Who Was Not at the Constitutional Convention?

Which well-known founders did not attend the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787? I mentioned a few in class but here are some details in writing.

Patrick Henry (of "give me liberty or give me death!" fame) said he "smelled a rat" in Philadelphia. He did not want a more effective, probably more powerful federal government.

John Adams was serving as ambassador to Great Britain, an extremely difficult job for the man who implied in the Declaration of Independence that the king was a pirate.

Thomas Jefferson was serving as ambassador to France, the other major power of the time. His views were represented most ably by James Madison (later called the Father of the Constitution).

Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense, was busy in Britain.

John Hancock was ill and did not serve as a Massachusetts delegate to the convention, but did serve in 1788 as president of his state's ratifying convention. His speech in favor of ratification drew the support of famed rabble-rouser Samuel Adams, and the Massachusetts convention narrowly approved the Constitution, 187 to 168.

Six people signed both the Declaration of Independence (in 1776) and the Constitution (in 1787):  George Clymer, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, George Read, Roger Sherman, and James Wilson.

Were the Founders Christian?

Some were. Some were not, and for others the answer becomes more complex.

Washington was nominally an Episcopalian but did not attend services often and (scandalously) did not call for a minister on his deathbed as was the custom.

Jefferson and Franklin were Deists; they believed that God was benevolent but remote. They did not think that God intervened in his creation either much or at all and doubted the supernatural parts of the Bible. Jefferson created a version of the Gospels that matched his Enlightenment views, removing all supernatural events including the resurrection of Jesus.

John Adams was a Unitarian and a devout man, but Unitarians disagree with other Christians about the trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), arguing that God does not have three persons. Most Unitarians, then as now, would find Jesus admirable but not divine.

Other Founders were conventionally Christian; still others were irreligious.

Why write about this? On several occasions over the years, students have told me that America was founded by Christians and is a Christian nation. I cannot agree with the first statement, at least not without numerous exceptions. As for the second, America is a Christian nation, and a Jewish nation, and a Muslim nation, and a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and an atheist nation, and a nation of many other views, too.

If you think I’m anti-Christian, think again. See the First Amendment, written principally by Founder James Madison, which says that the government cannot interfere in the practice of religion, and that the government cannot endorse one religion over others. That provides a strong protection for religious practice, for Christians and everyone else.

This week, we’ve studied the Founding Fathers and the creation of the Constitution, a remarkable but certainly not perfect or holy or divinely-inspired document.

By the way, I hold religious views that are extremely important to me and I’m grateful to have been born in the United States where I can hold those views without interference and practice my faith without fear.

A Rare Southern Victory

On Feb. 14, 1779, 340 American troops under Col. Andrew Pickens defeated a force of Loyalist soldiers about twice their number in a rare Southern victory at Kettle Creek in Georgia. This small battle was won largely because the pro-British (Loyalist) commander, Col. James Boyd, fell wounded during the fight and his men fell into a disorganized retreat. American forces then moved forwarded and partially surrounded them. About 70 Loyalist troops died and 70 were captured; American losses were much lighter. Col. Boyd died shortly after the battle.

This minor battle demonstrates that many in the American colonies, especially in the South, were not sympathetic to the Revolution, and many units of Loyalist (pro-British American) militia formed. It’s also a window into the chaotic conditions in the South late in the war; the British could not keep control over the backwoods in the South, but the Americans only rarely bested them in battles and skirmishes in this period.

The tide would turn in Virginia late in the war.

A Famous Win (Loss)

Many people have heard of the Battle of Bunker Hill in the Revolutionary War. However, many mistakenly believe that this battle which occurred just outside of Boston was an American win. Here are just a few facts about it.

1) The battle was fought on June 17, 1775, early in the war, and was a critical moment in the struggle for control of Boston.

2) The battlefield included Bunker Hill, but most of the fighting actually happened on nearby Breed's Hill.

3) Though the Americans inflicted enormous casualties on the British (over a thousand killed and wounded), they lost the battle. It was a close thing, but the British retained the better position in the field at the end.

4) Col. William Prescott, one of the American commanders, reportedly told his men, "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes." This line, which may be apocryphal (legendary rather than factual), has become quite famous. Historians have found versions of this statement that were much earlier than its use in this battle.

5) The loss meant that the British tightened their control of the major port city of Boston. They also captured five American cannon, a major acquisition. The Americans also lost about 450 men (killed and wounded).

6) The win was costly for the British, however. They lost an unusually high number of officers, whose expertise would be missed in later battles. The British also altered their strategy following this close battle, becoming more cautious—an attitude that the Americans would later exploit.

The Swamp Fox

Meet Gen. Francis Marion, nicknamed the Swamp Fox, who drove the British crazy in South Carolina late in the Revolutionary War, even after they had established dominance there. He is considered by many historians one of the first military figures to develop guerrilla warfare tactics (the term “guerilla” originated in Napoleon’s era, later). Gen. Marion was essentially a forerunner of special operations, handled today by groups such as the Army Rangers and Navy Seals.

Marion did this by striking at British forces with small groups and quickly withdrawing into local swamps. One opponent, Col. Banastre Tarleton, was sent to capture or kill him in 1780 but finally gave up, saying, "[a]s for this damned old fox, the Devil himself could not catch him." Thus Marion received his nickname. For his accomplishments he was thanked by Congress and finally recognized by the military establishment that had largely ignored him early in the war.

Historians have had to work especially hard to find out about the real Francis Marion because an early biographer, Parson Weems (who also wrote about other founding figures including Washington), was known to invent stories that had little or no basis in fact. For an update about Marion's true accomplishments, check the article "The Swamp Fox," by Amy Crawford, in Smithsonian Magazine--Smithsonian.com, July 1,2007: 

         http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/fox.html