didn't vote. We're going to have to talk about slavery a lot in this course, and I promise you we will. But for now I just want to end with a, a couple of observations just about how in this context. If you look at, if you judge this deed in 1787-88 by the standards of 1786 and 1785 and the world that had preceded it, it's the most democratic deed in the history of planet Earth. By far. I want to end this lecture by reading to you what the man who actually drafted these words, we the people, at Philadelphia had to say. His name was James Wilson. He was an immigrant kid from Scotland, a scholarship kid. Comes to America, becomes America's greatest Lawyer. He will, be asked by, George Washington to be a justice on the Supreme Court, the first Supreme Court. He will found the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and he drafts these words in Philadelphia, we the people. And when the thing is finally ratified, A year later, July, he's speaking on July 4, 1788, after at least nine states have said yes, we do. Here's what he says, to, 10,000 people gathered, gathered to celebrate in Philadelphia. The spectacle which we are assembled to celebrate is the most dignified one that has yet appeared on our globe. Namely a people free and enlightened. Establishing and ratifying a system of government. Which they've previously considered, examined, and approved. You've heard of Sparta, of Athens, of Rome. You've heard of their admired constitutions and their high prized freedom. But did they ever furnish the world an exhibition similar to that which we now contemplate? Were their Constitution framed for those who were appointed for that purpose by the People after they were framed. Were they submitted to the consideration of the People? Had the People an opportunity of expressing their sentiments concerning them? Were they to stand or fall by the peoples' approving or rejecting vote? The people, the people, the people. You see here an early version of the Gettysburg Address. We've created a government of the people, for the people, from the people. The people are getting a chance to ordain and establish this constitution. And the world will never be the same.
