George Read-Signer of the Constitution

"[H]is legal abilities are said to be very great, but powers of Oratory are fatiguing and tiresome to the last degree." -William Pierce


George Read was born September 18, 1733 in North East, Maryland and he died September 21, 1798 in New Castle, Delaware.  Read was the son of a wealthy landowner who immigrated from Dublin, Ireland.

George Read studied law under John Moland of Philadelphia before marrying Gertrude (Ross) Till, the daughter of George Ross, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.  Read established a law practice in New Castle, Delaware in 1754.  Throughout the colonies he was known as a very good and honest lawyer. 

Read served as Attorney General between 1763 and 1774, by appointment of the Royal Governor of Delaware.  Concerning the Stamp Act Read said, "the colonists will entertain an opinion that they are to become the slaves [of Great Britain and will desire] to live as independently of the mother country as possible."  As a colonist, George Read was very wary of extremism.  On the issue of independence he first disagreed, believing that reconciliation between the mother country was still possible.  By the time the Declaration of Independence was approved on July 4, 1776, however, he approved wholeheartedly with the idea of independence as he signed the Declaration.

Read presided over his states Constitutional Convention in 1776.  He then became the Speaker of the Legislative Council of Delaware which made him the assistant governor.  Between 1777 and 1778, Read served as the President (Governor) of Delaware, after a close escape from the hands of the British in 1777.  He was back in the Legislative Council of Delaware just in time to authorize the ratification of the Articles of Confederation.

At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, George Read served with four other delegates from his small state.  In Philadelphia, Read immediately began a push for a new national government, because as he put it, "to amend the Articles was simply putting old cloth on a new garment."  George Read felt that a national government was needed so badly that he proposed that all the states be abolished and put under a national government.  With no support for that idea, Read became an adamant defender of the rights of the small states.  He did not want his state to be pushed around by states much larger than his.  He believed larger states would "probably combine to swallow up the smaller ones by addition, division or impoverishment."  As a result, George Read was a firm supporter of the New Jersey Plan and he threatened to lead Delaware out of the Convention if the small states didn't receive equal representation.

George Read was a lawyer who, at the Constitutional Convention, made certain that small states, like his, would not be pushed aside by larger ones. 

Constitution Day

"On every question of construction, [let us] carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed." -Thomas Jefferson

The Constitution of the United States is the longest lasting constitution in world history. Countries, like France, have had many constitutions in the same time that we have had ours.  Why?  The U. S. Constitution is the only document of its kind which establishes liberties and a republican government with balance and order.  No other country has ever been as prosperous and well of than the United States.  America is the example, that until recent years, has been viewed by countries around the world as a "city on a hill".  What has happened to America? Do we know what the Constitution stands for?  I would submit the Americans don't know this law which governs our land.  Knowing the principles of republican government found in the constitution is essential for a free people.  I don't know if Americans know there Constitution.  They must not, because if they did they would not vote for the leaders the way they do.  Here is a video showing the backstabbing of our Constitution by our leaders:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36PFlvh97Lc

"[E]very citizen of a republic. . . .must watch for the state as if its liberties depended upon his vigilance alone."  -Benjamin Rush

"[P]ublic character... is no evidence of true greatness, for a public character is often an artificial one." -M. L. Weems, The Life of George Washington, 1800

Gouverneur Morris- Writer and Signer of the Constitution

"In adopting a republican form of government, I not only took it as a man does his wife, for better for worse, but what few men do with their wives, I took it knowing all its bad qualities."

Those words were penned by the main author of the Constitution, Gouverneur Morris.  He was born January 31, 1752 in Morrisania, New York and he died November 6, 1816 in the same place.

Gouverneur Morris was a member of the prominent, even aristocratic, Morris family of New York.  Morris was the only son of his father's second marriage.  He enrolled at King's College (present Columbia University) at the age of twelve.  He graduated from King's College in 1768 after which he went on to study law under William Smith.  Because of Smith, Morris was introduced to John Jay and Alexander Hamilton who became his friends in the Patriot cause. 

Gouverneur Morris was elected to the New York Provincial Congress in 1775.  He was known for his bluntness and sarcasm in dealing with other legislators.  As the Revolutionary War began, Morris joined the militia and started two complete regiments.  He didn't have to serve because of his legislative duties and a disability he had, but he felt it was his duty to serve in the cause for independence.  In 1777 he served as a member of the New York Committee of Safety.  He also served in Continental Congress and, after visiting Valley Forge, he became the Continental Army's spokesperson in congress.  In 1779, Morris moved to Pennsylvania after he felt he was being treated poorly by New York.  He worked in Pennsylvania as a lawyer and merchant until being called to public service once again.  He worked as a financial assistant to Robert Morris (no relation) and in 1782 he developed the idea of decimal coinage and he invented the term "cent".

It came as a great surprise to Gouverneur Morris when Pennsylvania asked him to be a delegate to the Constitutional Convention.  He considered himself "in some degree as a representative of the whole human race". He had a completely different demeanor at the convention as he helped smooth over issues that would have divided delegates.  Like Thomas Jefferson was with the Declaration of Independence so was Gouverneur Morris with the Constitution.  Morris drafted almost the whole Constitution and the words "We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union" were his.  Morris said that "in every society the members have a right to the utmost liberty that can be enjoyed consistent with the general safety".  Morris defended:  freedom of religion,  opposed slavery, held that the right of property was a foundation for society, and agreed with the idea of government having power only by the consent of the governed.  William Pierce wrote the following about Gouverneur Morris:

"One of the geniuses in whom every species of talents combine...No man has more wit... than Mr. Morris" 

Gouverneur Morris was a very important man in forming our country.  Morris, as a founder, contributed greatly to the Constitutional Convention as he was the main draftsman of the Constitution of the United States.

James Wilson-Signer of the Constitution

Considered to be the first Constitutional Lawyer, James Wilson was born September 14, 1742 in Carskerdo, Scotland and he died August 21, 1798 in Edenton, North Carolina.  Wilson was a Scottish Immigrant who came to America in 1765.

James Wilson studied law under John Dickinson, a fellow signer of the Constitution, and he started a law practice in Reading, Pennsylvania.  He was the Chairman of the Carlisle Committee of Correspondence, a pro-patriot organization, in 1774.  Wilson wrote Considerations on the Nature and the Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Parliament. This work of his gained him a reputation as a great patriot leader.  He served in Continental Congress between 1774 and 1777.  James Wilson also signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776.  He was appointed Colonel in the Cumberland County Associators, but he never saw military action.  After a controversy in which he voted against having a unicameral legislature, which he believed would cause mob rule, he moved to Maryland and lived there from 1777-1778.  When he returned to Pennsylvania in 1779, he and a few other state legislatures were attacked by a mob at his home.  In this attack casualties occurred on both sides and Wilson's home was aptly named "Fort Wilson".  Wilson became the Advocate General in America for France and he served from 1779-1783. As General, he advised France on American Law among other things dealing with French/American relations.  At the same time, he served as the Director of the Bank of North America, which had recently been created by Robert Morris.  Wilson was again elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1782 as well as between 1785 and 1787.

James Wilson, as a delegate from Pennsylvania, was a valuable asset to the Constitutional Convention.  William Pierce wrote:

"Mr. Wilson ranks among the foremost in legal and political knowledge.  He has joined to a fine genius all that can set him off and show him to advantage.  He is well acquainted with man, and understands all the passions that influence him...No man is more clear, copious, and comprehensive than Mr. Wilson."

Wilson, a very accomplished lawyer, argued for representation based on a free population.  He also worked with James Madison in promoting the ideal of Popular Sovereignty.  Wilson opposed those delegates at the convention who sought for special privileges given to the rich and well born.  He considered the idea of election by the people as "not only the cornerstone, but the foundation of the fabric".  In speaking of his fellow delegates and himself he wrote:

"We kept steadily in our View that which appears to us the greatest Interest of every true American, the consolidation of our Union . . . . And thus the Constitution which we now present is the result of a Spirit of Amity, and of that mutual Deference and Concession which the Peculiarity of our political Situation rendered indispensible."

James Wilson was indeed a great founder and through his skills as a legislator and lawyer he was a major part in the forming of the Greatest Law of Our Country, The Constitution.

Jared Ingersoll-Signer of the Constitution

Born October 27, 1749 in New Haven, Connecticut and dieing October 13, 1822 in Philadelphia, Jared Ingersoll was one of Americas patriots.  He had a loyalist father who was a British official.  At one point his father was even tarred and feather by patriots for his loyalty to the crown.  Ingersoll did not, however, share his fathers beliefs.

Ingersoll graduated from Yale College in 1766.  He then went on to study law and later he became a lawyer in 1773.  Because of his father and his desire to please him, Ingersoll left the colonies to London between 1773 and 1776.  After renouncing his families political views, Ingersoll returned to Philadelphia where he started a respectable law practice in 1778.  Ingersoll served in the Continental Congress between 1780 and 1781.

At the Constitutional Convention Ingersoll represented Pennsylvania with seven other delegates.  He didn't approve of the weakness of the Articles of Confederation and so he pushed for a reform of those articles.  After a while, Ingersoll and many others realized the need for a completely new system of federal government.  Ingersoll, although being a prominent attorney, seldom participated in debate at the Constitutional Convention.  However, he was in attendance to all meetings.  Jared Ingersoll is one of those founders who little is know about, but he definatly was part of the forming of our great nation.

AP US Government Assignment

Best System-Locke


John Locke’s form of government would both be legitimate as well as beneficial to the masses through its use of a select group of representatives. Much like how the United States government in the late seventeen-hundreds functioned, Locke proposed that an elite class would represent the masses in their best interests. This, in my opinion, was a very good system at the time that it was used. By having the educated represent the people as a whole, Locke’s form of government, would in perfection, provide for the voice of the people. Those, in any society, who don’t know about the issues facing them, are more likely to make poor decisions and in the early days of America, where this type of representation took place, not everyone had the chance at an education. Only those individuals who had wealth could afford to learn about issues and rules dealing with governments. Today Locke’s ideas could work effectively because we would have leaders who understand government rather than those who have no clue as to how our country should work. John Locke’s from of government, a true republic, would be the best of the four political theories we have discussed in class based on my current knowledge.


Locke vs. Rousseau

John Locke, an English enlightenment figure, and Jean Jacques Rousseau, a French philosopher, have ideas that have similarities as well as differences. With Locke and Rousseau the underlying ideas for their forms of government are similar in the fact that the power is meant to go to the people. However, in a republic, like with Locke, the people vote for others to represent them while with Rousseau’s true democracy the people vote on every issue and are in essence part of legislature. With Locke, government ideally runs better because of the fact that it doesn’t become a popularity contest on every issue. Also because everyone can vote on every issue, a pure democracy has no stability as it is more a government of whim than principals. In a pure democracy, government is not stable and can change depending on immediate feelings rather than previously established laws. In contrast of a republic a democracy turns political decisions into more of an American Idol contest. Locke and Rousseau both had political ideas that reflected a need for the people to be in charge, but they differ in their methods.