American Quotations by William J. Federer 2024

United States Constitution (September 17, 1787): <We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. ARTICLE I SECTION 1 All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. SECTION 2 The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every...

Constitutional Convention (September 17, 1787) called for a vote on the new Constitution. Thirty-nine of the fifty-five delegates at the Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution.  By June 21, 1788, nine of the states had ratified it, establishing the Constitution. All of the states had completed ratification by January 10, 1791. Virtually all of the 55 writers and signers of the United States Constitution of 1787, were members of Christian denominations: 29 Episcopalians, 9 Presbyterians, 7 Congregationalists, 2 Lutherans, 2 Dutch Reformed, 2 Methodists, 2 Roman Catholics, 1 lapsed Quaker and sometimes Anglican, and 1 open Deist-Dr. Franklin who attended every...

Congress of the Confederation (July 13, 1787) passed "An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio," later shortened to the Northwest Ordinance. This Ordinance, recognized in The United States Code Annotated as one of America's four most significant government documents, was later introduced into Congress by Rufus King, a signer of the Constitution, received House approval, July 21, 1789; received Senate approval, August 4, 1789 and signed into law by President George Washington, August 7, 1789, during the same period the First Amendment was being formulated. In addition to prohibiting slavery within...

Constitutional Convention (June 28, 1787) Thursday, was embroiled in a debate over how each state was to be represented in the new government. The hostile feelings created by the smaller states being pitted against the larger states, was so bitter that some delegates threatened to leave the Convention. Benjamin Franklin, being the President (Governor) of Pennsylvania, 1785-1788, hosted the rest of the 55 delegates attending the Convention. As the senior member of the convention at 81 years of age, he commanded the respect of all present and rose to speak at this moment of crisis. James Madison gave an account...

Constitutional Convention (May 14, 1787) began at the State House (Independence Hall) for the purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation and formulating the Constitution. George Washington, who had been unanimously elected as President of the Convention, rose during the Convention and admonished the delegates: <If to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair; the event is in the Hand of God!> 1787CV001 -- American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to...