As we observe Constitution Week, Sept. 17-23, the Poplar Bluff Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution wishes to share the following articles as a reminder of how important our nation’s constitution is. Materials come from NSDAR resources.
__Day two: Rules of the Convention__
The Constitutional Convention took place from May 14 to Sept. 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The purpose was to decide how America was to be governed.
• A quorum of seven states was needed before the Convention could convene.
• George Washington was elected President of the Convention and would open the proceedings each morning at 10 o’clock.
• The Convention worked as a Committee of the Whole with Nathaniel Gorham taking over as Chairman after George Washington had called the session to order.
• Every member rising to speak had to first address the President. All in attendance could not talk or read pamphlets while another was speaking.
• No one could speak more than twice on the same question without permission. They could not speak the second time until everyone else had a chance to speak.
• When ready to adjourn all had to stand until the President has passed.
• Another rule was that of secrecy. The delegates decided they didn’t want the newspapers of the day or the general population to know what they were doing. This way they could all speak their minds and give true opinions. They had to keep the shutters closed in order to accomplish this and the hall was always sweltering. Sentries were placed at the State House doors and no one was allowed to copy the day’s journal without permission. • Richard Dobbs Spaight of North Carolina suggested that the delegates be allowed to change their minds on a vote previously made which was also adopted.
• It was decided that how an individual delegate voted on a question would not be recorded. Madison, however, often wrote a particular vote by person’s name in his notes.
• Each state had one vote in the Constitution Convention regardless of how many delegates they had. The majority of the delegation ruled and if there was a tie in the delegation the vote wouldn’t count.
• The Committee of the Whole would be turned back over to George Washington who adjourned the session at 4 o’clock each afternoon.
The Preamble: The Preamble is the opening statement of the Constitution. It is a concise proclamation of the values at work in the complete document. It is thought the Preamble to the Constitution was written by Gouverneur Morris (1752-1816) of Delaware. We do not know with certainty if any one man proposed the words of the preamble or if it was devised and revised by a whole committee. This statement gives American citizens, not the government, the power of rule.