Constitutional Convention 1787 Archives - Journal of the American Revolution

Posted on November 13, 2024

This Week on Dispatches: Ray Raphael on Benjamin Franklin’s Greatest Fear

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR editor and distinguished historian Ray Raphael on his recent article about “kingly government,” Benjamin Franklin’s greatest fear for the new country. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and the JAR Dispatches web site. […]

by Editors

Posted on October 7, 2024October 6, 2024

President Washington and the Beginnings of American Law

The summer meeting of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 was an event as momentous as the eight years it took for the colonies/states to achieve independence. The failure of the Articles of Confederation, and the dismal outcome (and attendance) of the Annapolis Convention in 1786, made it clear to all concerned that a […]

by Jude M. Pfister

Posted on March 21, 2023March 20, 2023

The Purpose of the Electoral College: A Seemingly Endless Controversy

In recent years the operation of the Electoral College, as specified in Article II of the Constitution, has come under repeated attack by Congressional representatives and others throughout the United States. The following material from Section 1 contains what are considered to be the most contentious provisions in this Article. Each State shall appoint, in […]

by Marvin L. Simner

Posted on February 21, 2022February 20, 2022

Power and Liberty: Constitutionalism in the American Revolution

BOOK REVIEW: Power and Liberty: Constitutionalism in the American Revolution by Gordon S. Wood. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2021) The eminent historian and author Gordon S. Wood has turned a series of recent lectures into his latest work, Power and Liberty: Constitutionalism in the American Revolution. The focus of the book is what Wood considers […]

by Timothy Symington

Posted on July 21, 2021

This Week on Dispatches: Haimo Li on an Important Contribution of Maryland to the US Constitution

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews political scientist and JAR contributor Haimo Li on how the Maryland declaration of rights outlawed ex post facto laws—and how that state’s delegation got this important clause into the US Constitution. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, […]

by Editors

Posted on February 18, 2021February 23, 2021

The Admission of North Carolina and Rhode Island into the Union

On November 21, 1789, the people of the state of North Carolina ratified the United States Constitution. On May 29, 1790, the people of the State of Rhode Island also ratified the U.S. Constitution. Yet, despite the good-faith acts of these two states and their citizens, the respective admission into the United States of both […]

by David Otersen

Posted on February 16, 2021February 15, 2021

The Impeachment of Senator William Blount—the First in American History

It is easy to suggest that William Blount made no significant contribution to the development of the United States. His achievements, although not negligible, were only on par at best, and far less than many of his more famous contemporaries. Blount served in the North Carolina militia during the American Revolution, but with little acclaim […]

by Andrew A. Zellers-Frederick

Posted on November 5, 2020November 2, 2020

The Constitutional Convention Debates the Electoral College

In the last two decades, the Electoral College has come under harsh, though derivative, criticism as a result of the presidential elections in 2000 and 2016. Comparing the Electoral College at its inception to the Electoral College of 2020 is a distortion. For one, the twelfth amendment ended the practice of affording the presidency and […]

by Jason Yonce

Posted on July 16, 2020July 13, 2020

Creating Order: Rufus King and the Nascent American Republic

On the afternoon of April 30, 1789, George Washington stepped onto the balcony of the freshly-renovated and renamed Federal Hall on Wall Street in Lower Manhattan and took the presidential oath of office. Then, stepping into the Senate chamber, now-President Washington gave his inaugural address. He began plaintively, admitting in his opening line that “Among […]

by Keith Muchowski

Posted on June 14, 2020

This Week on Dispatches: Keith Muchowski on Rufus King, Forgotten Founder

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews professor and librarian Keith Muchowski on Rufus King, forgotten founder. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published by the Journal of the American Revolution. Dispatches is a free podcast that puts a voice to the writing in JAR, and features both contributors to the journal and other […]

by Editors

Posted on April 30, 2020April 27, 2020

Fending Chaos: The Early Years of Rufus King, Forgotten Founder

There are many ways to reach Jamaica, Queens, via public transit. From Brooklyn or Manhattan one could catch a Queens-bound F Train and remain aboard until getting off at Parsons Boulevard near the end of the line. Hundreds of thousands of commuters pass through Jamaica every day, either on the F Train, via the many […]

by Keith Muchowski

Posted on December 7, 2019

This Week on Dispatches: Ray Raphael on the Constitutional Debate about Impeachment

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews award-winning historian, writer, and JAR Associate Editor, Ray Raphael, about the debate during the Constitutional Convention on what would constitute impeachable offenses and the process for removing an official from office. His recent article on the subject is here. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published […]

by Editors

Posted on November 19, 2019November 25, 2019

Impeachment: The Framers Debate and Discuss

Author’s Note: Selections from all resolutions and working drafts are italicized. Most of what we know about the framers’ discussions comes from James Madison’s Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787; material from Madison’s notes is identified by quotation marks or indented block quotes. The best print source, annotated by Adrienne Koch and […]

by Ray Raphael

Tag: Constitutional Convention 1787