[United States Senate Manual, 113th Congress]
[S. Doc. 113-1]
[Historical Documents]
[Pages 1197-1198]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 1197]]

                                       [1710]

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                    CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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                                HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

                In May 1785, a committee of Congress made a report 
            recommending an alteration in the Articles of Confederation, 
            but no action was taken on it, and it was left to the State 
            Legislatures to proceed in the matter. In January 1786, the 
            Legislature of Virginia passed a resolution providing for 
            the appointment of five commissioners, who, or any three of 
            them, should meet such commissioners as might be appointed 
            in the other States of the Union, at a time and place to be 
            agreed upon, to take into consideration the trade of the 
            United States; to consider how far a uniform system in their 
            commercial regulations may be necessary to their common 
            interest and their permanent harmony; and to report to the 
            several States such an act, relative to this great object, 
            as, when ratified by them, will enable the United States in 
            Congress effectually to provide for the same. The Virginia 
            commissioners, after some correspondence, fixed the first 
            Monday in September as the time, and the city of Annapolis 
            as the place for the meeting, but only four other States 
            were represented, viz: Delaware, New York, New Jersey, and 
            Pennsylvania; the commissioners appointed by Massachusetts, 
            New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Rhode Island failed to 
            attend. Under the circumstances of so partial a 
            representation, the commissioners present agreed upon a 
            report (drawn by Mr. Hamilton, of New York), expressing 
            their unanimous conviction that it might essentially tend to 
            advance the interests of the Union if the States by which 
            they were respectively delegated would concur, and use their 
            endeavors to procure the concurrence of the other States, in 
            the appointment of commissioners to meet at Philadelphia on 
            the second Monday of May following, to take into 
            consideration the situation of the United States; to devise 
            such further provisions as should appear to them necessary 
            to render the Constitution of the Federal Government 
            adequate to the exigencies of the Union; and to report such 
            an act for that purpose to the United States in Congress 
            assembled as, when agreed to by them and afterwards 
            confirmed by the Legislatures of every State, would 
            effectually provide for the same.
                Congress, on the 21st of February, 1787, adopted a 
            resolution in favor of a convention, and the Legislatures of 
            those States which had not already done so (with the 
            exception of Rhode Island) promptly appointed delegates. On 
            the 25th of May, seven States having convened, George 
            Washington, of Virginia, was unanimously elected President, 
            and the consideration of the proposed constitution was 
            commenced. On the 17th of September, 1787, the Constitution 
            as engrossed and agreed upon was signed by all the members 
            present, except Mr. Gerry, of Massachu

[[Page 1198]]

            setts, and Messrs. Mason and Randolph, of Virginia. The 
            president of the convention transmitted it to Congress, with 
            a resolution stating how the proposed Federal Government 
            should be put in operation, and an explanatory letter. 
            Congress, on the 28th of September, 1787, directed the 
            Constitution so framed, with the resolutions and letter 
            concerning the same, to ``be transmitted to the several 
            Legislatures in order to be submitted to a convention of 
            delegates chosen in each State by the people thereof, in 
            conformity to the resolves of the convention.''
                On the 4th of March, 1789, the day which had been fixed 
            for commencing the operations of Government under the new 
            Constitution, it had been ratified by the conventions chosen 
            in each State to consider it, as follows: Delaware, December 
            7, 1787; Pennsylvania, December 12, 1787; New Jersey, 
            December 19, 1787; Georgia, January 2, 1788; Connecticut, 
            January 9, 1788; Massachusetts, February 6, 1788; Maryland, 
            April 28, 1788; South Carolina, May 23, 1788; New Hampshire, 
            June 21, 1788; Virginia, June 25, 1788; and New York, July 
            26, 1788.
                The President informed Congress, on the 28th of January, 
            1790, that North Carolina had ratified the Constitution 
            November 21, 1789; and he informed Congress on the 1st of 
            June, 1790, that Rhode Island had ratified the Constitution 
            May 29, 1790. Vermont, in convention, ratified the 
            Constitution January 10, 1791, and was, by an act of 
            Congress approved February 18, 1791, ``received and admitted 
            into this Union as a new and entire member of the United 
            States.''
            constitution of the united states