[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 161 (Monday, December 15, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2422-E2423]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PRAIRIE ROSE CHAPTER OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
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HON. VINCE SNOWBARGER
of kansas
in the house of representatives
Thursday, November 13, 1997
Mr. SNOWBARGER. Mr. Speaker, I would like to make a belated
recognition of the efforts of the Prairie Rose Chapter of the Kansas
Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution in their continuing
effort to remind all Americans of the importance of the U.S.
Constitution. This year, in honor of Constitution Day, the DAR
published a series of Constitution Sidelights, which I am honored to
submit to the Record.
These sidelights demonstrate that the Founders were real human beings
with individual idiosyncrasies. This forces us to remember that they
rose above their individual quirks to develop a political system that
led to the freest, most prosperous, and most tolerant society that the
world has ever known.
The Constitution's balance of powers, rights, and responsibilities
provide the groundwork for this society. But it is only when citizens
know their freedoms, rights, and duties that the promise of our
Constitution can be realized in our daily lives.
It is groups like the Prairie Rose Chapter of the Kansas Society of
the Daughters of the American Revolution that have put in the time and
energy to remind our citizens of this. They deserve all of our support
and praise for the fine work they do.
National Society Daughters of the American Revolution
constitution sidelights 1997-1988
1. Author-historian James McGregor Burns characterized the
delegates to the Constitutional Convention as ``the well
bred, the well fed, the well read, and the well wed.''
2. The final form of the Constitution was put to a vote on
September 17, 1787. Thirty-nine of the delegates present
voted in favor; three were opposed. Thirteen delegates were
absent and of these, seven were believed to favor the
Constitution.
3. As acknowledged leader in Pennsylvania and one of the
world's most recognized savants, it was Benjamin Franklin's
part to entertain the delegates. He wrote to his sister that
his new dining room would seat twenty-four. He had a generous
hand with the port.
4. During the entire summer of 1787 Washington was a guest
in the home of Robert Morris. The Morris family had bought as
their summer residence a large mansion on a wooded hill above
the Schuykill river. They had an ice house, hot house, stable
for twelve horses, and lived in splendid luxury.
5. A rule of secrecy existed during the Convention, for
which there was some criticism. It seemed impossible to keep
old Dr. Franklin quiet. It has been said that a discreet
delegate would attend Franklin's convivial dinners, heading
off the conversation when one of the Doctor's anecdotes
threatened to reveal secrets of the Convention.
8. The Statehouse was comparatively cool when entering from
the baking streets of an unusually hot summer. The east
chamber was large, forty by forty with a twenty foot ceiling
and no supporting pillars to break the floorspace. Tall, wide
windows were on two sides, covered by slatted blinds to keep
out the summer sun. Gravel had been strewn on the streets
outside to deaden the sound of wheels and horses passing.
7. During an especially difficult week when agreement
seemed impossible, Benjamin Franklin suggested that a
chaplain be invited to open each morning meeting with prayer.
North Carolina's Hugh Williamson bluntly replied that the
Convention had no money to pay a chaplain. The state budgets
in 1787 were exceedingly slim, and the finances of the
delegates were constantly changing.
8. On Monday, May 28th, the last of the eight delegates
from Pennsylvania arrived. Jared Ingersoll was to remain
silent for the entire four months of the Convention. This was
an extraordinary feat for the man often described as ``the
ablest jury lawyer in Philadelphia.''
9. Washington was not a facile speaker. ``He speaks with
great diffidence,'' wrote a foreign observer, ``and sometimes
hesitates for a word....His language is manly and
expressive.'' He was rarely seen to smile and his manners
were uncommonly reserved. It was felt, however, that power
would not turn his head, and he was never overbearing.
10. The fourth of Delaware's five delegates arrived on May
28th. Gunning Bedford, Jr., was tall, sociable, corpulent,
and known as an impetuous speaker who did not hesitate to
make trouble if trouble was in order. Bedford, attorney
general of his state, came to
[[Page E2423]]
Philadelphia as a champion of the small states.
11. Convention rules were simple and took into account
courtesy as well as convenience. It was a age of formal
manners. George Wythe of Virginia, chairman of the rules
committee, had a keen eye, a deeply lined forehead, and at
age 60 resembled a sinewy old eagle. ``Every member,'' read
Wythe, ``rising to speak, shall address the President, and
whilest he shall be speaking, none shall pass between them or
hold discourse with another, or read a book, pamphlet or
paper, printed or manuscript.''
12. Seven states were to make a quorum, and all questions
to be decided ``by a greater number of these which shall be
fully represented.'' There was an excellent rule providing
for reconsideration of matters that had already been passed
on by a majority. Young Richard Dobbs Spaight of North
Carolina suggested it: ``The House may not be precluded, by a
vote upon any question, from revising the subject manner of
it when they see cause.''
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